Posted on 06/25/2007 9:08:32 PM PDT by Calpernia
NEW YORK -- A man accused of cheating Hispanic immigrants out of $280,000 by posing as a federal agent and promising them green cards and other documents he never delivered was sentenced Monday to three to six years in prison.
John Nevarez, 55, of Manhattan, was sentenced after state Supreme Court Justice Edward McLaughlin refused to let him withdraw his prior guilty plea. Last month, Nevarez pleaded guilty to third-degree grand larceny for the immigration fraud.
Nevarez, who worked out of an East Harlem basement, used a fake badge and identification to convince immigrants he was a federal agent who could solve their documentation problems, according to police who arrested him in July 2006.
Lt. John Zerillo of the New York Police Department's impersonation unit said Nevarez charged $8,000 a person in exchange for "absolutely nothing.'' Police suspect Nevarez victimized at least 40 people, bilking immigrants out of possibly $320,000 or more.
Nevarez's lawyer, Eric Sears, asked the judge to postpone sentencing and let his client get a new lawyer after the defendant tried to withdraw his plea. Sears said Nevarez told the judge he was medicated and didn't understand exactly what he was pleading to, and that he was intimidated by the court.
Nevarez, a U.S. citizen, also pleaded guilty and received a lesser sentence from McLaughlin on an outstanding parking violations case, Sears said. Nevarez will serve that sentence concurrently with the fraud sentence, Sears said.
In that case, Nevarez was charged with possession of a forged instrument. He was accused of submitting fraudulent documents to get dismissal of 37 parking tickets totaling some $3,700 in fines.
The Department of Investigation said last year that Nevarez told people he could get their tickets dismissed for a fee. He then submitted phony receipts that showed the vehicles had been inoperable when they were ticketed and could not be moved, the DOI said.
Police said Nevarez had an extensive criminal record that included 28 arrests dating back to 1976. He had been in jail on $50,000 bail before Monday's sentencing.
Fake agent, forged docs ping
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