TWO MEN CHARGED WITH KIDNAPPING FOLLOWING HOME INVASION

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz today announced that defendants Tex Ortiz and Wilbert Wilson have been charged with kidnapping, burglary and other crimes for allegedly taking five people hostage – including a nine-month-old infant and a 92-year-old woman. The defendants are accused of bursting into a Richmond Hill home this past Tuesday and demanding money…

Read More

QUEENS DISTRICT ATTORNEY MELINDA KATZ FILES JOINT MOTION WITH DEFENSE TO VACATE MURDER CONVICTION AND RELEASE A MAN INCARCERATED FOR NEARLY 26 YEARS

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that she has filed a joint motion with the defense to vacate the murder conviction of Ernest “Jaythan” Kendrick, who has been incarcerated for nearly 26 years. This motion is based on newly discovered witnesses and the results of agreed-upon DNA analysis, which contradict significant aspects of the…

Read More

DA Katz Photo Kendrick Case

QUEENS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY MELINDA KATZ with a team of investigators and staff from the Office’s Conviction Integrity Unit visiting the crime scene where a 70-year-old woman was stabbed to death in 1995 on the grounds of the Ravenswood Houses.

Read More

QUEENS DISTRICT ATTORNEY MELINDA KATZ NAMES VETERAN PROSECUTOR TO RUN NEW FRAUDS BUREAU

District Attorney Melinda Katz today announced that veteran prosecutor Joseph T. Conley III has been named to head the Frauds Bureau of the Queens District Attorney’s Office, which was created earlier this fall. District Attorney Katz said, “Joseph Conley’s distinguished career in law enforcement, including 16 years with the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, made…

Read More

QUEENS MAN INDICTED ON MURDER CHARGES IN DEATH OF GIRLFRIEND WHOSE BRUISED AND MANGLED BODY WAS FOUND UNDER 6TH FLOOR WINDOW

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Shmuel Levine, 34, has been indicted by a Queens County grand jury and arraigned in Supreme Court on murder charges. The defendant allegedly beat the 37-year-old victim to death in her home on October 26, 2020. Her battered remains were found below her apartment’s 6th floor window.…

Read More

QUEENS MAN INDICTED FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER FOR SHOOTING DELIVERY DRIVER WHO BLOCKED TRAFFIC WITH TRUCK IN JANUARY

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Queens resident Jahsheen Osbourne has been arraigned in Queens Supreme Court after a grand jury handed up two indictments charging the defendant with attempted murder, weapons charges and other crimes for allegedly shooting and seriously injuring a UPS driver in January. The victim was working and delivering…

Read More

QUEENS DRIVER INDICTED BY GRAND JURY IN DEATH OF FEMALE PASSENGER; DEFENDANT CHARGED WITH AGGRAVATED VEHICULAR HOMICIDE, MANSLAUGHTER AND OTHER CRIMES

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Nicholas Thompson, 35, was arraigned in Queens Supreme Court yesterday following a grand jury handing up a 13-count indictment charging the defendant with aggravated vehicular homicide, manslaughter, DWI and other crimes for a deadly car crash in September in Far Rockaway, Queens. Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said,…

Read More

Laser Electric Workers Photo

QUEENS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY MELINDA KATZ presented checks totaling more than $1.5 million to victims of a prevailing wage scam. The money distributed is the stolen wages recovered by the DA’s Office following an investigation and the prosecution of Laser Electric and its owner Jagdeep Deol. The defendants pleaded guilty in September to failing to…

Read More

Laser Electric Workers Photo 2

QUEENS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY MELINDA KATZ presented checks totaling more than $1.5 million to victims of a prevailing wage scam. The money distributed is the stolen wages recovered by the DA’s Office following an investigation and the prosecution of Laser Electric and its owner Jagdeep Deol. The defendants pleaded guilty in September to failing to…

Read More

QUEENS MAN CHARGED WITH ARSON AND OTHER CRIMES AFTER ALLEGEDLY SETTING FIRE TO VEHICLES IN TOW YARD; MORE THAN 100 FIREFIGHTERS RESPONDED TO JULY 2020 BLAZE

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, joined by New York City Fire Department Commissioner Daniel Nigro, announced today that Egor Spiridonov, 30, has been charged with arson, criminal mischief and other crimes for allegedly setting a fire to his own tractor truck in a tow company’s lot after the vehicle had been impounded. The blaze burned…

Read More

DRUG DEALER FROM GREAT NECK PLEADS GUILTY TO CRIMINALLY NEGLIGENT HOMICIDE

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Justin Lum, of Great Neck, has pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide and drug possession in separate incidents resulting in the deaths of his girlfriend and a male acquaintance. Both victims – who had previously overdosed on drugs supplied by the defendant – died after he re-supplied…

Read More