Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy D. Sini announced the sentencing of a Mount Sinai man to prison for stealing more than $3.6 million from an elderly, blind Poughkeepsie man and stealing more than $250,000 from a victim in Suffolk County through a fraudulent investment scheme.
Joseph Prosa, 53, pleaded guilty on May 18, 2019, to Grand Larceny in the First Degree, a class B felony, and Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree, a class E felony. He was sentenced Wednesday by Acting Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Fernando Camacho to two and one-half to seven and one-half years in prison on the count of Grand Larceny in the First Degree and one to three years in prison on the count of Scheme to Defraud. The sentences will run concurrently.
“This was a grossly deceitful scheme in which the defendant stole millions of dollars from his victims, including a senior citizen who was robbed of his life savings,” District Attorney Sini said. “He operated this scheme out of pure greed and callousness. I commend the members of my Office who investigated and prosecuted this case for holding this defendant accountable for his actions.”
Between August 2010 and November 2017, Prose operated a scheme in which he falsely represented to the victims that he was seeking investments to build a recycling facility in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. In furtherance of the scheme, Prosa falsely told the victims that he owned land for the facility, that a permit had been approved, and that he was an expert in the field of recycling and the construction of plants for a process called “gasification,” which can convert garbage into electricity.
Through the scheme, Prosa stole approximately $3.6 million from a Poughkeepsie man in his 80s who was legally blind and who has since passed away. He also stole approximately $250,000 from a second victim who resides in Suffolk County. Both victims were previous acquaintances of Prosa’s.
An investigation conducted by the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office revealed that Prosa used the stolen money on personal expenses, including spending more than $1.2 million in casinos and racehorse gambling entities and an additional amount used to purchase a racehorse. The defendant also used the stolen funds to repay large amounts of debt incurred by gambling and to pull his house out of foreclosure.
Pursuant to the investigation, Prosa was indicted by the District Attorney’s Office in December 2018.
This Financial Investigations & Money Laundering Bureau case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Thalia Stavrides, currently of the Conviction Integrity Bureau.
