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QUEENS---A Manhattan man has been rearrested for allegedly defrauding Queens consumers by pretending to be a manager of a retail electronic store, such as Best Buy, Circuit City or P.C. Richards, and offering to sell them electronic equipment such as plasma televisions and laptop computers at a deep discount.
It is alleged that once the victims met with the defendant at one of the Queens electronic retail outlets and exchanged cash for the merchandise, the defendant would disappear with the money and leave the victims empty-handed.
“The defendant was originally charged two months ago with duping five businessmen out of thousands of dollars through the same scheme”, Queens district attorney Richard A. Brown said. “The media attention resulting from that arrest led to nine additional alleged victims coming forward to report their own similar experiences to authorities.”
Brown identified the defendant as Michael Ballister, 51 of 418 Central Park West in Manhattan. He was in Queens Criminal Court on charges of scheme to defraud in the first degree, grand larceny in the fourth degree, criminal impersonation in the second degree, fraudulent accosting and petit larceny. If convicted he faces up to four years
in prison.
Prosecutors said that Ballister would approach people at their places of business and after identifying himself as a manager for Best Buy, P.C. Richards or Circuit City would offer to sell them electronic equipment at an employee discount price. In nine separate incidents that occurred between August and December 2005 the defendant allegedly took sums of money, ranging from $200 to $4,000, from the victims in exchange for the promise of plasma televisions, laptop computers and, in one case, an IPOD music device.
In carrying out his scheme, the defendant would allegedly meet the victims at one of the electronic stores and tell them to select the items they wished to purchase. Once they handed over the cash to the defendant, he would tell them to wait outside the store by the loading dock and the merchandise and their receipts would be brought to them. The defendant would then allegedly leave with the money and the victims would never receive their merchandise.
Brown noted that Best Buy, P.C. Richards and Circuit City were as much victims in the scheme as the people who were allegedly defrauded by the defendant. The defendant was neither employed by any of the retail stores nor authorized to sell any merchandise.
“Shoppers should be wary of offers that sound ‘too good to be true’ or ‘too good to pass up’ and if they feel that they have been victimized they should report their complaints to my office,” the district attorney said. The stores allegedly used in the defendant’s scheme were the Best Buy stores located at 50-01 Northern Boulevard and 88-01 Queens Boulevard; the P.C. Richards store located at 42-99 Francis Lewis Boulevard; and the Circuit City store located at 96-05 Queens Boulevard.
According to District Attorney Brown, the defendant was charged on Dec. 15 with one count of scheme to defraud in the first degree, four counts of grand larceny in the fourth degree, one count of criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree, five counts of criminal impersonation in the second degree, five counts of fraudulent accosting and one count of petit larceny.
If convicted he faces up to seven years in prison. The case is presently pending in Queens Criminal Court and the defendant is being held on $1 million bail. 2-22-06
© 2005 North
Country Gazette
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