James Mcinerney Convicted of Scamming Senior of Over $100,000
CARMEL, NEW YORK – June 29, 2021 Putnam County District Attorney Robert V. Tendy announced today that James Mcinerney, of Coram, New York was convicted after a jury trial of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, Attempted Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, and Resisting Arrest.
As proven at trial, from July 2018 to December 2018, Mcinerney, using the alias “James Bryant,” held himself out as the owner of an asset recovery business. He contacted an 85-year-old woman in Cold Spring, alleged that she was being overcharged or fraudulently charged by other companies, and offered to obtain refunds for her. As a result of these promises, the victim gave the defendant a total of $103,050 over approximately six months. After this case was referred to the New York State Police, police investigators were given control of the victim’s e-mail account and began communicating with the person believed to be “James Bryant.” Mcinerney, unaware that he was speaking to law enforcement, attempted to obtain an additional $7,250 by falsely claiming that he made a payment to a company on the victim’s behalf that she needed reimburse him for. He was arrested on January 11, 2019, when he drove from Long Island to the victim’s residence to, he believed, pick up a check from her for this amount. After a plainclothes investigator in the victim’s house identified himself as a member of the state police, Mcinerney physically resisted the investigator’s attempts to place him under arrest.
Mcinerney is scheduled to be sentenced by County Court Judge Joseph J. Spofford, Jr. on August 17, 2021. He faces a maximum aggregate sentence of 9 ½ to 19 years’ incarceration in state prison.
D.A. Tendy would like to thank the members of the jury for their careful consideration of the evidence in this case. He would also like to thank the New York State Police, particularly Senior Investigator Paul Schneeloch of the Major Crimes Unit and Investigator Steven Schmoke of the Violent Gang and Narcotics Enforcement Team, for their work in the investigation of this case.
“There are so many scams out there, sadly our seniors are often targeted. We are doing everything we can to educate seniors about these scams and vigorously prosecute these cases when an arrest is made” Tendy said.
The case was prosecuted by First Assistant District Attorney Larry Glasser and Assistant District Attorney Mackenzie Ferguson.
