Man Poses as Dead Mom to Collect BenefitsNorman Bates would get along well with this guy

By  http://www.nbcnewyork.com/results/?keywords=JENNIFER+MILLMAN&author=y&sort=date - JENNIFER MILLMAN

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If they gave out pardons for high-quality impersonations, Thomas Prusik-Parkin, seen here dressed as his mother in a DMV surveillance photo, would never see a day of jail. His accomplice Mhilton Rimolo plays the concerned nephew. 

Getting busted for dressing up as your deceased mom so you can collect her checks can be a real drag.

Sporting a wig, sunglasses, nail polish and old-fashioned garb, Prusik-Parkin managed to collect more than $100,000 in Social Security benefits and rent subsidies, http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/06/17/2009-06-17_cops_brooklyn_man_impersonates_dead_mother.html - according to The New York Daily News .

But he didn't act alone. The makeup-laden schemer crafted a detailed fa�ade, using a cane, fake ID and even inventing a fake nephew, played by alleged accomplice Mhilton Rimolo,  to help convince government agencies to shell out the dough.

Cops busted the 49-year-old yesterday and charged him with grand larceny, forgery and conspiracy in connection with the plot, the http://www.nbcnewyork.com/topics?topic=Daily+News+LP - Daily News reported.

Here's where it gets really creepy. Prusik-Parkin impersonated his deceased mother for so long that he appears to believe he actually assumed her identity.

"I held my mother when she was dying and breathed in her last breath, so I am my mother," Prusik-Parkin told cops when he was arrested.

Norman Bates would get along well with this guy.

The scheming son launched his plan right after his mom, Irene Prusik, died in 2003. She was 73.

How'd Thomas keep his mother's death off the books? He allegedly proffered the wrong date of birth and Social Security number to the funeral home that handled her burial, according to the Daily News, and started raking in $700 each month in Social Security checks on top of the disability benefits he was already banking in his own name.

The fraud didn't stop there. Prusik-Parkin also donned his Irene costume to file for bankruptcy so "she" could get nearly $40,000 in subsidies to help pay for an apartment in http://www.nbcnewyork.com/topics?topic=Park+Slope - Park Slope . His co-conspirator, Rimolo, helped the aging auntie get around the city and process transactions, even renewing her driver's license at the end of April.

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/topics?topic=Brooklyn - Brooklyn detectives discovered the plot while they were investigating the brownstone building where Prusik-Parkin lives, which apparently is at the middle of a large mortgage fraud, according to the Daily News. They went to interview Irene last month, and the paper reports they found an older woman wearing dark sunglasses and a red dress who complied with all their requests and responded to their questions. When cops wanted to probe Irene's son, Thomas, her "nephew" Rimolo said he wasn't home.     

Prusik-Parkin is scheduled to be arraigned today. Rimolo has also been charged in the ruse.