Watervliet man could face 15-to-life in theft of woman’s house

PHOTOGRAPHER: Steven Cook

A Watervliet man could face up to 15 years to life in state prison after being found guilty of essentially stealing an elderly woman’s house, Albany County district attorney’s officials said.

Michael O’Brien, 44, was found guilty last week in Albany County Court of second-degree grand larceny and fourth-degree conspiracy, both felonies.

O’Brien was convicted of working with two other people to transfer the ownership of a Cohoes home from the woman to the co-conspirators. One of the alleged co-conspirators, identified as Lauran Parker, was O’Brien’s mother.

O’Brien and Parker used their relationship with the victim to have the victim transfer the home’s deed to them, officials said. The woman had lived there for 30 years and did not have the mental capacity to transfer the property, officials said.

O’Brien then contacted the Cohoes treasurer and posed as the grandson of the woman who owned the house. None of the three conspirators are related to the woman, officials said.

The deed in hand, O’Brien then tried to negotiate a sale of the property to a neighboring business. That sale never went through, officials said.

O’Brien is to be sentenced Aug. 4. His prior record makes him a possible persistent felon. If he is judged as such, he would face up to 15 years to life in state prison.

His two co-defendants, Parker and another woman identified as Delia Price, each pleaded guilty previously to conspiracy and are to be sentenced later to 1 to 3 years in prison. Parker’s and Price’s ages and cities of residence were unavailable Monday.