Escapee charged in $1-million LI scam

A California man was charged Friday with scamming a Long Island company for more than $1 million while he was on the lam for two years after escaping a federal lockup, prosecutors said.

Richard Lagerveld, 52, had been convicted in 2005 for bilking two Long Island companies out of a total of $9.2 million and sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, according to court records.

But in 2009, federal officials allowed Lagerveld to travel unescorted by Greyhound bus from one minimum-security prison in California to another as part of an honors program for low-risk inmates. He was supposed to rendezvous with a federal official in Nevada, who would then drive him to the second facility, according to prison officials and court records.

He never showed up, and eluded authorities until U.S. marshals nabbed him in May in Sacramento, Calif., court records said.

Lagerveld was charged Friday not only with escape, but also with three counts of fraud for allegedly reprising his old scam while he was a fugitive, according to an indictment filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Ott in the federal court in Central Islip.

In 2005, he was convicted of cheating Garden City Group, a Melville-based company that administers funds in class-action lawsuits, and David Berdon and Co. of Jericho, which specializes in processing class-action lawsuit claims, out of $9.2 million, court records said.

His method involved forging identification and brokerage statements of fictitious people and claiming they were entitled to money as victims in a class-action suit, according to federal authorities.

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In the latest charges, Lagerfeld, a law school graduate who never practiced the profession, was accused of again scamming Garden City Group, according to court records.

FBI agents recovered almost all the proceeds of the 2005 swindle from Lagerveld's bank accounts. Back then, he was living in a seedy apartment in San Diego, spending most of his time hanging out a homeless shelter, according to officials.

His capture three months ago in Sacramento came before he had a chance to collect the $1,060,569.18 in more recent payouts for the claims he had filed with Garden City Group, court records say.

Lagerveld's attorney, Randi Chavis, said her client planned to plead not guilty, but declined to further comment. No date has been set for Lagerveld's arraignment.

Robert Nardoza, a spokesman for federal prosecutors, declined to comment.

Officials of the Garden City Corp. didn't return phone calls.

Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesman Charles Ringwood Friday defended the decision to let Lagerveld travel alone.

He said Lagerveld's transfer was part of a program designed to save taxpayers the expense of using guards as escorts.

"We were very surprised," said Ringwood, who added the practice continues for low-risk inmates.