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Brighton women admit they are horrible people who took elderly neighbor, doctors and the government for more than $700,000

Randi Berkowitz, 64, and Patricia DiGiacomo, 58, today pleaded guilty to scores of charges that they took advantage of their neighbor's love of her cat, Puddy, and managed to steal her condo and savings and several hundred thousand dollars in government benefits, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Berkowitz pleaded guilty to 16 counts of larceny, 12 counts of fiduciary embezzlement, 13 counts of uttering a false prescription, four counts of possessing or using a false Registry of Motor Vehicles document, three counts of filing a false health care claim, two counts of perjury and one count each of misleading a judge in a civil proceeding and attempting to file a false insurance claim.

DiGiacomo pleaded guilty to 14 counts each of larceny, 12 counts of embezzlement by a fiduciary, two counts of possessing or using a false Registry of Motor Vehicles document and one count each of perjury and misleading a judge in a civil proceeding.

Prosecutors asked for seven years in state prison for Berkowitz and five for DiGiacomo and that they pay back $270,000 they obtained from the Social Security Administration and Medicare under false pretenses after they return about $40,000 they owe to the 70-year-old woman from whom they stole.

Suffolk Superior Court Judge Janet Sanders today said she would sentence both defendants to terms of 2 1/2 years in a county jail, followed by five years of probation and orders to pay $25,000 in restitution to the elderly victim, the DA's office reports. Sanders did not order restitution to the federal government for the fraudulently-obtained benefits they received.

Earlier, the women had agreed to give up $95,000 in assets they took from the victim - as well as her $275,000 condo, which they also managed to take.

According to prosecutors:

Berkowitz posed as DiGiacomo and DiGiacomo posed as “Devon D’Amato” over a period of decades, and that the two colluded in an “identity-shifting” scheme to deceive and steal from a wide range of individuals and government agencies. Beyond a doctor-shopping scheme that netted Berkowitz some 21,000 opiate-based painkillers in one year alone, the also two obtained Social Security Disability Insurance and Medicare benefits to which they were not entitled.

The most disturbing scam arose when the defendants ingratiated themselves with the elderly victim, a neighbor who lived next door to them on Strathmore Road, by caring for her 7-year-old tabby, “Puddy Cat.” The victim had no close family and the cat was the most important thing in her life.

Beginning in late 2012, Berkowitz convinced the victim to name Berkowitz as her power of attorney and administrator of her will, granting her authority to make financial and other decisions in her name. As a result, the defendants had unrestricted access to the victim’s finances and even got the victim to sign blank checks that they used for their own purchases. Within 12 months of appointing Berkowitz as her power of attorney, the victim’s bank account was siphoned of some $175,000. They even convinced the victim to transfer ownership of her condominium to Berkowitz.

The defendants used her money to open credit card accounts in their names and buy a 2010 Mini Cooper, an iPad, exercise equipment, meals, specialty kitchen supplies, and other items for themselves. They also used the money to retain attorneys to defend them in the earlier criminal cases charging them with fraudulently obtaining prescription painkillers and Registry of Motor Vehicles fraud for obtaining a falsified driver’s license with Berkowitz’ picture and DiGiacomo’s biographical information.

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Comments

scum.

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Taking total advantage of somebody like that, stealing everything, including her condo that she owned, etc.!

This modern-day Bonnie and Clyde couple should be made to do some community service to pay that woman her money back, and to help buy her a new condo, and then do some jail time, in addition.

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Judge Janet Sanders today said she would sentence both defendants to terms of 2 1/2 years in a county jail, followed by five years of probation and orders to pay $25,000 in restitution to the elderly victim

Beyond a doctor-shopping scheme that netted Berkowitz some 21,000 opiate-based painkillers in one year alone

How many ruined lives is this piece of shit responsible for with the pill-mill scam alone? 2 1/2 years with probation? You have to be kidding me. Someone who perpetuates scams over years is suddenly going to turn their life around?

Throw the book at them, and file these toxic specimens away in a damp pit for 20. I can't believe that a well-documented history of being a cancer upon the community warrants such a light sentence. The kind of suspension of empathy, the manipulation, and ill will it takes to perpetuate these acts is much worse than a drive-by, in my opinion.

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Gotta agree with Joe.

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Wouldn't that be a more dependable way to ensure that restitution is paid?

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how Puddy Cat is doing and what happened to him?

These are the most disgusting people ever. Seriously awful.

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$270,000+ stolen from taxpayers and no recovery or punishment for that?

Adam scoops the Herald again with this story!

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The judge might not have the authority to order them to repay the Federal government since those acts of fraud are based on Federal instead of state law. I hope that the Federal Attorney General files charges against them. Then they could serve time in Federal prison as well. They probably would also be under Federal probation for a at least a few years afterwards.

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the victim’s bank account was siphoned of some $175,000.

after they return about $40,000 they owe to the 70-year-old woman from whom they stole.

Suffolk Superior Court Judge Janet Sanders today said she would sentence both defendants to terms of 2 1/2 years in a county jail, followed by five years of probation and orders to pay $25,000 in restitution to the elderly victim

Am I missing something? They stole $175,000 from the woman, the prosecutor asked for them to be compelled to repay 1/4 of it, and the judge ordered that they repay half of THAT?

By my accounting, they're going to spend 2 1/2 years in prison, and end up $150,000 ahead. That seems like a pretty sweet deal.

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Part of the theft from the elderly victim was in assets, such as her condominium, which was valued at $275,000. That's been returned to the victim, as was almost $100,000 in cash and negotiable instruments that were seized during the investigation. She's still out about $40,000, however, hence our restitution request.

Someone above asked about Puddy Cat. Puddy is alive and well and awaiting the owner's return from a rehabilitation hospital.

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How about each of these (expletives) has to give a kidney to be sold off?

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$370,000 in assets from this woman. But the prosecution recommended only $40,000 be paid in restitution, and the judge actually reduced that amount to only $25,000.

Just another day of American "justice".

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These people are horrible and despicable and should have to pay back ALL the money they stole. But I'm also scratching my head about why in the world someone would make strangers power of attorney (even if they are neighbors or whatnot), and on top of that why someone would then sign blank checks for them? Why do older folks fall for these schemes so often? Even if I gave a family member power of attorney, I would keep a very close eye on my bank accounts.

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I know nothing about this case in specific, but there is a totally legitimate argument for elders to give their real estate to someone not them: Medicaid counts your home as a financial asset if it's over a certain value, and owning a home can basically disqualify you for Medicaid, forcing you to sell the home to pay for, for instance, long term nursing home care. There's a lot of horror stories about it. So it's actually a very common thing for advise elders to give ownership of their homes to a trusted younger relative, or set up a trust or something ("life estate"), to insulate it from Medicaid. I have family members who have done this. You have to do it before the "look-back period" (which I think it up to 5 years now) before needing financial assistance, for it to work.

So I wonder if she was talked into turning over the property to protect the asset from the government. If she had no family, it makes some sense she would turn to a trusted younger friend if that was what she was trying to do. Sad that the friend wasn't so trustworthy.

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One has to wonder if these people were even friends of the elderly woman. My hunch is that they probably weren't.

Anybody who steals is no friend, as far as I'm concerned!

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