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Con Artist Who Used Broken Eyeglasses in Street Scam Sentenced to Prison

By DNAinfo Staff on January 6, 2011 4:43pm  | Updated on January 6, 2011 4:44pm

Naim Jabbar, 43, was sentenced to between 3.5 and seven years in prison on Thursday for a scam using broken eyeglasses.
Naim Jabbar, 43, was sentenced to between 3.5 and seven years in prison on Thursday for a scam using broken eyeglasses.
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Associated Press

By Shayna Jacobs

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — A career scam artist was sentenced to up to seven years prison on Thursday for demanding $100 from a French national whom he claimed had broken his eyeglasses.  

Naim Jabbar, 43, was convicted by a Manhattan jury in December of robbery and fraudulent accosting for scamming the "unsuspecting" man on West 58th Street. It was his 41st criminal conviction and he has been to jail 18 times previously, prosecutors said.

After deliberately colliding with the male, he "aggressively" demanded money, claiming the pedestrian was responsible for breaking his glasses on July 16, 2010 about 9:15 p.m.

"Using his imposing stature and aggressiveness" Jabbar bumped into the man and then ordered the man to turn over cash — first asking for $40 and then another $60, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors said Jabbar was known among Manhattan police precincts for his often-used broken eyeglass scheme. Many times his victims were tourists but the French victim in his most recent case had been living in New York for three years when he was approached by Jabbar.

The scammer had been caught committing about two dozen similar broken eyeglass tricks throughout Manhattan between 2000 and 2010, prosecutors said.

"This defendant is a dangerous individual whose highly effective criminal strategy has been to threaten and intimidate victims into turning over their money," Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance said in a statement.

In March 2009, police warned residents about Jabbar's scam. He and four fellow con artists were part of a warning issued by the department, according to reports.