UWS Doorman Pleads Guilty to Stealing Nearly $500K from Elderly Couple

An Upper West Side doorman has confessed to stealing almost half a million dollars from an elderly couple who lived at his building, according to a press release from the office of the Manhattan D.A.

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Alfredo Mateo, 38, pleaded guilty in New York State Supreme Court to charges including grand larceny and identity theft, after prosecutors revealed he siphoned $477,685 from a retired New York City schoolteacher and her late husband. The plea deal includes a sentence of 1 to 3 years in state prison, the forfeiture of $115,638, and a judgment order in favor of the victims. Mateo was first indicted in October.

The scheme began unraveling after the husband, who had remained in the couple’s apartment at 380 Riverside Drive (at the corner of West 110th Street), died in September 2022. His wife, living in a nursing home under court-ordered guardianship, had been considered legally incapacitated.

Just one day after the husband’s death, Mateo deposited the first of 26 stolen checks into his personal bank account. He wrote many of the checks out to himself with misleading memos, while also withdrawing $3,000 from the husband’s bank account.

He also allegedly targeted the teacher’s pension and annuity benefits, going so far as to steal mail from the Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS) and forge documents to redirect payments into his own account. Between May and October 2023, he submitted five falsified TRS forms—two of which came after the teacher’s death in July.

Mateo is also accused of stealing pension checks mailed after her passing, and of making two phone calls to TRS pretending to be the 91-year-old woman. During the second call, he even attempted to disguise his voice to sound like an elderly woman, prosecutors said.

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“Using more than two dozen stolen checks, Alfredo Mateo depleted the bank accounts these New Yorkers built over the course of decades of hard work,” said Manhattan District Attorney Bragg.“While both victims have sadly passed away, we were determined to hold Mateo accountable for this disturbing fraud. Alongside our investigative partners, we will remain vigilant in protecting older New Yorkers’ hard-earned savings, including those who dedicated their lives to teaching young people.”

Sentencing is scheduled for September 24, 2025.

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