Natasha Munchkin Marks was apprehended in Oklahoma, 7 years after fleeing New York after her conviction in a hate crime directed at an 85-year-old man.
The end of the road has finally come for the 26-year-old swindler who bilked an elderly Howard Beach man out of nearly $1 million dollars back in October 2006.
Natasha Munchkin Marks, 26, has been running from New York authorities for the last 7 years after she was convicted in 2007 under New York State’s hate crime statue with stealing more than $800,000 from an 85-year-old man.
Authorities in Oklahoma arrested her earlier this month on a warrant for bail jumping after investigators from the Queens District Attorney’s office alerted local law enforcement that she was in the area.
District Attorney Brown said, “The defendant has learned the old adage the hard way: you can run but you cannot hide from justice. Sentenced in absentia to two to six years in prison back in 2007 after admitting to having befriended an elderly man and scamming him out of his life savings and then fleeing, this sweetheart swindler will now commence serving her prison sentence, as well as face an additional seven years in prison for jumping bail.”
Marks’ last known address was 90-04 196th Street in Flushing and on March 1, 2007, she pled guilty to second- and third-degree grand larceny as a hate crime before Justice Pauline Mullings, agreeing to make $150,000 in restitution to the victim.
She also signed a waiver of extradition as a condition of her guilty plea. But on March 29, 2007, when she failed to make partial restitution as promised and failed to appear for a court appearance, a warrant was issued for her arrest.
She was sentenced in absentia on May 3, 2007, to two to six years in prison. An indictment was filed in Queens Supreme Court the following May, charging Marks with first-degree bail jumping, a Class D felony punishable by up to seven years in prison.
The investigation began on September 15, 2006, when a family member and a neighbor of the 85-year-old victim reported to authorities that the man was being financially exploited by a woman known only as “Sandy.”
In interviewing the victim, the District Attorney’s Elder Fraud Unit learned that the defendant had befriended him in a supermarket and that during conversations in person and on the telephone she told him numerous hard luck tales.
As part of her scheme, Marks had instructed the victim how to write the checks and had obtained numerous checks payable to one of her aliases.
Marks then endorsed the checks and cashed them at several different check cashing locations. Thereafter, Marks, again without Mr. Bruno’s permission and knowledge, re-financed the mortgage on his Howard Beach home and withdrew $560,000 in equity from the property.
Under the provisions of New York State’s Hate Crimes Act of 2000, enhanced charges can be filed when a defendant commits a larceny and selects his or her victim because of their age which is defined as being 60 years of age or older.
