Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Tahir Toloa was convicted at trial in the 2024 assault on a masseuse inside an Astoria spa. The defendant viciously attacked the 55-year-old victim with a firearm and his fists, then forced her to open a register at gunpoint and removed money. He then sexually assaulted the woman, who leaped from a second story window to escape her attack.

District Attorney Katz said, “Tahir Toloa entered an Astoria spa under the pretense of wanting a massage, and then brutally beat a 55-year-old masseuse by pistol whipping and punching her. He sexually assaulted the woman and then made off with $3,000 stolen at gunpoint from the register. The brave survivor was only able to escape her attacker by leaping from a second-story window after she barricaded herself in a bathroom. I thank my prosecutors for securing a trial conviction against this very dangerous individual.”

Toloa, 38, of Brooklyn, was found guilty yesterday of assault in the first degree, robbery in the first degree, robbery in the second degree, assault in the second degree, sexual abuse in the first degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree and forcible touching.

Trial openings began on September 2 and summations took place Tuesday. The jury deliberated for a day before reaching a verdict. Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Hartofilis set a sentencing date of October 20 when Toloa faces up to life in prison.

District Attorney Katz said that, according to trial records, on May 13, 2024, at approximately 9 p.m., Toloa knocked on the door of a spa located on Newtown Avenue in Astoria and requested a massage. The victim, a 55-year-old woman, opened the door and directed Toloa to a room.

The woman collected the fee from the defendant and instructed him to prepare for his massage while she exited the room. The defendant left the massage room, went to the bathroom, and then returned to the massage room. When the victim entered the massage area, Toloa was wearing a ski mask and holding a gun. The defendant pushed the victim out of the room and began attacking her.

Toloa held the victim down and repeatedly pistol whipped and punched her causing deep lacerations and bruising to her head, scalp and face. Toloa then dragged the victim by her hair and arms down the hall to the back of the spa and, at gunpoint, forced her to open the register. He removed $3,000.

The defendant then noticed a camera located near the register and threw it on the ground, breaking it.

Toloa then grabbed the victim at gunpoint and pulled her pants down. The victim struggled with Toloa and tried to escape as he repeatedly touched her exposed buttocks. He then dragged her into the bathroom and told her to stay there.

The victim immediately locked the door and jumped out of a window, falling two stories onto the concrete floor below. She was transported to a local hospital where she was treated for a broken leg, broken feet and broken vertebrae.

Toloa was arrested on June 6, 2024, when he attended his parole meeting.

Assistant District Attorney Erin Mullins of the District Attorney’s Career Criminal Major Crimes Bureau is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Assistant District Attorney Joseph Cunningham of the Felony Trial Bureau 1, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Michael Whitney, Career Criminal Major Crimes Bureau Chief and Timothy Regan, Deputy Chief, and under the overall supervision of Chief Assistant District Attorney Shawn Clark.