Ex-NYC mortuary techs racked up $20K on credit cards stolen from dead people: feds
NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A pair of mortuary technicians racked up $20,000 in charges on credit and debit cards belonging to dead bodies that were in the New York City Medical Examiner's custody, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Charles McFadgen, 66, of the Bronx, and Willie Garcon, 50, of Brooklyn, were arrested and charged with stealing decedents' property on Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice for the Eastern District of New York said in a press release.
Garcon, who worked for the Medical Examiner's office between May 2018 and July 2020, was first arrested in May 2020 after state authorities in New Jersey discovered he had taken property from four people who died in New York City, prosecutors said.
An investigation found that Garcon made nearly $6,500 in unauthorized purchases — including buying a ticket for a flight from Newark to Fort Lauderdale — using credit and debit cards he stole from the four people who died, according to prosecutors.
McFadgen, who worked for the Medical Examiner's office from October 2003 up until he retired in July 2016, made more than $13,500 in unauthorized purchases using debit and credit cards taken from five bodies that were in the office's custody, prosecutors said.
The two men each face up to 10 years in prison if they are convicted, the release said. Their attorney information wasn't immediately available Tuesday.
