07-08-2025
2 Charged With Stealing Home of Dying Woman, in a First Under New Law
Toward the end of Renuka Bherwani's life, as she was homebound in hospice care with advanced dementia, two people showed up at her Queens home claiming to be friends.
Ms. Bherwani was 88 years old at the time. Her relatives said in court papers that they thought the newcomers wanted to comfort the dying woman. But instead, prosecutors said, the two people would go on to forge Ms. Bherwani's signature on several documents so they could take ownership of her two-story brick rowhouse in Kew Gardens Hills.
It was a textbook example of the fraudulent practice known as 'deed theft,' prosecutors said. On Thursday, the case became a symbol of the push to fight back, as the two people, Deepa Roy and Victor Quimis, became the first suspects to be charged under a new state law that makes deed theft a form of grand larceny.
Both Ms. Roy, 68, and Mr. Quimis, 39, face at least 10 charges, including first-degree grand larceny and residential mortgage fraud. Mr. Quimis, who also faces a charge of money laundering, was arrested on Monday, prosecutors said, and has been released without bail before trial. Ms. Roy is at large, and there is a warrant out for her arrest.
Letitia James, the New York attorney general, was a co-author of the new law, known as the Heirs Property Protection and Deed Theft Prevention Act of 2024. On Thursday, Ms. James said that she would 'continue to use the law as both a sword and a shield to stop these despicable crimes and ensure this home is returned to the Bherwani family.'
Ms. Bherwani died in June. But Ms. James said the home would be returned to the family after a conviction in the case.
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