The parents of a girl who was molested in elementary school by her band teacher hold a portrait of their daughter. PHOTO: AP

Sitting on bench near the entrance to P.S. 262 in Brooklyn on Thursday afternoon, Maddy Cruz patiently awaits for her daughters to come out of the doors.  “I always tell my kids, ‘Don’t talk to any adult.’  I don’t care who it it is,” she says, shaking her head.

Cruz’s warnings to her children could not ring louder. Last year, 13 teachers were arrested for sexual misconduct, forcible touching and sex abuse across the country. But so far this year, over seven teachers and teachers’ aides in New York City have faced similar accusations.  The latest incident occurred on April 3 with the arrest of an assistant principal from P.S. 106 in the Bronx.

“Most parents do not talk to their kids about this,” Cruz says. As a survivor of sexual abuse by a family member, the mother of three is fully aware of the psychological and physical impact these incidents can have on a young life – and she makes sure that her two daughters, Skye, 12 and Jaylin, 5, know it too.

Since 1983, April has been designated Child Abuse Prevention Month—by presidential proclamation in 1983, according to The National Child Traumatic Stress Network. April is also National Sexual Assault Awareness Month. The aim of both programs: to help communities prevent child and sexual abuse. With new cases of misconduct surfacing almost every day, this year April’s awareness events seem more important than ever, especially for the parents of New York City school children.

The latest two cases in New York City involve an assistant principal, Joseph Ponzo, 59, from PS 106 school in Bronx – arrested just this Tuesday for allegedly cornering and touching two female students in the school corridor- and Esran Boothe, 49, a teacher at the Brooklyn Academy of Science and the Environment in Crown Heights, who has been accused of grabbing the buttocks of a 16-year-old female student just last week. Ponzo is said to have turned himself in to the police late Tuesday evening, but no other information on his case is available at this time.

According to the Department of Education, Booth has officially been transferred out of his teaching position and into a “desk job” pending legal proceedings. Parents were assured via public communication by school Chancellor  Dennis Walcott that the DOE is working hard to protect its students. Calls for comment about how the department is doing that were not returned.

The incidents have raised parental concerns. Cruz claims to be especially worried  because she says her two girls are “nice” and come from a loving home that has brought them up to be confident and trusting.

“I have always been aware and I have always told my kids to watch out for the signs, because I am a survivor myself,” she says. But, “Teachers touching kids is a surprise to me. [Children] are supposed to trust teachers to take care of them.”

Cruz seems to have trained her youngsters to be alert. “If the bad person tries to touch your cookies, what do you say?” Cruz asks her youngest, Jaylin. Little Jaylin doesn’t respond, but Skye is quick,  “I would tell my mom, or a teacher, or maybe my counselor,” she says.

Government assistance and resource guides are important to help fight the problem once it happens, but preventing it from happening at all should be more of a priority, experts say.

Indeed, this year’s awareness program is geared towards early prevention, both at home and in schools, writes Bryan Summers, Commissioner of the Administration on Children, Youth and Families on the organization’s website. An extensive resource guide published by the The National Child Traumatic Stress Network is available for free online and also takes parents through the dangers and the signs of abuse as well as offering prevention techniques, both inside and outside of the home.

“It has been proven that effective early prevention efforts are less costly to our nation and to individuals than trying to fix things later,” Summers wrote.

A key aspect of prevention is communication between parents and their children. Too often, children are afraid to speak out against authority figures—such as teachers—and that can contribute to the repression of sexual assault incidents.  And the longer that trauma is allowed to go on without parental or psychological support, the higher the chances are that children will develop long-term post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety, the NCTSN warns. Parents have to play an active role.

“I have been honest with my kids since they were old enough to know, that no one is allowed to touch them inappropriately,” Cruz says. “Secrets are not allowed [in our home]. If someone ever touches them inappropriately, I want to know. It can be the father, the brother, the uncle [or] the teachers especially because these kids trust and confide in teachers.”

