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The chain of events began when when Demetris Michalaki provided Bank of America with an altered deed and a fraudulent letter authorizing the sale of the home to his father, Aristokilis Michalaki, for a dollar, Molinelli said.
Lynette Vignapiano, a Weichert Realty real estate agent from Sparta, participated in the scheme, “specifically by listing and attempting to sell the property knowing that the documents were fraudulent,” he said.
The bank notified the true owner of record that the deed had been changed. The owner, in turn, informed a man that Michalaki rented the house to that he was being evicted.
On Feb. 12, firefighters responded to what was later termed a suspicious blaze at the house.
The tenant, George Trantidis, started that fire after tampering with a furnace gas valve, Molinelli said today. Trantidis, of Astoria, Queens, also trashed the place, the prosecutor said.
Fugitive warrants have been issued for the 35-year-old Trantidis and Michalaki, 42, he said.
While investigating the trio, detectives found evidence that Vignapiano, 45, participated in another fraudulent sale, that of a house on East 25th Street in Paterson, Molinelli said.
According to the prosecutor, she bought the property in 2002 and then transferred ownership for $415,000 five years later to a third-party straw buyer who wasn’t aware of the sale.
Vignapiano, meanwhile, continued to collect Section 8 rent pon the property from the Paterson Housing Authority until March 2009, when she added Michalaki to the deed, according to an indictment returned by a Bergen County grand jury.
“This altered deed was submitted to the Paterson Housing Authority for continued Section 8 rental payments which were made to Michalaki until January 2012,” Molinelli said.
Vignapiano surrendered to Superior Court in Hackensack on Friday. She was charged with theft by deception, uttering a forged document and conspiracy and released on $25,000 bail after a brief appearance.
Michalaki faces similar charges, while Trantides is wanted for aggravated arson and criminal mischief.
The charges are the result of an investigation by members of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office White Collar Crimes Unit and Major Crimes-Arson Unit under the direction of Chief Steven Cucciniello.
MUGSHOT: Courtesy Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office
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