By Michele Evans / NYweeklyRecord.com / Date: 11/7/2026
Category: Criminal Courts / Elder Justice / Housing Accountability / Consumer Protection
NEW YORK CITY, NY –
New York’s first conviction under its criminal deed-theft law will return a Queens widow’s home to her family after a scheme that prosecutors said used forged documents to seize the property while she was receiving hospice care.
Victor Quimis, 40, pleaded guilty Thursday in Queens Supreme Court to two counts of first-degree grand larceny and one count of second-degree residential mortgage fraud. The plea was entered before Justice Leigh Cheng, according to Attorney General Letitia James.
The conviction is not an abstract test of a new statute. It concerns the Kew Gardens Hills home where Renuka Bherwani lived for nearly four decades. Bherwani owned the house with her late husband, Mohan, and was receiving end-of-life care there when the theft occurred.
State investigators said Quimis and Deepa Roy forged Bherwani’s signature on documents that transferred ownership of the home to themselves in October 2024. A notary’s signature and stamp were also forged, the attorney general’s office said.
Prosecutors said a second forged deed transferred the property in December 2024 to Hunter Studios & Developer Corp., a company owned by Quimis. He then obtained a $552,500 mortgage secured by the home.
After paying off Bherwani’s existing mortgage and liens that had been placed in his name, Quimis transferred the remaining $312,037.57 to Hunter Studios accounts and used the money for his personal benefit, investigators said. The attorney general alleges Roy received at least $15,000 from the proceeds.
Quimis is scheduled to be sentenced on January 15, 2027. The attorney general’s office said the negotiated sentence is one and a half to four and a half years in state prison. At sentencing, the two deeds are expected to be vacated and the home returned to Bherwani’s family. Prosecutors also plan to ask the court to void the mortgage.
Roy, 69, has pleaded not guilty. The allegations against her have not been proven, and she is presumed innocent unless convicted. Her trial is scheduled for February 8, 2027.
The family discovered the deed change in December 2024 after opening mail at the house. A city Department of Environmental Protection letter addressed to Quimis congratulated him as the property’s new owner and explained how to set up an online account. Bherwani’s son, Kamal, and daughter-in-law, Sabita, reported the matter to the attorney general.
Bherwani died in June 2025. Her son, who serves as executor of her estate, said the guilty plea gives the family a path to recover the house that was stolen from his mother.
The case shows how deed theft can hide inside routine paperwork. A forged deed, an improperly used notary stamp and new billing records can make a fraudulent transfer appear legitimate long enough for a thief to borrow against a home or sell it. By the time a family sees the warning signs, the title may be clouded by liens, mortgages and additional transfers.
That is why the remedy matters. A prison sentence can punish the person who admitted the crime, but it does not by itself restore ownership. Vacating the deeds and addressing the mortgage are necessary to return the property without leaving the family trapped in a separate civil fight over title and debt.
The plea is the first conviction under a state law enacted to make deed theft easier to prosecute as a crime. Lawmakers strengthened the statutes after years of complaints that older homeowners, heirs and residents in rapidly appreciating neighborhoods were vulnerable to forged transfers and predatory schemes.
The result also tests whether the new law can deliver more than a headline. Prosecutors must still follow through at sentencing, ensure that the deeds are actually vacated, seek relief from the mortgage and record the corrections needed to restore clear title.
Other families may not discover a theft through a congratulatory letter. Warning signs can include unfamiliar mail about a mortgage, tax or utility account changes, notices addressed to a new owner, or deed records that a homeowner did not authorize.
This case establishes accountability for Quimis through his own guilty plea. It does not establish Roy’s guilt, and her case must be decided separately. The public record now contains one conviction, a promised return of the property and a family waiting for the court orders that will make that promise real.
Sources
New York Attorney General: First Conviction Under New York’s Criminal Deed Theft Law
Queens Daily Eagle: Queens Man Becomes First Convicted Under New York’s New Deed-Theft Law
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