December 18, 1998

THIRD DEFENDANT CONVICTED IN ROBBERY OF ELMHURST TAXI DRIVER

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced today the conviction of a third defendant in the April 1998 robbery of an Elmhurst medallion taxi driver on his way home from work.

District Attorney Brown identified the defendant as Charles Materon, 24, of 45-08 40th Street, Sunnyside. He was convicted after a two week jury trial before Supreme Court Justice Martin J. Schulman and will be sentenced on January 19, 1999. The defendant faces up to 15 years in prison.

District Attorney Brown said, "The three defendants were arrested within 15 minutes of committing the crime as a result of the quick work of police officers from the 110th Precinct and the Transit Division and the ability of the victim to provide accurate descriptions of the defendants. The victim, who has since moved to Georgia, cared enough about the safety of his former community that he wanted to see justice done and stayed close to the case to its conclusion."

According to trial testimony, the defendant and his two accomplices who previously pled guilty, Yacine Hontour, 23, of 50-58 45th Street, Sunnyside and Steven Santiago, 19, of 54 Lewis Avenue, Brooklyn, saw the victim walking home on 41st Avenue and 75th Street on the morning of April 3, 1998 at approximately 5:00 a.m. The victim was returning home from his job as a medallion taxi driver The three defendants grabbed the victim by the neck, hit and punched and threw him to the ground. They then took him his wallet which contained credit cards and other identification and fled on foot. The victim immediately went to a pay phone and called the police. Officers from the 110th Precinct canvassed the area and the victim was driven through the neighborhood by two transit police officers who came upon the scene. Fifteen minutes later the defendants were spotted by the victim and arrested.

Assistant District Attorney Ira E. Dorfman of the Queens District Attorney's Kew Gardens II Bureau under the supervision of Bureau Chief Daniel A. Sullivan, prosecuted the case.