Con artist posing as Tennessee man sentenced for stealing three Queens homes in major deed fraud scheme
Queens, NY – A man using a stolen identity and a string of aliases has been sentenced to up to nine years in prison after pleading guilty to stealing three homes in Queens as part of a complex deed fraud scheme that also led to charges against multiple co-defendants.
The man, whose real name remains unknown and is being prosecuted as “John Doe,” was first arrested in March under the stolen identity of Carl Avinger. The case gained public attention when news coverage reached the real Carl Avinger in Tennessee, prompting the identity theft victim to contact the Queens District Attorney’s Office. That discovery led to additional charges and a second prison sentence for the impersonator.
Doe was sentenced this week to 4½ to 9 years in prison after pleading guilty to grand larceny in the first degree and two counts of grand larceny in the second degree for stealing properties in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens Village, and Jamaica Estates. The sentence will run concurrently with a prior sentence of 3½ to 7 years handed down on October 1 for first-degree identity theft.
The DA’s office confirmed that Doe had previously used at least eight different names over the course of 12 arrests dating back to 1993. Among the stolen identities was that of Avinger, whose identification and Social Security card went missing in 2003 while living with the defendant in North Carolina. Avinger’s sister also identified the man, known then as “Ace,” as the same person later arrested in New York.
Three others were charged alongside Doe and have already pleaded guilty in connection to the fraud. Torey Guice was sentenced to a one-year conditional discharge and must void the fraudulent deed he was charged with. Autumn Valeri received five years of probation, must surrender her real estate license, and consent to voiding stolen property deeds. Lawrence Ray will be sentenced later this month to five years of probation and must forfeit over $403,000 while also voiding his portion of the stolen property.
During the scheme, Doe submitted a fraudulent application to the New York State DMV using Avinger’s information, successfully renewing a driver’s license in the stolen name in November 2024. Investigators later confirmed the application was part of the larger fraud that enabled him to facilitate property thefts.
The DA’s office used a rarely applied legal tool under New York Criminal Procedure Law 420.45 to void the fraudulent deeds post-conviction — the sixth time it has been used in Queens since the office pioneered the method in 2023.
The case was investigated by members of the DA’s Housing and Worker Protection Bureau, along with the NYPD Financial Crimes Task Force and federal agents from the U.S. Department of State and Social Security Administration.
Key Points
- A man using stolen identities was sentenced to up to 9 years in prison for stealing three homes in Queens
- The defendant posed as a Tennessee resident named Carl Avinger, whose identity he stole over 20 years ago
- Three co-defendants also pleaded guilty and must void fraudulent deeds or face financial penalties
