NEW YORK (TIP): A Queens landlord has been charged with taking tens of thousands of dollars in security deposits and first-month rents from nearly two dozen prospective tenants over the last six months and then putting off the tenants’ move-in dates and not returning their deposits. Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said, “This case sadly represents another instance in which an allegedly greedy landlord is accused of taking advantage of Queens County’s tight housing market to rob unsuspecting individuals of substantial amounts of their hard-earned savings through an online rental scheme. For many of the victims, the loss is doubly troubling in that they have lost their money and still have no place in which to live.”
Police Commissioner Kelly said, “The online marketplace of ideas may have become a fertile ground for criminal opportunists but technology has not outpaced the savvy of NYPD detectives, or the proverbial paper trail leading them to perpetrators. I commend the NYPD investigators and their counterparts in the Queens district attorney’s squad for thoroughly examining this case and ending the exploitation of trusting individuals who endeavored to live in New York City.” Lalicata was arrested late on August 13 and was arraigned at Queens Criminal Court on an indictment charging him with grand larceny and other related counts. He was held in lieu of $10,000 bail at his arraignment. Brown said that the matter was brought to the attention of his office by several of the prospective tenants and that anyone who believes that he or she may have been a victim of the defendant’s alleged scheme should contact his Economic Crimes Bureau at 718-286- 6673.