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Eastchester resident Peter Corines, 70, has been sentenced to a year in Westchester County Jail after being found guilty of charges that include grand larceny, attempted grand larceny and identity theft. He also agreed to forfeit $11,600 of his victim’s money that was found in his home.
During a two-week period in November 2017, Corines stole from Bernice Judd Porter of Yonkers by fraudulently claiming to be her power of attorney and pretending to be her on the phone or online with several financial institutions where she had accounts.
Westchester County District Attorney Anthony Scarpino, Jr. said that Corines took advantage of his victim after ingratiating himself to her, and schemed to benefit himself to reduce a mounting personal debt and infuse money into his failing yacht repair business in Florida.
Corines obtained Porter’s Social Security number and information about her finances, including bank and investment firms where she had accounts. He also posed as her while calling those firms to redeem funds from the accounts and created online accounts in her name without consent. Corines also requested checks from online accounts and changed Porter’s address with the financial institutions after opening the online accounts.
In doing so, Corines stole the $540,106.60, and allegedly also attempted to steal an additional $262,171.49 during that two-week period.
Corines was arrested by police in Yonkers on April 24 last year following the execution of a search warrant at his Eastchester home.
Westchester County Court Judge Barry Warhit presided over Corine’s hearing. From the bench, he told the Corines, a former medical doctor, he “was a disgrace to a noble profession.”
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