Queens DA: Commack real estate agent charged in scheme to forge property deeds

A real estate agent from Commack and three cohorts face a slew of charges for allegedly "stealing three homes" in Queens by forging the rightful owners' signatures, submitting bogus deed transfers and in one case, selling the property, Queens District Attorney Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced Tuesday.

Autumn Valeri, 41, of Commack, was arraigned on multiple counts of grand larceny, identity theft, falsifying business records and other charges, according to a 47-count indictment from Katz that also named Carl Avinger, 42, of St. Albans, Queens, Lawrence T. Ray, 38, of Jamaica, Queens, and Torey Guice, 40, of Roselle, New Jersey.

Valeri is listed as a licensed real estate associate broker and the vice president of the East Northport division of Fave Realty Inc., which has offices on Long Island and elsewhere in the state, according to its website. Ray is the owner of Shuler Management LLC, Kubick Ray Kubick LLC and Castaneda Ray Family LLC, Queens prosecutors said.

The defense attorneys listed in court documents for Valeri, as well as for Avinger, Guice and Ray, did not immediately respond Tuesday to telephone messages left at their four respective offices.

In a news release, Katz's office said defendants sold a home in May 2023 to a "third party" for $600,000. About $442,000 in proceeds from the sale was wired to a TD Bank account controlled by Kubick Ray Kubick LLC, according to Katz's office.

The purchaser of the home "has since filed a civil suit against the victims claiming legal rights to the home," according to Katz’s office. The suit is on hold because of the criminal case, prosecutors said.

On or around April 10, 2023, Valeri and Avinger acted "in concert" with two others to file a false document with the New York City Department of Finance that "recorded the deed transfer of a home on 208th Street in Jamaica Estates from a 76-year-old woman, who is the rightful owner, to Shuler Management LLC, owned by Ray."

Two signatures on the deed were deemed fraudulent: that of a former co-owner who died in 2016 and that of the notary, prosecutors said in the release.

A few weeks later, prosecutors said, on or around April 28, 2023, Valeri and Avinger, "acting in concert with Ray," performed a similar fraudulent deed transfer by forging the signatures of a notary as well as a mother and daughter who rightfully owned a home at 61st Road in Kew Gardens Hills in Queens. The home was transferred to Kubick Ray Kubick LLC, who sold the home the following month, according to prosecutors.

Valeri and other defendants allegedly undertook a third fraudulent scheme, transferring a home on Kendrick Place in Jamaica Estates from an 82-year-old woman to Castaneda Ray Family LLC, through the filing of documents with forged signatures, according to the district attorney.

Valeri, as well as Avinger and Ray pleaded not guilty Tuesday before state Supreme Court Justice Leigh Cheng in Queens to identity theft, forgery, grand larceny and other charges, according to court documents.

Guice also pleaded not guilty to identity theft, forgery, grand larceny and other charges, court records show.

Avinger, Ray and Valeri face up to 25 years in prison, while Guice faces up to 15 years. They are scheduled to return to court on April 29.