Click here to listen to the interview: Sexual Abuse Survivor: Maddy Cruz

Besides encouraging their children to communicate, many New York City parents, like Cruz, have started demanding more scrutiny and safety in their children’s schools. The public’s backlash to the latest incidents has resulted in tighter supervision of student-teacher relationships, according to the Department of Education.  The education department has begun reviewing older cases of alleged misconduct and it is also developing measures to control teacher-student interactions both inside and outside the classroom. According to an official statement released in February, Chancellor Walcott and the DOE are looking to constrict interaction between students and teachers on social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter to avoid personal communication of any kind.

At this time, a total of four teachers aides have been fired, and two tenured teachers has been placed on temporary leave, as a result of the DOE’s increased investigation and review of over 230 cases of possible abuse dating back to 2000.

“We have been crystal clear about the consequences for this kind of behavior,” said Chancellor Walcott in a statement to the New York Times. “A staff member who violates the trust of our students and families does not deserve to work in our schools — period. Anyone who does will be removed, and we will do everything in our power to make sure they never work here again.”

Attempts to reach the United Federation of Teachers for its comments on new measures of teacher scrutiny were unsuccessful.

Parents like Cruz appreciates the system’s efforts, but Cruz adds that she does not believe that the department’s probing has gone far enough. “They [protection agencies] should make a big deal about it. And they should interview teachers and go beyond, go to their past, because the signs are all there,” she says.

“I do research,” Cruz adds, pointing to her youngest daughter. “I know her teacher’s name. I do research on the school.”

Cruz’s best advice to other concerned parents, however, is to “Listen, Listen, Listen.”

“If you know your child and you take time with your child, you will know the difference,” she says. “Just talk to your child every day, even if there are no signs, let your kids know that it is ok to talk to you.”

Cruz said specific signs do exist, however, including uncontrolled urination and the expression of constant fear for no apparent reason. Unusual new behaviors are a signal too.

“If you see that your child has become aggressive and angry and there is no aggression in the house, that’s a sign,” Cruz warns.

For aditional information on some tell-tale signs of abuse, read the accompanying “Tip Sheet – Sex Abuse: How to Spot the Signs” -with insight from former District Attorney, Ama Dwimoh.

Beatrice Mobley holding her Brooklyn Navy Yard Hospital I.D. (Photo courtesy of Beatrice Mobley)

Beatrice Mobley, believed to be one of the oldest surviving workers of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Hospital, sits at her dining room table in the Vinegar Hill area of Brooklyn, surrounded by mementos from various stages of her life. She picks up of her 66-year-old Brooklyn Navy Yard Hospital I.D. badge with its sepia-colored distressed picture, looks at it and smiles.

“I feel like I’m the only one left,” she says, adding that she was only 19 when she worked at the hospital.

The 85-year old’s memories are now part of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Oral History Project, an effort put together by the Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS) and 2011 Pulitzer Prize author and Brooklyn resident, Jennifer Egan.  The oral history project is part of the newly established Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at BLDG 92, which is an exhibition and visitors center. Its mission: to capture the stories of women and others who filled trade positions at the Brooklyn Navy Yard during World War II.

“These women paved the way for all of us in skilled professional fields today, and their oral histories are important records of personal experience that will be preserved to inspire future generations of innovative young women,” said Daniella Romano, vice president of BLDG 92 Exhibits and Programs-Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp.  Full-length oral history interviews are available at the BLDG 92 Resource Center and at the BHS Othmer Library by request.

Mobley, wearing a jade-colored jersey shirt and emerald green skirt and vest, is feisty, fashionable and full-of-faith. Her zest for life began in the rural enclaves of Savannah, Ga.  Although the climate of racism was strong in the 1940s, Mobley says she had a supportive family, great life and got along well with everyone.

“Some people came [to the north] from the south because they had it bad there,” she said. “But I didn’t come for that, because I had a job when I come from the south.  I always had good jobs.”

Mobley had been curious about Brooklyn, though, so in 1945 when she was 19-years-old, she left her 2-year-old son James, behind with her parents and abandoned her husband— whom she’d married when she was 15, but has never divorced, and headed north.  She immediately found work as a cook at the Brooklyn Navy Yard Hospital.

After more than six decades, despite her age, Mobley has vivid memories of that time. Since there were no buses then, she said she used to travel by trolley from her apartment in Bedford-Stuyvesant to the Navy Yard to work the 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. shift.  She chuckles now as she recalls how inexpensive things were.

