A man known by multiple aliases, including John Doe, has been sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to a series of deed frauds in Queens. As reported by the Queens District Attorney's Office, the unnamed defendant was involved in a scheme to steal three Queens homes and was arrested in March under the alias of Carl Avinger.
Upon the case making headlines, the real Carl Avinger from Tennessee recognized his identity had been stolen. Following this revelation, and after additional investigation, the defendant has been convicted for identity theft and grand larceny. Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz stated on Queens District Attorney's Office, "Justice should not be avoided by taking other people’s identities. In fact, taking someone’s identity for certain benefits is itself a crime." She also acknowledged her office's commitment towards providing justice to the real Carl Avinger and holding the impostor accountable.
The scheme unraveled as Doe was found to have worked in cahoots with three others: Torey Guice, Autumn Valeri, and Lawrence Ray. The trio each pleaded guilty to their roles in the deed fraud. Guice was given a one-year conditional discharge, Valeri received five years of probation, and Ray was recommended for a five-year probation sentence. Each co-defendant must consent to void the fraudulent deeds they were involved with.
Investigations highlighted that the defendant had a long history of arrests under various aliases. He had been arrested twelve times between 1993 and 2025, as noted by the Queens District Attorney's Office. The homes in question were located in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens Village, and Jamaica Estates, and their true owners were stripped of their properties due to the fraud scandal.
The court has ordered that some of the fraudulent deeds be voided and the case has led to the sixth application of a New York statute used to declare void fraudulent deeds post-conviction. The resolution of this case highlights the tenacity of the DA's office in combating real estate fraud. Assistant District Attorney Rachel Stein, along with her team and various law enforcement agencies, conducted the investigation leading to these convictions.
