Manhattan man pleads guilty to stealing money from two Long Islanders in elder scam

Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney announced on March 1 the guilty plea of Ivan A. Inoasuero, 31, of Manhattan, for his role in a scam in which two elderly Suffolk County residents received phone calls where they were falsely informed that their grandchildren had been arrested in a different jurisdiction and they needed to send large sums of money to post their bail immediately.

“Since taking office in January of last year, I have been shocked and dismayed to see the degree in which fraudsters are targeting our elderly residents to steal money,” said District Attorney Tierney. “If you target the elderly in Suffolk County and fraudulently steal their money, you will be held responsible and required to pay back the money you stole.”

According to the investigation and the defendant’s admissions during his guilty plea allocution, Inoasuero posed as a bail bondsman and came to the Smithtown home of the first victim in April 2021 to pick up $15,000 where the elderly woman believed she was posting bail for her grandson. Inosuero again posed as a bail bondsman in December 2021 when he met a Stony Brook resident at MacArthur Airport to pick up $20,000 where again, the elderly man believed he was posting bail for his grandson.

On March 1,  Inoasuero pleaded guilty to Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, a Class D felony. He is due back in court on April 26 for sentencing. Inoasuero will be required to pay restitution back to the victims and if he does not, he faces up to two and a half to seven years in prison.

Criminal complaints and indictments are merely accusatory instruments. Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. No one is above the law.