“Carfare was five cents. That’s right, five cents to ride the trollies and the train,” she said.  She enjoyed working with the diverse staff. “The naval hospital was very friendly, you would never know it was segregated,“ she added.

From a young age, Mobley learned how to cook from her mother and found the Navy Yard as a suitable spot to show off her skills. “There was a big dining room, big kitchen because all the navy boys come from the ship.” Mobley didn’t have a signature dish but she helped to prepare foods like potatoes, string beans and roast beef for the hundreds of people who ate in the cafeteria.

After working for the Navy Yard for a year, Mobley, however, felt the call of her southern roots, so she returned to Georgia and also spent time in Florida where she worked as a cook for a local judge and his family.  But after a while, she missed Brooklyn, so in 1948 she returned, this time with her son, and has lived there ever since.

Mobley has lived in Farragut public housing for over 50 years. Sparsely furnished and neat, her apartment is decorated with silk roses and lace curtains with floral embroidery.

A professed loner, Mobley doesn’t have a lot of visitors except for a church member who checks on her weekly. Her son, who lives in Maryland, and other family members from other states, visit her periodically.   But she says that she’s not lonely and despite the poverty and crime that is prevalent in her neighborhood, Mobley says she’s never had any problems.

“I don’t live in fear,” she said boldly.  She attributes her fearlessness to her unwavering Christian faith. “Knowing God is with you, you don’t have to worry about nothing.”

Religion was a core part of her upbringing and the morals that were instilled in her as child resonated even thousands of miles away.  “My mother told me the do’s and don’t’s: never drink, never smoke, never party,” she recalled. “It’s a shame I’d never been to the movies because I wasn’t that type. I just went to church, come home and go to my job.”

But she does watch a little bit of television and listens to the radio occasionally but she’s not a fan of either.  She prefers spending time sewing, praying and reading the Bible.

Mobley has been a member of St. John’s Holiness Church in Bedford-Stuyvesant since she moved to Brooklyn and has served as a deaconess for over 50 years.  She used to drive all over the country but today she only drives her 1970 mint green Impala to church on Sundays or when she visits a friend at a nursing home.

After she returned to Brooklyn, Mobley worked as a cook, chauffeur and hairdresser for her Pastor at St. John’s for over 20 years until she passed away.  She then worked as a cook for different schools within the New York City Department of Education for close to 40 years.

“I was very faithful on my job,” she said. It was difficult for her to retire in 2010, because of a heart condition, from P.S. 287 where she served at for 30 years; she was affectionately called “Grandma” by students. To keep them close to her heart, she occasionally reads the dozens of handmade cards that students sent when she became ill.  “I love them too. I love my babies.”

Mobley has 21 grandchildren of her own so opening her heart to others came naturally. She has a special wall adorned with photographs of her family and a box full of photo albums, which she eagerly pulls out for a visitor.

“All the things I’ve been through, I still have my joy,” she said.  “My life is beautiful. I’m happy and satisfied.”

Dr. Betty Shabazz Health Center in East New York celebrated National Women’s Health Week with free health screenings and workshops May 11. The health fair helps to educate people in the community on how to take their medications, maintain regular doctor visits and ask the right questions when meeting with healthcare professionals, according to the Center’s Office Manager Maria Huertas.

“They’re not alone, we are here to service them and answer any questions,” she said of the community.

We talked with patients and staff at the Center and asked them about their biggest health concern.

Felicia Crespo, Patient

Robert Wheeler, Patient

Hafiz Maje, Doctor

Maria Huertas, Office Manager

Olivia Dordan, Outreach Consultant

Tamara Kee, Nurse Supervisor

Danielle Bengsch looks behind the scenes of a secret cookery in Bushwick. But keep it quiet, it’s not strictly legal…

Listen to the podcast:

By Danielle Bengsch

It is the oldest form of pornography and still flourishing: Erotic literature. Danielle Bengsch speaks to participants in an erotic writing workshop at “Shag” in Williamsburg.

Erotic literature is not only decoration at "Shag", a sex-shop in Williamsburg.

