An ex-administrator at a publicly funded nonprofit was arraigned in Brooklyn Criminal Court Friday on allegations that he fraudulently signed off on adoption paperwork, using an unofficial stamp of a higher-up’s signature, according to New York City’s anti-corruption watchdog agency.
John Olufemi, 66, former supervisor of the permanency unit at Heart Share St. Vincents, was charged with two low-level felonies, “offering a false instrument for filing” in the first degree and issuing a false certificate, the Department of Investigation said.
“As charged, this defendant allegedly misappropriated an executive’s signature at a City-funded nonprofit where he worked, affixing it to critical adoption documents for filing in Family Court,” DOI Commissioner Nadia Shihata said in a statement. “He then allegedly furthered those illegal actions by affixing his Notary Public seal to the falsely signed documents.”
“This type of misconduct undermines the integrity of the adoption process.”
Lancelot Fletcher, Olufemi’s attorney, maintained his client’s innocence.
“I’m confident of the successful outcome of this case. He’s presumed innocent and denies the allegations,” Fletcher told the Daily News.
Olufemi first started working at Heart Share St. Vincents in March 2004, and was fired in August 2024 after the investigation, according to a DOI news release. The nonprofit receives funding from the city Administration for Children’s Services.
Permanency units are responsible for finding stable homes for children in foster care, either through reunification with biological parents, a family member as a guardian or adoption.
As a supervisor, Olufemi was tasked with gathering documents and the signature of the nonprofit’s deputy executive director, then passing along the signed papers as an “adoption packet” to attorneys for the new parents. The attorneys would then file the organization’s adoption packets in family courts primarily in Brooklyn, but also in the Bronx.
In July 2024, when Olufemi was on leave, his colleagues were processing adoption paperwork when they found the deputy executive’s rubber-stamped signature on some pending documents, according to the news release. The executive said she had neither consented to the production of the stamp nor for Olufemi to sign on her behalf.
From there, the nonprofit found additional paperwork with the stamp that had previously been filed in Family Court, and adoptions already finalized, investigators said. Olufemi was a notary, and he allegedly used his notary stamp to certify the documents.
The deputy executive director told DOI that Olufemi used the stamp 22 times and used his notary seal on fraudulent documents 15 times between July 1, 2022, and April 30, 2024.
“Thankfully, the nonprofit at issue discovered this alleged fraud and reported it promptly to DOI,” Shihata said.
Olufemi was arrested and charged on Sept. 23, with a notice to appear in court on Friday. Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez’s office is prosecuting the case.
Olufemi’s next court appearance is scheduled for Feb. 2, 2027, according to the news release. If convicted, he faces up to four years in prison.