Pubdate: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 Source: Newsday (NY) Copyright: 2001 Newsday Inc. Contact: http://www.newsday.com/homepage.htm Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/308 Author: Chau Lam, Staff Writer DA'S OFFICE TO GET $750,000 FROM ESTATE OF DEAD MAN As part of a settlement in a civil forfeiture case, a Nassau County Court judge has ordered the estate of a Queens man who was charged with selling cocaine to hand over $750,000 to the Nassau district attorney's office, which announced the ruling yesterday. Robert Vorbeck, 38, of Bellerose, whom prosecutors described as a "major cocaine distributor," committed suicide July 13, 1999, at the county jail in East Meadow, where he was held on felony charges of selling cocaine to undercover police officers. Vorbeck, who had faced possible life imprisonment if found guilty, was found hanging from a bedsheet tied to the bars of his cell, police said. This is the first case in the state where a district attorney is seeking assets from a dead person, said the attorney for Vorbeck's estate, Steven L. Kessler of Manhattan. "I feel that proceeding against the assets of a dead person is wrong, illegal and unconstitutional," Kessler said yesterday. However, Vorbeck's parents wanted to settle because litigation was wearing them down, Kessler said. The judge signed the settlement order on June 21. "They just wanted to put this behind them, move on and grieve," Kessler added. Vorbeck was arrested July 2, 1999, by Nassau police and charged with first-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance, five counts of second-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance and 12 counts of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. He killed himself before he was indicted. State law allows prosecutors to seize money from convicted felons if it can be established that the wealth was obtained through illegal means, said Rick Hinshaw, a spokesman for District Attorney Denis Dillon. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom