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Office of the District Attorney P. David Soares Elder Abuse Indictment of Bill Pavlides
ALBANY, NY – District Attorney P. David Soares today announced the indictment of BILL PAVLIDES , 69, of 132 Vineyard Street, Huntington, NY on Grand Larceny in the Second Degree and Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Second Degree. The Indictments allege that on in the first two weeks of March, 2004, PAVLIDES, believing that the hospitalized elderly victim was about to die, proceeded to forge a power of attorney document which he used to gain access to the victim’s safety deposit box in a local Trustco bank branch from which he stole an amount of cash and precious metals including a large number of gold coins with a total value of $180,000. PAVLIDES was initially blocked from accessing the safety deposit box since the power of attorney required that PAVLIDES had to be accompanied by Catherine Artopiades for the power of attorney to be valid. PAVLIDES then returned to the bank in the company of the 97 year old Artopiades and proceeded to remove the missing items. Artopiades is assisting the prosecution and has not been charged. District Attorney Soares said that there were two lessons to be learned from this case. “First, even safe deposit boxes are vulnerable when you share the key with untrustworthy individuals. Second, it is clear that our elderly and infirm citizens need special care and protection to avoid this kind of exploitation,” he said. If convicted on both counts, PAVLIDES faces 7 1/3 rd to 22 years in prison. PAVLIDES will be arraigned before the Honorable Stephen W. Herrick on Tuesday May, 24 th, 2005. PAVLIDES is being represented by John Aretakis, Esq. Back to Press Releases For further information contact: Richard Arthur
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