A probe into an East Village ghost gun factory uncovered a massive scheme involving 10 government workers, including a disgraced ex-NYPD officer, who conspired to steal more than $1 million by taking advantage of New York City’s needy, prosecutors alleged Thursday.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office slapped 18 people with a series of charges from four indictments that included conspiracy to manufacture ghost guns, conspiracy to rip off the state’s pandemic benefits program and residential burglary that all stemmed from a probe that got underway in 2022.
District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement the fraud scheme was largely conducted by city workers, including several from the Department of Homeless Services, who “abused their position of public trust for personal gain.”
Other public servants caught up in the legal trouble included an NYPD school safety officer, an MTA worker, a NYCHA staffer, and a pair of US Postal Service employees.
Former NYPD officer and current DHS staffer Charde Baker, 35, along with an unnamed co-conspirator and other agency workers, are accused of stealing the identities of unsuspecting victims, including homeless residents under the city’s care, to take in hundreds of thousands of dollars through fraud.
Baker and the unnamed co-conspirator were the alleged ringleaders in the plot that submitted fake pandemic unemployment assistance claims to the state Department of Labor in the victims’ names.
After the claims were accepted, bank cards were issued and mostly sent to an Upper East Side address, where another unnamed co-conspirator, a postal worker, intercepted them and gave them to other defendants to access the stolen funds, prosecutors said.
Overall, 16 suspects, including five DHS employees, grabbed $1.2 million in payouts from the more than 170 false applications they sent in, the district attorney’s office said.
Assistant District Attorney Michael Kelley said during Baker’s arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court that she spent the funds on high-end shopping and international vacations during the scheme.
Baker would travel with another co-defendant “where they clearly used money from the fraud on vacation to enjoy themselves,” Kelley said.
She joined the NYPD in 2022 but was fired the following year and returned to her old job at DHS.
Before she joined the NYPD, she and her boyfriend, who is also facing charges, planned a burglary after one of the other co-conspirators wasn’t sharing money from the sprawling scheme, Kelley alleged. Two men later broke into the apartment and took $30,000 in cash.
Baker was charged with fourth-degree conspiracy and burglary in the two indictments. Her bail was set at $200,000 cash by Judge Laura Ward.
School safety officer Shenice Roberts is accused of ripping off seven victims with fraud claims for more than $140,000 sent to her home, in which she got a cut of the pie, Kelley said.
At one point when she asked Baker for help with claims, she allegedly said, “F these people. Put in a higher amount of income for them,” prosecutors said.
The massive fraud scheme was unearthed after investigators dug around a ghost gun operation, Bragg’s office said.
An unnamed co-conspirator and his friend Adrienne Manigault, 25, allegedly bought hundreds of thousands of dollars in 3D printing machines, printing materials and ghost gun parts from eBay and Amazon, while exchanging texts on the items they were buying, according to the first indictment tied to ghost gun charges.
The two would also send photos and videos of the finished product to each other between May 2022 and January 2023, the district attorney’s office alleged.
The second indictment brought by prosecutors accused a co-conspirator and Craig Freeman, 56, of making ghost guns from May 2022 through mid-January of the following year.
The unnamed suspect allegedly shared 3D printing files, templates and more information with Freeman so he could construct his own weapons, including a zip file with a guide on how to make a .22-caliber pistol.
“We see a clear link between those engaging in violent crimes and traditional white-collar fraud at the same time,” Bragg said in a statement.
The slew of charges was jumpstarted after authorities began investigating a ghost gun factory that prosecutors have said was run by Cliffie Thompson out of his East Village apartment.
He was indicted in January 2023 and pleaded guilty to related charges last November.