Enyonam Tolessi and her son Gabriel at their Irvington, NJ apartment. Photo courtesy of: Amanda Lucier

Listen to an audio interview with Enyonam Tolessi describing her experience as a victim of identity fraud:

–Mara Zepeda

John D’Emic is waiting to find out if he will be allowed to return to work as the Brooklyn Chief Deputy County Clerk. Enyonam Tolessi, an immigrant from Togo, is trying to repair her credit after almost a million dollars in mortgages were illegally obtained using her stolen identity. Their fates intertwined two years ago, and their futures hang in the balance.

Tolessi and D’Emic’s story is complicated. It features a dead man selling his house, a man posing as a woman to buy that house, a disbarred lawyer who orchestrated the sale, and a group of defendants that falsified mortgage documents, not to mention a pair of nuns who benefit from D’Emic’s community service sentence. The drama depicts the human cost of identity theft and mortgage fraud. It illuminates the lax lending practices that led to the subprime mortgage crisis. And it examines the fallout of two people’s lives, two years after the crime.

I. Nine Days in September

Some time in 2007, according to an indictment issued by the Queens District Attorney, Alan Morris, a disbarred lawyer, contacted John D’Emic about overseeing the closings for three real estate transactions. Morris hired D’Emic, then in private practice, as the attorney to represent either the buyer or the seller for these sales, which took place over nine days in September. In New York, lawyers often oversee the closings of residential home sales, and this is what D’Emic was hired to do. “We were just doing closings,” said D’Emic in an interview outside of his Bay Ridge home. “That was my only function.” D’Emic was familiar with and had done past litigation for John Weber and Associates, the firm where Morris worked.

One of the transactions D’Emic oversaw depicts the complexity of these three back-to-back sales, and the moment when D’Emic and Tolessi’s lives intersected. In this case, a seller with a stolen identity sells a house to a buyer with a stolen identity. The buyer and seller stand in a room at a closing, but neither is who they say they are.

On Sept. 13, 2007, what D’Emic describes as a routine closing for a Queens property took place. At least three people were in the room. The first was a buyer who gave the name of Enyonam Tolessi. That man appeared with stack of documentation proving his identity as Tolessi: employment references, accountant letters, a driver’s license, and a green card. According to the indictment, all of these documents were phony, and some of the defendants who are accused of fabricating them await trial.

The second person in the room was Alan Morris, disbarred since 1992, who acted as the agent for the lending company, Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo issued a mortgage for $490,500 in Tolessi’s name to go towards the purchase of the house, which sold for $635,000.

The third person in the room was the seller, a man who gave the name of Eugene Thomas. The Queens District Attorney would later learn that the Eugene Thomas was actually Willie Thomas (no relation), a man hired to play the role of the seller. Willie Thomas received $1,000 for his appearance at the closing. He later pleaded guilty to criminal impersonation and identity theft for his role in the scheme.

There was a fourth person involved, John D’Emic, who acted as attorney for the seller, Eugene Thomas. The indictment indicates that D’Emic arrived after the conclusion of the closing and subsequently signed off on the mortgage disbursement checks. D’Emic said he noticed nothing unusual about these three transactions. “It was just bang, bang, bang. Routine closings,” he said.

But this sale was far from routine. In November of 2008, two months after the sale, Dorothy Thomas, the widow of Eugene Thomas, started receiving foreclosure notices in the name of Tolessi Enyonam, apparently the new owner of her home. She reported to the DA’s Elder Fraud Unit that her home had been sold out from under her. In doing so Thomas, unknowingly, had connected the dots. The District Attorney’s indictment would later issue 66 counts against the nine people allegedly involved with the intricate fraud, including D’Emic and Morris. The investigation revealed that Enyonam Tolessi was a New Jersey woman whose identity had been stolen to take out the mortgage on Thomas’s home. And that Eugene Thomas had died in 1986, and his widow owned the house free and clear.

On September 13, 2007, a dead man sold his property to a man posing as a woman from Togo. Alan Morris represented the buyer and the lending agent, and D’Emic represented the seller.

