FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, April 4, 2016
Brooklyn Man Sentenced to up to 14 Years in Prison for
Stealing Nearly $35,000 from Personal CitiBank Accounts
Used Fraudulent New Jersey Driver’s License on 12 Occasions to
Withdraw Funds from Victim’s Bank Accounts
Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson today announced that a 31-year-old Brooklyn man was sentenced to a term of seven to 14 years in prison for stealing nearly $35,000 from CitiBank checking and savings accounts by using a forged driver’s license bearing the victim’s name. The defendant made the illegal withdrawals inside Brooklyn bank branches on eleven occasions in June 2013 and was caught when he attempted to obtain cash from the accounts a twelfth time.
District Attorney Thompson said, “This defendant brazenly raided a stranger’s bank account after stealing his identity. He was caught, prosecuted and is now going straight to prison where he belongs.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Barrington Folkes, 31, of 2311 Cortelyou Road in Flatbush, Brooklyn. He was sentenced today by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Ruth Shillingford to an indeterminate term of seven to 14 years in prison following his conviction on February 8, 2016 on multiple counts of third-degree grand larceny, second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument and first-degree identity theft after a jury trial. The defendant was convicted of thirty-two counts in total.
The District Attorney said that, according to trial testimony, the defendant, on 11 occasions, withdrew sums ranging from $2,000 to nearly $4,700 from one checking account and one savings account belonging to the victim. In most instances, the defendant presented a New Jersey driver’s license bearing the victim’s name and the defendant’s picture, and used the victim’s Social Security number to gain access to the accounts. The defendant signed transaction slips in the victim’s name to complete the withdrawals.
On June 17, 2013, he made a withdrawal from a CitiBank branch at 885 Flatbush Avenue. About an hour later, he made two withdrawals (one from each account) from a CitiBank branch at 702 Utica Avenue. On the afternoons of June 20 and June 21, he made two withdrawals each day from the 855 Flatbush Avenue location. On the morning of June 24, he returned to that same branch and again made two withdrawals. Later that afternoon, he made two withdrawals from a branch at 1992 Ralph Avenue.
The investigation found that on June 25, 2013, the accounts holder checked his balance and found that a large sum was missing. He contacted CitiBank and was told to report that to his branch. First thing the next morning, he went to his local branch and filled out the necessary paperwork.
Later that day, on June 26, 2013, at approximately 11:25 a.m., the defendant returned to the Flatbush Avenue location and presented the forged driver’s license again. The teller showed the license to the manager on duty and 911 was called. When the police arrived, the defendant fled the location on foot. Lieutenant Sean Collins chased and apprehended the defendant one block away.
The District Attorney thanked CitiBank for their assistance with the investigation.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Sasha Pemberton and Assistant District Attorney Joshua Lee of the District Attorney’s Trial Bureau IV, Green Zone, under the supervision of David Klestzick, Bureau Chief.
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