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.