USA Today News Robert Berry

By Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY

As he had with other deaf people, John Berry wormed his way into the New York home of a mark by playing on their shared disability, police say.

He didn't stay long with Scott Westcott, who supported a family in Owego, N.Y., with disability payments and pay as a cook. But in that time, police say, Berry stole the man's mail, racked up his credit card and forged his checks for a total of $5,000 before slipping away.

Berry "is a big-time con artist who preys on the deaf community," says Leonard Jackson, a detective with the Tioga County (N.Y.) Sheriff's department. "He tells these people that he's a great guy, that he's short on cash and he'll pay them back. They fall for it hook, line and sinker."

"He gets by because no one ever questions him because of his disability," he says.

{Name edited}, of Rochester, N.Y., is one who says she fell for Berry's story.

"He reminds me of a deaf John Dillinger," she says.

Berry has left a trail of alleged victims who are deaf like he is:

• In New York, he's wanted for allegedly forging checks and fraudulent use of credit cards.

• In Massachusetts, he has been charged with sexually assaulting a child.

• In California, where he is jailed on $500,000 bond, he faces trial on 15 felony counts of illegally obtaining prescription drugs.

Now, the FBI has joined investigators in California. Federal and local authorities want to determine whether Berry has abused other children, how many other adults he may have defrauded and the extent of his prescription-drug abuse.

"What we're looking at is an individual who has victimized people nationwide and has become a parasite to a certain degree, preying on a community," says George Fong, FBI supervisory special agent in Sacramento and coordinator of the agency's Safe Streets program, a task force of local and federal law enforcement officers that fights violent crime.

Berry, 52, was arrested in March in California and is scheduled for trial June 22 on charges he illegally tried to get prescriptions for a morphine-like drug from several physicians. His court-appointed lawyer Dennis Hoptowit did not return phone calls.

Berry's alleged offenses are not unique. Most of his alleged crimes involve check forgery and obtaining prescription drugs illegally. What sets him apart is the relationship between his alleged victims and authorities.

"He is a hearing-impaired person, and you would expect that he would have the experience of being discriminated against," Butte County (Calif.) Assistant District Attorney Kevin Maloney says. "And yet he chooses to make people like this his victims with the knowledge that it's more difficult for them to report these things and get people to take them seriously."

Jackson says the deaf community tends to trust those who share their disability and are not used to dealing with law enforcement.

"The deaf community is kind of a culture unto themselves," Jackson says. "They don't really trust the police. I don't know if it's the language barrier. But at times it's hard to communicate with them."

{Name edited} says Berry found her like he found most of his victims, trolling Internet chat rooms that are frequented by deaf people from coast to coast:

{Name edited}, who is deaf, met Berry while teaching a course on defensive driving in 2004 in Binghamton, N.Y. In chat rooms she says he portrayed himself as a drug- and alcohol-abuse counselor who was well off, she says.

"He uses his charm personality," she wrote in an e-mail. "He lied to deaf women about his living conditions such as he claimed to have a house, small plane and new car."

Berry stole her credit card and bought prescription medication with it, {Name edited} says. She says she was "on cloud nine" when she heard of his arrest in California and wants to see him extradited to New York to face charges there.

"I describe him as a persuasive, manipulative, and evasive," {Name edited} says.

Maloney compares Berry's alleged victims to speakers of a foreign language who are embarrassed that they've been swindled and are uncertain of whom to trust. He says police and prosecutors who are struggling under heavy caseloads may not have the time or resources to help deaf victims.

"It's not any different than a newly arrived Asian immigrant who gets taken advantage of in New York or San Francisco or Dallas," Maloney says. "It may be hard for them to get their point across."

{Name edited} says that is true.

"I am sure that a Spanish speaking person would want the authorities to speak his/her tongue," {Name edited} says in an e-mail.

One of the most serious charges Berry faces is in Framingham, Mass, where he is accused of molesting a child, according to the Middlesex County district attorney's office.

Berry had convinced the child's mother, who is deaf, to let him stay with the family, says Paul Kelley, a detective with the Framingham police department. Kelley says Berry then sexually assaulted her daughter, who was 5 at the time.

If convicted, he could be imprisoned for life.

That case is of particular interest to the FBI, Fong says.

"We're looking at his travels out here," Fong says. "We're looking at the people he's dealt with to see if he has abused them. We're also very interested to see if children or minors were present who may have been molested or exploited."

In the case involving the Westcotts in New York, Berry used the money he stole to obtain painkillers, visiting as many as 20 doctors to get prescriptions, Jackson says.

Eventually, relatives of the alleged victim who were not deaf contacted authorities, Jackson says. Westcott brought police the notices from collection agencies and utilities threatening to cut his service.

"That's the tough part," Jackson says of cases involving deaf victims. "These people just sort of suck it up and move on."

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I will be SMAHT said:

damn, that guy got away with it! my goodness so true that we tend to suck it up and move on. and yet, we still never forgets the moment.

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If convicted, he could be imprisoned for life.

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R.A.W. said:

{Mod Note: Anyone requesting a link to this story, PM R.A.W. or Wisdomlady}

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