NY Man Posed as Dead Mom in Alleged Fraud Scheme

Shades of Norman Bates in Psycho: A Brooklyn man accused of dressing up as his dead mom to collect Social Security checks and rent subsidies worth $115,000 has been indicted on 47 counts of grand larceny, forgery, and conspiracy, the New York Daily News reports. Thomas Prusik-Parkin, 49, and his accomplice, who posed as the frail woman's nephew, face 25 years in prison and have pleaded not guilty.

The elaborate 6-year scam began when Prusik-Parkin gave the funeral director the wrong Social Security number for his mother so her death wouldn't register. A man who now owns Prusik-Parkin's foreclosed $2.2 million home tipped off authorities, who weren't fooled by the schemer's red dress, dark sunglasses, and scarf covering his Adam's apple. "He has rather large hands," said one.
(More Thomas Prusik-Parkin stories.)