II. Three Checks Still Raise Questions

John D’Emic looks like an unassuming civil servant. He is a short, balding man with rounded shoulders, glasses and a soft, understated voice. Something about his posture and comportment is like the popular images of St. Francis of Assisi, sporting a ring of hair and surrounded by animals. In January 2008, D’Emic was appointed Chief Deputy County Clerk for the Second Supreme Court Judicial district. The job came with a $96,910 annual salary, and the responsibility of managing the more than 1,000 people who report to jury duty at the Clerk’s office each week. Louis Fiorillo, a Deputy County Clerk at the Supreme Court Second Judicial District, said D’Emic was in charge of calling the right number of jurors for each trial and tracking their attendance. Almost a year into his new job, D’Emic’s involvement in overseeing three real estate transactions in 2007 would come back to haunt him.

In Nov. 18, 2008 the District Attorney charged D’Emic on 15 counts, including falsifying business records, conspiracy and engaging in a scheme to defraud as well as the sharing of compensation by attorneys, which is illegal. D’Emic was suspended from his job without pay at the County Clerk’s office immediately after the charges were announced.

On Oct. 1 of this year D’Emic pleaded guilty to the last count of sharing compensation, a misdemeanor. The remaining 14 charges were dropped. His sentence included a $10,000 fine and 30 days of community service. The Queens District Attorney refused to comment about whether D’Emic is cooperating with the investigation of the other defendants and why the other charges were dismissed.

“I worked everything out with the DA’s office,” D’Emic said, emphasizing that he did not plead guilty to the other more serious felony charges. “All I can tell you is that I’m innocent. And I agreed to this just to get rid of the case.” D’Emic is eager to put the case behind him and return to work. David Bookstaver, the Director of Communications for the Unified Court System confirmed that the Court has received correspondence from D’Emic’s lawyer requesting that his client’s job be reinstated. Deputy Chief Administrative Judge Fern A. Fisher will decide if and when D’Emic can return. Bookstaver said Fisher is reviewing the request and may consult others, but that it is unknown when the decision will be made.

In reviewing the case, Fisher may consider the nature of the crime that D’Emic pleaded guilty to: sharing compensation with Alan Morris. During the days surrounding the three sales, the indictment states that Morris issued three checks to D’Emic, each for $1,800, to compensate him for acting as attorney for the buyer or seller in the three sales. But the indictment also states that D’Emic then issued three checks back to Morris, each for $850, during the same time period. This is a violation of New York Judiciary Law, which prohibits the sharing of compensation by attorneys. One question that remains about these three small transactions is: Why did D’Emic pay Morris? D’Emic refused to comment about why he issued these checks to Morris, and what the money was for.

Alan Morris, the disbarred attorney also present at all three sales, admitted to participating in the fraud. Court documents show that he pleaded guilty to criminal facilitation, falsifying business records and conspiracy. He paid a $10,000 fine and is currently serving a 90-day sentence at the Eric M. Taylor correctional center on Rikers Island for his involvement in the scheme. He is expected to be released on November 28, according to the Department of Corrections. Morris’s attorney, Anthony Battisti, said D’Emic did not testify against his client. Morris’s wife, Leslie, had no comment.

What seems straightforward—D’Emic pleads guilty to a misdemeanor and Morris lands in jail—gets more complicated when all three properties are considered. Questions remain about D’Emic’s role as the attorney in these three sales.

On Sept. 13, as we know, D’Emic represented the seller—later identified a dead man— and that the house was sold to a person posing as the buyer Enyonam Tolessi. But this was not the first time that D’Emic had seen the name Enyonam Tolessi on a real estate transaction.

In fact the indictment states that just seven days earlier, on Sept. 6, D’Emic acted as the attorney for a buyer—a person claiming to be Enyonam Tolessi—in the purchase of another Queens house. This house, in Richmond Hill, sold for $545,000—and the person posing as Tolessi took out a mortgage for $533,850—almost 98% of the purchase price. In the course of a week D’Emic represented first the buyer then the seller in two transactions on mortgages totaling almost $1 million, both in Tolessi’s name, and both with Morris acting as the lending agent. On Sept. 14, D’Emic would also participate in a third sale, of a Brooklyn home, sold to a buyer with another, different stolen identity.

