Linda Fleshner (Oates, Michael Freelance)
These con artists are all washed up.
A man and woman posed as city Correction officers and duped Staten Island residents living in a flood-prone neighborhood into revealing whether they would be evacuating for Hurricane Irene, authorities said today.
Investigators believe Daniel DiGianni, 42, and Linda Fleshner, 28, preyed on victims in South Beach – one of the borough’s low-lying hurricane evacuation areas – with the intentions of later returning and looting empty homes.
The duo was seen around 5 p.m. Saturday knocking on the doors of bungalows on Oceanside and Liberty avenues near the Franklin D. Roosevelt Boardwalk overlooking the Lower Bay, cops said.
“They were identifying themselves as Correction officers and inquiring if residents were leaving due to the hurricane,” said a police source, adding that the couple was flashing legit badges.
Several neighbors felt something was fishy and called the police.
Officers responded and arrested DiGianni and Fleshner, who has prior busts for shoplifting and drug possession, and discovered they were also packing a gravity knife and illegal handcuffs, cops said. They were charged with criminal impersonation and possession of a weapon.
It’s unclear how the suspects obtained the agency shields, cops added.