In Queens, a man infamous for his role in a series of mailbox thefts, likened to the notorious duo "Bonnie and Clyde," has been sentenced to a state prison term, ranging from 3 ½ to seven years for his crime spree. According to the Queens District Attorney's Office, Brandon Sestoso, 43, pled guilty to third-degree burglary charges, following a string of thefts that took place between April and August 2024 across multiple Queens neighborhoods.
Sestoso's criminal endeavors included the pilfering of packages, checks, and other personal items from residential apartment mailboxes, utilizing a forged key to plunder the contents while the belongings shuffled into bags as he rapidly vacated the premises, this spree was put to a halt when he was confronted and eventually arrested by NYPD officers on September 7, 2024, they found him in possession of 23 credit and debit cards under various names, alongside incriminating tools of his trade. His accomplice, Rowena Farkas, 44, remains at large after failing to appear in court earlier this year, with an arrest warrant issued on February 20.
The Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz expressed a determined stance against such violations, declaring in a statement obtained by the Queens DA's Office that the defendant's brazen burglary spree was met with a concerted effort by law enforcement to end it, and she stressed the importance of vigilance against identity theft. Katz urged those suspecting they've fallen prey to identity theft to promptly report the violation and reach out to any of the three major credit agencies for their annual credit report check.
The investigation into the thefts revealed a pattern of burglaries in Sunnyside, Woodside Jackson Heights, and Elmhurst, where Sestoso targeted mailboxes across a span of streets; among them were 51st Street, 75th Street, and 79th Street, the successful prosecution of Sestoso's case was led by Assistant District Attorney Samuel Goodstein, under the guidance of several higher-ups in the Major Economic Crimes Bureau of the Queens District Attorney's Office.
