Doorman Indicted for Stealing $477,000 from Retired UWS Teacher

A doorman at an Upper West Side building was indicted Oct. 2 for stealing more than $477,000 from a retired teacher and her husband, who are both now deceased

Alfredo Mateo, a 38-year-old from Yonkers, allegedly wrote 26 checks from the now-deceased teacher’s bank account, and a check from her late husband’s account, all of which he deposited into his own account. This all occurred while the teacher was living in a nursing home as an incapacitated person under court-ordered guardianship.

Her husband lived in an apartment at 380 Riverside Drive until his passing on Sept. 1.

Prosecutors charged Mateo also allegedly stole from the longtime teacher’s annuity and pension, submitting several falsified forms to the Teachers’ Retirement System of New York in mid-to-late 2023 — including two after the teacher’s death that July. He allegedly attempted, too, to impersonate the teacher herself on the phone in an attempt to change the phone number associated with her TRS Membership to his own number.

In all, it is believed that Mateo defrauded the couple of approximately $477,685, prosecutors charged starting in July 2022, when he wrote the first of 26 checks from the teachers account to himself and desposited the money in his own bank account.

“As alleged, Alfredo Mateo abused his access as a doorman to deplete the financial accounts of a retired teacher who was living in a nursing home, and her husband, who had recently passed away,” said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in a press release. “Those who take advantage of the access entrusted in them to target older community members and steal from hardworking New Yorkers will be held accountable.”

Mateo is being charged in a New York State Supreme Court indictment on 11 counts, including grand larceny in both the first and fourth degrees. Additional charges are one count each of second-degree criminal possession of stolen property, first-degree identity theft, second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument and first-degree scheme to defraud, and five counts of first-degree falsifying.

“Public service retirees are among the most vulnerable population[s] in our City,” said Special Commissioner Anastasia Colement in the press release. “There can be no tolerance for this type of fraud in any of our retirement systems.”

James W. Magee, who is the defense attorney for Mateo did not want to comment on the case when contacted by the West Side Spirit.