Archive for April 2022
GEORGIA DEFENDANT PLEADS GUILTY TO RAPING WOMAN IN QUEENS ALLEY IN 2020
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Rony Lopez Alvarez, 39, has pleaded guilty to rape in the first the first degree. The defendant attacked a woman, dragged her into a dark alley and raped her in 2020. The defendant fled the state but was caught in Georgia and brought back to Queens to…
Read MoreMAIL FISHING-CHECK STEALING CREW DISMANTLED IN QUEENS; GRAND JURY INDICTS SIX INDIVIDUALS ON GRAND LARCENY, CONSPIRACY AND OTHER CHARGES
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, joined by the United States Postal Inspection Service and the New York City Police Department, announced today that six individuals have been charged in two separate indictments by a Queens County grand jury and arraigned in Supreme Court on enterprise corruption, grand larceny charges and other crimes. Between March and…
Read MoreYour Weekly Update – April 29, 2022
Today is the end of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, a time dedicated to supporting and empowering victims of crime and their loved ones. During this week, we celebrate the accomplishments of the victims’ rights movement and underscore the importance of helping crime survivors find justice… (continued)
Read MoreQUEENS MAN SENTENCED TO PRISON AFTER PLEADING GUILTY TO FIRES SET IN APARTMENT BUILDING AND HOTEL AND POSSESSING ILLEGAL FIREARM
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Troy Phillip, 28, has been sentenced to 8 ½ years in prison after pleading guilty last month to attempted arson and burglary in two incidents in 2020 and 2021. The defendant also pleaded guilty to carrying an illegal gun that was found during a search by police…
Read MoreJURY CONVICTS QUEENS MAN OF MURDER FOR BUS STOP STABBING DEATH IN 2018
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz today announced that Micah Brown, 24, has been convicted at trial of murder and other crimes. The defendant stabbed a 25-year-old man multiple times during a February 2018 confrontation near a Jamaica, Queens, bus stop. District Attorney Katz said, “An argument should never escalate to such levels of brutality. The…
Read MoreYour Weekly Update – April 22, 2022
From the beginning of my administration, my Office has worked tirelessly to investigate and prosecute drivers of crime while supporting vital treatment programs, rehabilitation efforts and diversion initiatives to help break the cycle of violence. To build upon these efforts, my Office recently launched a new 12-months’ long gun diversion program, in close partnership with the…
Read MoreQUEENS MAN CHARGED WITH MURDER OF FOREST HILLS WOMAN WHOSE BODY WAS DISCOVERED IN DUFFEL BAG NEAR PARK SATURDAY MORNING
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that David Bonola, 44, has been charged with murder in the shocking death of a Forest Hills mother, whose body was found in a duffel bag near Forest Park on Saturday, April 16, 2022. The victim’s body was discovered in a hockey sports bag on Metropolitan Avenue near…
Read MoreBROOKLYN MAN CHARGED WITH THREE HATE ATTACKS ON SIKHS IN RICHMOND HILL
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Vernon Douglas, 19, has been charged with hate crimes for allegedly attacking and robbing three men in separate incidents near the intersection of 95th Avenue and Lefferts Boulevard between April 3 and April 12 of this year. A second man, Hezekiah Coleman, 20, is also charged with…
Read MoreYour Weekly Update – April 15, 2022
This week, President Joe Biden and the U.S. Department of Justice issued a thoughtful, new rule to rein in the proliferation of “ghost guns.” These are personally-made, fully functional, and virtually untraceable firearms that are assembled by purchasing unserialized parts on the internet. The weapons are also increasingly being recovered at crime scenes all over…
Read MoreQUEENS GRAND JURY INDICTS WOMAN FOR MURDER FOR STABBING DEATH OF IMMIGRATION LAWYER IN FLUSHING
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that XiaoNing Zhang, 25, has been indicted by a Queens County grand jury and arraigned in Queens Supreme Court on murder and weapon possession charges in the stabbing death of a Queens immigration lawyer last month. District Attorney Katz said, “As alleged, this was a brutal attack that…
Read MoreQUEENS MAN SENTENCED TO 24 YEARS IN PRISON AFTER PLEADING GUILTY TO MANSLAUGHTER IN STABBING DEATH OF WOMAN
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Edwin Sarmiento, 31, has been sentenced to 24 years in prison for stabbing and killing a 30-year-old woman in February 2020. The defendant pleaded guilty last month to manslaughter. District Attorney Katz said, “The defendant showed no mercy when he grabbed multiple knives and plunged them into…
Read MoreYour Weekly Update – April 8, 2022
My Office has worked to inform you of an increase in certain types of criminal activity throughout the Borough of Queens. That’s why I want to let you know about an uptick in theft involving personal vehicles – a trend that is being reported across the City. Cars that are left running or unattended are…
Read MoreTRIO BUSTED IN HOME FORECLOSURE SCAM; DEFENDANTS ALLEGEDLY STOLE NEARLY $400,000 USING FORGED DOCUMENTS
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Jonathan Marcus, Vincent Longobardi and Edward Doran – as well as East Coast Money Finders, Inc. – have been indicted by a Queens County grand jury and arraigned in Supreme Court. The trio and the company are all charged with grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property,…
Read MoreJURY CONVICTS QUEENS MAN OF MURDER FOR KILLING THE SON OF HIS LANDLORD
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz today announced that Hopeton Prendergast, 66, has been convicted at trial of murder and other crimes. The defendant – who was a tenant being evicted from a shared residence on 220th Street in Queens Village – fatally stabbed to death the 23-year-old son of the property owner in September 2019.…
Read MoreDISBARRED LAWYER SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR SWINDLING DOZENS OF CLIENTS OUT OF MORE THAN $1.8 MILLION
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that former lawyer Yohan Choi, 47, has been sentenced to prison for bilking more than 50 clients – whom he represented before and after he was barred from practicing law – out nearly $2 million in lawsuit settlement money. District Attorney Katz said, “This defendant took an oath…
Read MoreYour Weekly Update – April 1, 2022
Ensuring public safety requires many different strategies, one of which involves uplifting and empowering our youth to make good choices. Too many times, our young people fall into a life of crime due to lack of resources and opportunities… (continued)
Read MoreCONNECTICUT MAN INDICTED FOR MURDER EXTRADITED FROM LOS ANGELES TO FACE CHARGES FOR 2018 TINDER DATE STRANGULATION DEATH OF QUEENS NURSE
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Danueal Drayton, 31, has been indicted by a Queens County grand jury and following his extradition to New York, was arraigned today in Queens Supreme Court. The defendant is charged with murder, sexual misconduct, grand larceny and other crimes for the shocking strangulation death of a 29-year-old…
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