By:Karenlyn Barone
Maria Leyna Albertina, 39, who police say was the purported ringleader, and her husband, Raymond, 41, of Adams Street, reportedly found 32 buildings online at a foreclosure Web site, www.jer.com. The site confirmed that the houses were in danger of foreclosure and had owners who rarely visited the properties. According to police officials, the buildings, nearly all in Brooklyn, became the foundation of the scam, in which the couple reportedly forged new deeds to the properties, used fake signatures and then sold the buildings to unsuspecting buyers. The buyers believed they were making legitimate purchases.
Many of the new owners hired contractors to fix up the buildings for resale, and now that the case has been developed by the Brooklyn district attorney, those contractors are left unpaid for work completed and the unsuspecting buyers are left with home loans they must repay for property they never owned.
At a new conference on May 6, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes said that Maria Leyna Albertina had been charged with first-degree grand larceny, and faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted. Her husband and three other suspects, David Carter, Alex Saget and Cheryl Nurse, have all been charged with second-degree grand larceny and face up to 15 years in prison. At their arraignment that evening, bail was set at $1 million for the Albertinas and $500,000 for each of the other suspects.
According to Hynes, the suspects chose buildings that were close to foreclosure, because they tend to be unoccupied, with deeds that were accessible on the Internet. They sought buyers who were in the market for fixer-uppers and brought official-looking, but forged, documents to the closings. According to police reports, the documents, bought at office supply stores, were convincing enough for the banks to offer mortgages to the unsuspecting buyers.
These people [the Albertinas] are my neighbors, and I-m shocked that they would do that to people, said an Adams Street neighbor who declined to be identified. They kept to themselves, but seemed like nice enough people.
The truth is, most neighbors who shared the quiet residential street with the Albertinas knew very little about the couple, who lived in a yellow, aluminum-sided house for the past three years. I never knew what they did for a living, said another apparently shocked man who lived on the block. All I know is that the wife was always on her cell phone. She would be on the front lawn talking away, and her children would be at the window watching her.
Neighbors say the Albertinas have three children, all under age 5, and that they employed two housekeepers to take care of them. A visit to the house last weekend revealed no signs of life other than the pickup truck parked at the back of the property.
To look at them, you wouldn-t think they had money, said a young woman neighbor who did not give her name. But they did buy two new high-end cars this past year.
Hynes said that with the money the couple earned from the real estate scam, they purchased a $200,000 34-foot yacht, christened Miei Tre Bambini (Italian for My Three Children"), and a $600,000 home, which they tore down to make way for the mansion they were having built in its place.
The husband would talk to me about the house they were having built, said one of the neighbors. He complained about the problems he was having with the built-in pool. I never suspected they were involved in anything illegal.
The day after their arrest, the boat was on display on the street outside the district attorney-s office. Hynes said details had not been worked out yet, but if Marie Leyna Albertina is convicted, proceeds from the sale of the boat and the house in Merrick would be divided among the people she scammed out of a total of approximately $5 million. Ironically, according to public records, the Albertinas are not listed on the tax rolls for the house on Adams Street.
