{"id":893298,"date":"2026-06-26T03:54:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T03:54:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/893298\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T03:54:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T03:54:24","slug":"ag-james-charges-man-with-stealing-brooklyn-home-from-a-woman-with-dementia-in-23-count-deed-theft-indictment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/893298\/","title":{"rendered":"AG James charges man with stealing Brooklyn home from a woman with dementia in 23-count deed theft indictment"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York Attorney General Letitia James charged a Queens man on Thursday with allegedly stealing the deed to the Brooklyn home<\/a> of an elderly woman with dementia and renting out her property to other tenants while she was living there.<\/p>\n

Queens resident Mark Salkey<\/a>, 58, was arrested for allegedly taking the home of Althea Garrick, an elderly woman living in East Flatbush, as she received dementia care in her home.\u00a0<\/p>\n

James announced a 23-count criminal indictment against Salkey that included grand larceny, forgery, falsifying business records, and possession of stolen property at a press conference in Downtown Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one deserves to have their home stolen and their bank account drained. Deed theft is a heartless crime, and my office will do everything in our power to return this home to its rightful owner and hold Mark Salkey accountable for his despicable actions,\u201d James said.<\/p>\n

The attorney general raised alarms during the June 25 press conference about \u201ca disturbing rise in the number of housing scams\u201d that disproportionately affect elderly Black homeowners in gentrifying neighborhoods. Complaints about deed theft filed with her office soared in just two years, from 149 in 2023 to 517 in 2025, according to data provided by the AG\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

The AG\u2019s investigation found that between 2022 and 2024, Salkey allegedly forged documents to transfer Garrick\u2019s East Flatbush home to his own company. Once he had control of the property, he allegedly rented parts of the home out to outside tenants, including his sister, while Garrick and her ex-husband, Reginald Kelly, were forced into just one small bedroom.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Salkey has collected around $70,000 in rent from the arrangement. The property has grown in value from when it was stolen in 2023 to be worth over $1 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The AG alleged that in addition to stealing the home, Salkey stole approximately $148,000 from Garrick and approximately $20,000 from her ex-husband\u2019s pension.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Garrick and Kelly purchased the home at 162 East 95th Street in East Flatbush in 1976. The AG investigators found that Salkey forged documents, including the home\u2019s deed, to modify the terms of her mortgage and transfer the property to his company, Salkey Salkey & Associate, Inc.\u00a0<\/p>\n

James said that her investigators found Salkey spent the stolen funds on his personal expenses, including credit cards, bills, and luxury purchases at Hermes and a jewelry store, rental cars, clothing, nail salon visits and airfare.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"<spanMark Salkey allegedly stole the deed to the house at 162 East 95th Street in East Flatbush.Photo via Google Maps
\nAG James, Myrie look to snap the \u2018deed theft belt\u2019<\/p>\n

James was joined by Brooklyn state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, who authored the state legislation that gave the AG\u2019s office the power to prosecute deed theft in 2024 and extended the time frame that homeowners have to seek justice. <\/p>\n

Myrie represents a section of central Brooklyn populated by Black homeowners whom, he said, have unfortunately become part of a \u201cdeed theft belt\u201d that runs through Southeast Queens up to Harlem.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are contemplating, if you are currently doing, if you are scheming and planning to take anyone\u2019s home in the state of New York, watch out. We\u2019re coming,\u201d Myrie said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to be on you because we must protect the most vulnerable New Yorkers in the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Attorney General\u2019s Office has cracked down on deed theft since the passage of Myrie\u2019s bill. Last September, she convicted a former Rockland County real estate agent of forging the homeowner\u2019s signature while the home was in foreclosure, without the homeowner\u2019s knowledge. <\/p>\n

In August 2025, she brought charges against two scammers who allegedly stole the Queens home of an elderly widow receiving end-of-life hospice care.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBecause in communities that have been gentrified, the real estate market unfortunately has resulted in the value of these homes have increas[ing],\u201d James said. \u201cThere are individuals who are living in homes that are rich in terms of their [asset] value, but individuals who unfortunately are struggling with maintaining those properties.\u201d<\/p>\n

New Yorkers who believe they are a victim of deed theft are encouraged to contact the Attorney General\u2019s office by calling 800-771-7755, emailing deedtheft@ag.ny.gov<\/a>, or filing a confidential complaint online at ag.ny.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York Attorney General Letitia James charged a Queens man on Thursday with allegedly stealing the deed to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":754490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,362067,362068,115209,362069,29763,362070,74746,362071,362072,362073,24980,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,315734,362074,362075,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,10206],"class_list":["post-893298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-attorney-general-investigation","tag-brooklyn-housing-scam","tag-deed-theft","tag-dementia-exploitation","tag-east-flatbush","tag-elderly-victim","tag-forged-documents","tag-gentrification-impact","tag-grand-larceny-charges","tag-housing-scams-new-york","tag-letitia-james","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-property-fraud","tag-queens-man-arrest","tag-real-estate-crime","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-zellnor-myrie"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=893298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/754490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=893298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=893298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=893298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}