In some ways, D’Emic is right: these transactions could be considered routine at the time. From 2005 to 2007, the environment was ideal for fraudulent mortgage transactions like these, says Evans Prieston, a mortgage fraud attorney who practices in New York and California. “You had these mortgage products that had very little certification. There was so little verification required.” The three transactions in September that D’Emic oversaw took place during the heady days of this glut of available credit, when a sale could take place between two parties both with stolen identities, without the presence of a buyer’s credit report, and for 98% of a home’s purchase price.

The string of losses from 2005 to 2007 can now be considered the lending industry’s most expensive teachable moment. And to avoid history repeating itself, lenders now call Justin Vedder of The Prieston Group. The firm focuses on protecting lenders from mortgage fraud losses. “Business today want to make sure they have sound practices to protect themselves from the liabilities of the past,” says Vedder. He estimates that of the thousands of claims he investigated during this time period, 10 to 12 percent involved stolen identities or straw borrowers. “Mortgage fraud is the quickest way to get capital. No other investment instrument returns that much money.”

Fraud, he adds, was widespread during a time when banks issued the types of subprime, stated-income, no-documentation loans that ultimately led to the current financial crisis. As the three sales in September show, these transactions involved a cast of questionably qualified characters. In some cases, lending agents and brokers may have taken a simple test to gain certification, or were not certified at all. There was often no background check, or required continuing education on industry practices, or standardized licensing procedure. Vedder says that now “scrutiny on these individuals is going to be greater than ever before.” And with photo identification and a social security number, a buyer could gain access to a mortgage for hundreds of thousands of dollars. So while the fraudulent circumstances surrounding the three sales in September may have been routine by past standards, what is not as common is D’Emic’s participation in the sales.

Multiple transactions over short time period of time, a familiar cast of characters and the swapping of roles from sale to sale are all warning signs of potential deception, says Evans Prieston. “Any time the same person is involved in multiple transactions over a short period of the time where the borrowers are buying primary residences, it’s a red flag. It is something that should raise a red flag.” Prieston says that swindlers seek out lawyers who may ignore or not notice these signs and not practice due diligence. “Fraudsters are looking for overly trusting and perhaps not so fastidious people. People who permit a situation—fraudsters do that all the time.” Back-to-back sales over a few days allow the transactions to unfold before the deed is recorded in real estate records.

D’Emic refused to speak about the specifics of each transaction, the red flags he may have seen or missed, and his relationship with Morris. But he did talk about how he has almost completed his community service.

For the past month, D’Emic has fulfilled his sentence by driving two nuns from of Our Lady of Perpetual Help convent to their doctor’s appointments. After D’Emic’s sentencing, his wife Andrea approached Sister Madeline DiCarlo and explained her husband’s predicament. The two had previously worked together at a local high school. “Andrea told me about the case and that John had to do community service. She asked if I could use him in any way. He did take me back and forth to the doctor when I had an appointment,” said Sister Madeline DiCarlo. D’Emic has also ferried Sister Teresa Collins to and from her doctor’s appointments twice a week. Sister Collins isn’t sure when D’Emic will return to work, or how much more community service he has left to serve. “He said he could pick me up next week,” she said, and expected to see his maroon Volkswagen on Tuesday morning.

DiCarlo says the D’Emic family has suffered as a result of the charges. “It devastated them,” she says. “They were all very upset about it. I know that Andrea had a hard time gathering money at the beginning to pay the bail. She’s finding it hard now.” DiCarlo said she knows D’Emic is eager to return to work. “He was so down when he lost the job. He was so happy at his job. He’s looking forward to that day when he gets it back.”

But there are already signs that not everyone at the Clerk’s Office would be pleased with D’Emic’s return in light of his crime. “They’re entitled to their opinion” D’Emic said, when asked what his response would be to colleagues who questioned his ability and fitness to perform his job. D’Emic’s law license may also be reviewed. D’Emic says he’s sent notification of his plea to the state’s licensing body, the Supreme Court of the State of New York’s Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department. Attorneys are required to self-report within 30 days of a guilty plea or conviction. The Grievance Committee will investigate whether further action by the court is warranted. The options for addressing misbehavior by an attorney include public censure, suspension or disbarment. Until his fate as the Chief Deputy County Clerk and a lawyer is known, D’Emic will spend his days helping Andrea unload groceries from the car into their brick home, festively adorned with Thanksgiving decorations. And he will transport Sister Teresa to and from physical therapy appointments.

