Multi-state scammer pleads guilty to swindling people out of property

BURGAW, NC (WWAY) — A multi-state scammer admitted to his crimes Thursday.

The District Attorney’s office says Roger Glenn Kornegay, 55, admitted to being the man behind a real-estate scam in North Carolina.

In Pender County court, Kornegay pleaded guilty to two counts of Obtaining Property by false pretenses in excess of $100,000 and five counts of Forger of a deed.

Prosecutors said Kornegay forged the deeds to three properties in Pender and Onslow counties in 2010 to transfer their ownership to him. Then, he sold those properties. He did this by stealing the identity of John Worley, an employee at the University of Mississippi, and by telling attorneys the deeds were for inter-family in-kind swaps to settle an estate.

“He was a very sophisticated criminal. Something of a nature of a Leonardo DiCaprio in ‘Catch Me If You Can.’ I mean it was really that sophisticated. Someone who often changed his identity not just through his name but through his images,” said New Hanover County District Attorney Ben David.

The judge gave Kornegay a consolidated sentence of 55 to 78 months in prison and ordered him to pay restitution in the amount of $392,000. David said when you combine his state and federal sentences, Kornegay will likely spend about 10 years in prison after spending his life lying and cheating.

In May, U.S. Marshals caught Kornegay in Colarado at the end of an investigation that stretched from North Carolina to Mississippi to Colorado.

Right now, Kornegay is serving a sentence in federal prison for possession of counterfeit commercial checks, and has pending warrants in several jurisdictions for multiple felonies related to financial card frauds and thefts.