June 26, 1998

MANHATTAN MAN ARRESTED FOR USING FORGED METRO CARDS IN QUEENS

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced that a Manhattan resident was arrested today by the Special Investigations Unit, Transportation Bureau of the New York City Police Department for using forged Metro cards for the purpose of riding public transportation in the borough of Queens.

District Attorney Brown identified the defendant as Hai Kuang Wu, 38, of 175 East 96th Street in Manhattan. He will be charged with forgery in the second degree, possession of a forged instrument in the second degree and criminal possession of a forgery device in the first degree. If convicted, the defendant could face up to seven years in prison.

District Attorney Brown stated, "This is the first known arrest of its kind for the forging of the Metro card and the first time a machine for making phony Metro cards has been seized."

According to District Attorney Brown the defendant who works for Cosmophonic Sound, an electronics repair shop located at 225 East 83rd Street, utilized a forgery device at the location that duplicates the magnetic stripe and computerized information from one Metro card onto another making it possible for him to duplicate any amount left on one Metro card over to a second card.

In May, 1998, Detective Nelson Dones of the Special Investigations Unit, Transportation Bureau, under the supervision of Sergeant Jack Cassidy, arrested a man who was using the fake Metro card to enter a Queens subway station. The suspect informed Detective Dones of the circumstances of how he obtained the phony Metro card and related that Mr. Wu also had given him an additional card to use in Queens. The man then agreed to bring Mr. Wu Metro cards with magnetic stripes and serial numbers that had been recorded by the Special Investigations Unit. Mr Wu traded these cards for duplicates that he had made.

Linda LaGreca of the Queens District Attorney's Economic Crimes Bureau under the supervision of Michael J. Mansfield, Bureau Chief and John R. Mechmann, Deputy Bureau Chief, and the overall supervision of Robert D. Alexander, is in charge of the case.

It is to be noted that a charge is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.