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Family of Burglars Preyed on Trusting Elderly Across Queens, DA Says

By Katie Honan | November 3, 2016 12:11pm
 A brother, sister and his ex-wife traveled throughout Queens, tricking elderly victims, police said.
A brother, sister and his ex-wife traveled throughout Queens, tricking elderly victims, police said.
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NYPD

QUEENS — A man, his ex-wife and his sister criss-crossed the borough scamming elderly residents out of thousands of dollars — using every trick to get through the door including posing as the victims' relatives and sitting with them for coffee and cake, prosecutors say.

Tony Cristo, 35, and his ex-wife, Theresa Howard, teamed up with his sister Rosie Cristo, 42, over the summer to target the borough's most vulnerable residents — claiming to be former neighbors or, in one instance, a victim's granddaughter. 

Tony Cristo would act as the getaway driver as his sister and Howard — and two other suspects who haven't been arrested — entered homes any way they could. On two instances they brought along a child to help them gain entry to search for cash and valuables, DA Richard Brown said.

Some of the kind-hearted victims even offered the suspects cake and cookies while they were unknowingly burglarized, officials said. 

On July 25, 2016, one suspect who hasn't been arrested entered a 91-year-old woman's Flushing home through an unlocked door, claiming to be the woman's granddaughter.

The victim's daughter arrived minutes later, and the suspect said she was instead a former neighbor, "Mary Goldstein" — but the daughter didn't believe it, telling her to "get the f--k out" of the home. The suspect then fled in a car driven by Tony Cristo.

Cristo, his sister and ex-wife, were charged with second-degree burglary as a hate crime, grand larceny charges, degree schemes to defraud and petit larceny.

Tony Cristo was released on $135,000 bail, and his sister was released on $25,000 bail, officials said. 

Howard was sent to prison on two out-of-state warrants, and the trio are due back in court on Nov. 29, according to the DA.

After July's burglary attempt, the crew struck four other victims — swiping a purse from an 83-year-old woman's house on 56th Drive in Maspeth by pretending to leave a message for an upstairs tenant, officials said.

Martin and Cristo rang the woman's doorbell with a 10-year-old girl, asking for a pen and paper to write the note for a person upstairs, according to the criminal complaint. She noticed after they left that her purse was missing, officials said. 

Hours later they brought along a 9-year-old girl to a house on 69th Street in Jackson Heights, telling an 88-year-old man they wanted to see the construction going on at his home. 

The three walked through the house into the man's bedroom, where his 90-year-old wife was in bed. Howard asked the woman about family photos around her bedroom, distracting her as Cristo took $6,400 in cash from a dresser drawer, the DA said.

An hour later they went to a house on Benham Street in Elmhurst, where the confused 86-year-old victim thought Howard was a woman named "Maria," offering her cookies and coffee as she entered the home.

She asked to use the bathroom at least 10 times, and later left, officials said. The victim was unsure if she took anything. 

And on Aug. 26, Rosie Cristo and Howard somehow were let into a home on Woodside Avenue in Elmhurst, where the victim offered cake to the pair.

Cristo stayed in the living room eating the cake, as Howard walked around the home, taking $200 in cash and the victim's credit card, the DA said. 

Police finally nabbed them as Tony Cristo drove off, and the credit card, cash — and the cake — were found in the car, the complaint says.

Officials say they're still investigating the case, and fear there could be more victims.

If anyone has information about similar incidents or may have come in contact with these individuals, please contact the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).