Queens Local News: Mystery Man Pleads Guilty to Steal Multiple Houses

Queens Man Using Multiple Aliases Sentenced for Stealing Three Homes 

Queens Voice 

November 14, 2025

QUEENS LOCAL NEWS - A man known to authorities only as John Doe—because he’s used so many names over the years—has been sentenced for stealing three homes across Queens in an elaborate deed fraud scheme. Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced the sentencing on November 13, noting that the defendant will serve 4½ to 9 years in prison for the property thefts. And that’s in addition to a separate sentence he received last month for identity theft.

If the story sounds complicated, that’s because it is. The defendant was arrested earlier this year using the name Carl Avinger, and for a while, investigators believed that was who he was. But once the case hit the news, the real Carl Avinger—living in Tennessee—saw the coverage and contacted the DA’s Office. That revelation blew open an entirely different crime: identity theft.

DA Katz said her office was determined not only to hold the defendant accountable for the deed thefts, but also to get justice for the real Avinger. She explained that “the defendant assumed the identity of numerous people to enrich his life,” and praised her Housing and Worker Protection Bureau for sticking with the case through all its twists.

And there were plenty of them.

The defendant, whose background details still can’t be fully confirmed, pleaded guilty in August to first-degree identity theft and was sentenced on October 1 to 3½ to 7 years in prison. Then, just a week later, he pleaded guilty again—this time to grand larceny charges tied to the deed fraud scheme. Those pleas resulted in the additional sentence handed down on November 13, which will run at the same time as his earlier prison term.

Prosecutors say the defendant worked with three co-defendants—Torey Guice, Autumn Valeri, and Lawrence Ray—and several companies to steal three houses in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens Village, and Jamaica Estates. The group allegedly targeted homes whose owners were deceased or absent, then filed fraudulent documents to transfer ownership to themselves or their shell companies.

Part of the deception involved using the stolen identity of “Carl Avinger.” According to investigators, the defendant even applied to renew a New York driver’s license in that name in November 2024, using a St. Albans address where the license was later mailed.

The real Avinger told authorities that he knew the defendant years earlier, in 2003, when they briefly lived together in North Carolina and his ID and Social Security cards mysteriously disappeared. His sister also recognized the defendant as the person she remembered by the nickname “Ace.”

Once investigators dug into the defendant’s record, they discovered a criminal history stretching back decades. Between 1993 and 2025, he had been arrested 12 times under names including:

• John Stamp
• Bobby Jackson
• Craig Taylor
• Carl E. Avinger
• Anthony S. Williams
• Kevin C. Windley
• Corey Blake Duncan

The mix of aliases and dates of birth made tracing his history—and confirming who he really is—especially challenging.

Co-Defendants Also Sentenced

Each of Doe’s co-defendants has already pleaded guilty:

• Torey Guice pleaded guilty to falsifying business records and received a one-year conditional discharge.
• Autumn Valeri admitted to three counts of second-degree grand larceny, was sentenced to five years of probation, and must surrender her real estate license.
• Lawrence Ray pleaded guilty to a scheme to defraud and is expected to receive five years of probation and must forfeit more than $403,000.

All three must consent to voiding the fraudulent deeds they were involved in.

Because two of the stolen properties have since been transferred to new owners, prosecutors plan to use a special state law—Criminal Procedure Law 420.45—to void the fraudulent deeds after sentencing. Queens prosecutors have become known for using this law; this will be the sixth time since 2023.

As DA Katz put it, her office refused to stop digging until they uncovered the truth—and until the real victims, including the real Carl Avinger, saw justice served.