Prison for man who impersonated dead mom

NEW YORK, May 22 (UPI) -- A New York man was sentenced to 13 2/3 to 41 years in prison for dressing up as his dead mother as part of a scam to collect her Social Security benefits.

Thomas Prusik-Parkin, 52, who was convicted earlier this month of grand larceny and mortgage fraud, was sentenced Monday in Justice Vincent Del Giudice's courtroom, the New York Post reported Tuesday.

The court heard Prusik-Parkin doctored documents related to his mother, Irene Prusik, only days after her death at the age of 73 in 2003. The scheme fell apart in 2009 when he donned his mother's clothing to tell an investigator from the Brooklyn District Attorney's office he was being scammed by a man who bought a $2.2 million Park Slope building deeded to him by his mother out of foreclosure.

The jury was shown a video of Prusik-Parkin visiting the Department of Motor Vehicles in his mother's clothing.

"It just boggles the mind that you continued this plan of deceit by impersonating her and committing a fraud at the DMV," Del Giudice said.