A Queens con-artist lifted more than $100,000 worth of checks from his current and former Lefrak City neighbors – stealing their identities as he boosted his own bank account, officials said.
Olawale Akinnawonu allegedly was caught on camera using a master key to open United States mailboxes inside various buildings and also used a stick to slip through mail slots and fish out some of the mail.
Akinnawonu, 45, targeted his neighbors to steal not just their money, but their personal identities as well, said Queens DA Richard Brown.
The naturalized United States citizen from Nigeria, was charged with several counts of money laundering, identity theft and other charges.
“This is an non-violent crime…my client turned himself in,” said Akinnawonu’s attorney Lewis Reiss who requested for $2500 bail.
Queens Supreme Court Justice Barry Kron set bail at $500,000 which is subjected to a bail sufficiency hearing.
Detectives executed a search warrant on his apartment and found evidence linking Akinnawonu to 70 more victims, prosecutors said. Only 25 victims were named in the indictment.
His wife was also arrested during the search.
An investigation was launched after 15 complaints were filed at the 110th Precinct concerning the stolen checks, which were meant to pay rent.
The checks ranged from $900 to $1,500.
From January 2011 to May 2013, Akinnawonu allegedly deposited more than $100,000 into different back accounts, including some opened under the victim’s names.
The accused identity thief used the victim’s names to open credit card accounts, used the stolen rent checks to make payments to the credit cards which had a zero balance.
Akinnawonu allegedly contacted the credit card companies to request a check for the overpayments and placed the funds into an account with the name Samuel Mensah, which he controlled and wrote checks from that account to his personal account.
Prosecutors are unclear if Mensah is fictitious, but are sure he isn’t a LeFrak resident.
Akinnawonu is also alleged to have wired money to London.
If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison.
If anyone may have been a victim, or knows someone who may have been a victims of this alleged scheme, the Queens District Attorney’s Economic Crimes Bureau is asking those to contact them at 718-286-6673.
