A conman who allegedly scammed nearly a dozen New York City tenants out of thousands of dollars with a bogus Hell’s Kitchen apartment rental was arrested Wednesday after turning himself in to police.
Nicholas Fuelling, 43, was arraigned on grand larceny and scheming to defraud charges for allegedly swindling multiple hopeful tenants into renting out a $3,200-a-month, two-bed, two-bath apartment at 334 W. 47th St., police and prosecutors said.
The charges cover accusations from five of Fuelling’s alleged victims, who all signed sublease agreements and forked out thousands of dollars in August and September for the seeming steal in a prime Manhattan neighborhood, court papers detail.
Nicholas Fuelling, 43, was booked on 14 counts of grand larceny charges on Wednesday morning. NYPD“I saw the post and it was for $3,200 for the whole apartment – a two-bedroom, two-bath,” Miguel Márchese, 24, an aspiring model who recently moved to the Big Apple, told The Post.
“And I thought that was a really good deal… It seemed like a goldmine.”
Whether Márchese was one of the victims related to Fuelling’s charges remained unclear, but he told a story nearly identical to those outlined in court documents.
Márchese said he found the ultimately too-good-to-be-true listing on Facebook Marketplace, and felt he had vetted Fuelling by checking his active social media presence, legitimate ID, and a DocuSign lease.
He signed the paperwork and forked over $6,400 for the first month’s rent and security deposit after an apartment tour and face-to-face meeting on Aug. 12.
But when Márchese made a Facebook post excitedly looking for a roommate, he got some bad news — somebody else had rented the apartment days earlier, and also paid Fuelling $6,400.
Lured by the price in a prime Manhattan neighborhood, renters like 24-year-old Miguel Márchese signed paperwork and dropped thousands on the apartment — advertised by Fuelling on Facebook. WABCWhen they confronted Fuelling about it he initially tried to say it was all a misunderstanding, claiming that he’d forgotten to cancel showings while making other vague excuses.
Not buying it, the pair began recruiting their friends to reach out to Fuelling about the apartment.
“We kind of like played detective. Let’s just see if he forgot about it or something,” would-be tenant Maria Cordeiro told ABC7. “Three of our friends asked, ‘Hey is it still available?’ And he was like, ‘Yes do you wanna go see like today, tomorrow?’”
Once they felt they had enough evidence, the scorned renters reported the scam to the police.
This is the first time Fuelling, a California native, has been nabbed for a crime in the Big Apple, sources said. WABCThe NYPD then launched a grand larceny investigation, and distributed wanted posters for Fuelling’s arrest.
But Fuelling had vanished after the news of the investigation, and the NYPD told The Post in late August that no arrests or leads had been made in the case.
For reasons unknown, the real estate grifter decided to turn himself in Wednesday at the NYPD’s 18th precinct in Midtown, sources said.
The arrest marked the first time Fuelling, a California native, has been nabbed for a crime in the Big Apple, sources said.
Fuelling’s charges weren’t bail-eligible so he was released after his arraignment late Wednesday, court papers show. He’s next due in court Oct. 8.
Meanwhile, Márchese and the other would-be tenants have been left to pick up the pieces, with efforts to recover their stolen funds from Bank of America or Cash App mostly unsuccessful.
Council Member Erik Bottcher — whose district includes Hell’s Kitchen — spread Fuelling’s wanted poster around because a friend of his even fell victim to the scam.
“People just have to be really, really vigilant when subletting an apartment. The problem here is he was a master of deception,” Bottcher told PIX 11.
Additional reporting by Kyle Schnitzer and Matt Troutman
