Man Jailed For Horsham Fraud Scheme (ICYMI)

HORSHAM, PA — A New York man has been sentenced to state prison for a home-equity credit fraud scheme that targeted a Horsham man, among others.

Lee Moyer Joseph, 53, of Brooklyn, pleaded guilty last week in Bucks County to counts of forgery, theft, access device fraud, identity theft and other charges. He was sentenced by Judge Wallace H. Bateman, Jr., to 18-36 months in prison and seven years of probation, as well as $58,000 in restitution.

Joseph admitted to using stolen identification information to take money from the home equity credit lines of a man in Horsham and a couple in Doylestown, according to the Bucks County District Attorney's office.

"Homeowners should be able to feel secure about the equity they have in their homes. This defendant was a homeowner's worst nightmare," said Deputy District Attorney Marc J. Furber. "Using the victims' personal identifying information, he systematically looted the equity that they had in their homes."

The Horsham man and Doylestown couple had home equity lines of credit with Chase Bank, prosecutors say. In January 2018, Joseph used their identifying information at branches of the bank in New Jersey to open new accounts in their names, then transfer money from their real accounts into the fake accounts.

Later, he made a series of cash withdrawals from those accounts totaling $58,000.

Bank security cameras captured Joseph on video making the withdrawals. In one instancde, a bank employee declined a transaction when he used a fake ID that had his photo along with one of the victims' information.

The victims reported the fraudulent accounts after discovering them in February 2018, prosecutors said.