Thomas Prusik-Parkin Impersonated Dead Mother in 6-Yr Money Scam

by cyn.khoo | June 17, 2009 at 01:47 pm

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Thomas Prusik-Parkin impersonated his mother Irene Prusik for six years in a money collection fraud, after she died in 2003. Parkin, who was in financial difficulty, dressed up in a wig, sunglasses, nail polish, and old-fashioned clothing in order to collect his mother Irene Prusik's Social Security benefits and rent subsidies.

Parkin also hired an accomplice, Mhilton Rimolo, to play the role of his nephew, in addition to sporting a cane, fake ID, and renewed driver's license. Altogether he collected over $100,000 in his mother's identity.

On top of that, Parkin filed for bankruptcy as his mother, obtaining almost $40,000 that went towards an apartment in Park Slope, a Brooklyn neighbourhood in New York. He avoided discovery by giving to the funeral home a birth date and Social Security number other than Prusik's.

The fraud was only revealed when Brooklyn police investigated Parkin's apartment building, which is in the midst of a mortgage fraud case. Parkin and Rimolo were both sentenced with a 47-count indictment.

Finally, for those seeing an elephant named Norman Bates in the room:

Here's where it gets really creepy. Parkin impersonated his deceased mother for so long that he appears to believe he actually assumed her identity.

"I held my mother when she was dying and breathed in her last breath, so I am my mother," Parkin told cops when he was arrested.