III. A Knock and a Nightmare

Twenty miles away from D’Emic’s Bay Ridge home, Enyonam Tolessi is also waiting, but her circumstances could not be more different. Tolessi, her husband and their two children—6 years old and 8 months—live in a 216 square foot studio apartment within a vast complex of residential buildings in Irvington, New Jersey. The apartment has a kitchenette, a bathroom, and a small closet coming off of the main living area. The living area has a table, used for dining and as a computer station, where Tonny Adjalle, Tolessi’s unemployed husband, searches for work. Beyond the table is a bed. Behind the bed is a crib. In front of the bed is a wardrobe. Next to the wardrobe is a couch, and next to it is a dresser. Across from the bed is a bookshelf.

In 1996, Enyonam Tolessi lost her wallet. This is the only incident she can think of that may have led to her present predicament a decade later. In late 2007, shortly after Dorothy Thomas reported to the DA that she had received foreclosure notices addressed to Tolessi Enyonam, the new owner of her house, two Queens DA detectives banged on the door of Enyonam Tolessi. She was not home, but Adjalle was. They asked for Tolessi Enyonam, and Adjalle said she was his wife. The detectives looked confused. The identification documents belonging to the Tolessi Enyonam who purchased two Queens houses indicated that the buyer was a man. Adjalle confirmed she was a woman and the detectives asked to see a photo. In the days after this visit, Tolessi would be told she was the victim of identity theft that resulted in almost $1 million worth of mortgages being taken out her name, which were in foreclosure. Tolessi went to the courthouse to testify and was shown documents with her name and the photograph of an unidentified man.

Since then, the family’s life has been derailed. Some of Tolessi’s credit cards were suspended, her credit score was decimated, her credit line frozen, her interest rates shot up and JP Morgan Chase, one of the lenders, still continues to call despite Tolessi explaining that she was not the person who bought the house. “I’m crazy right now. I’m crazy. You don’t feel like a normal person,” Tolessi says, rocking her youngest son in her arms and describing the embarrassment of being told by store clerks that her credit card is declined. “It’s been a nightmare up until now,” says Adjalle. They’ve heard nothing from Detective Patrick Dolan, one of the detectives who knocked on their door, since Tolessi went to testify more than a year ago.

The couple has no outside help, and with Adjalle, an IT specialist, out of work, there is no money to pay for legal assistance. Tolessi travels to Manhattan four days a week and works as a home care aid from 7 AM to 7 PM for an elderly woman. “We cannot afford a lawyer right now,” Adjalle says. “To tell you the truth we have no truth at all up to now. We don’t know how the process actually goes. Since we can’t afford a lawyer…and they’d be the only person who’d actually be able to handle the case.”

So what legal recourse do victims like Tolessi have? Prieston paints a grim picture of their options. Banks and mortgage lenders are in the best position to try to recoup their losses. They hire attorneys like Prieston to follow the trail of fraud and identify culpable individuals or companies that may have tangible assets to recover as compensation: settlement agents, brokers, appraisal firms. “You look at the litany of people who participated in the transaction, evaluate their duties and rights and pursue the people who fail to live up to their expectations,” Prieston says. But for a lawyer to take on an individual’s case, they must face a pragmatic reality: in pursuing a case will the plaintiff and the defendant have the opportunity to be compensated? “At the end of the day I have to have someone to pay you and pay me as the lawyer,” Prieston says. For cases like Tolessi’s, with a long list of defendants playing minor and major roles who probably have minimal assets, the pragmatic reality is devastatingly clear: the road to justice will be long, and will probably lead to empty pockets.

Tolessi feeds her baby a bottle and waits for Adjalle and her older son to return from church. “We just come here to look for better,” she says. “And I never thought such a thing would happen to me. Never. Never. I decided to come here to have a better life. Go to school. But my dream never come true. I’m trying to do my best.”

Ishita Singh

The legendary Gleason’s Gym has been in DUMBO since 1984. In that time, it’s seen the neighborhood flourish around it, while still maintaining it’s gritty, classic style.

Ishita Singh sends this audio postcard from the gym floor.