Press Releases
JAMAICA MAN CHARGED WITH ASSAULT AS A HATE CRIME FOR VIOLENT ATTACK OF MUSLIM SUBWAY RIDER
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Naved Durrni was charged with assault in the first degree as a hate crime and other charges for allegedly repeatedly punching and kicking a Muslim woman aboard an E train during the early morning hours on Wednesday. The defendant asked a woman, who was wearing a head covering,…
SEVEN TEENS INDICTED FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER AND GANG ASSAULT IN ATTACK ON TWO OTHER TEENS IN KISSENA PARK
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that seven teenagers were indicted for attempted murder, gang assault, robbery and other crimes for an attack on two younger teens on May 2 in Kissena Park in Flushing. The defendants are alleged to have beaten the victims with a metal baseball bat, kicked and punched them and…
JAMAICA MAN SENTENCED TO 10 YEARS IN PRISON FOR HATE CRIME
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Gilbert Augustin was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to assault as hate crime earlier this month. After a Kew Gardens fender bender in October 2023, Augustin derided 66-year-old Jasmer Singh as “turban man” and repeatedly punched him, knocking him to the ground. Singh…
ASTORIA DOG OWNER ARRAIGNED ON ANIMAL CRUELTY CHARGES
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Carlo Silva was arraigned today on animal cruelty charges after allegedly injuring his small female poodle by repeatedly throwing the pet down a set of stairs and then dragging the dog back up by the leash. The alleged violence was caught on surveillance footage inside the staircase of…
JAMAICA MAN INDICTED FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER OF AIRPORT WORKER ON SUBWAY PLATFORM IN HOWARD BEACH
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Courtney Jacobs was indicted for attempted murder and other crimes for assaulting an airport worker who was waiting for a train home at the Howard Beach-JFK subway station in May. Jacobs allegedly hit the 50-year-old man with a cane and slashed him in the chest with a knife….
MANHATTAN MAN INDICTED FOR STABBING BUS RIDER IN EYE AND NECK WITH PEN: CHARGED WITH ATTEMPTED MURDER, ASSAULT AND MORE
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that a Queens County grand jury has indicted Angie Cordero Rosario for attempted murder, assault and other crimes for attacking a bus passenger with a pen in May. District Attorney Katz said: “Public transportation must be safe for New York City to thrive and when it is not,…
DA KATZ AND NYPD TAKE 74 GUNS OFF THE STREETS AT BUYBACK EVENT WITH GREATER ALLEN A.M.E. CATHEDRAL IN SOUTHEAST QUEENS
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that 74 guns were collected Saturday at the Greater Allen A.M.E. Cathedral of New York in Southeast Queens during a gun buyback event. The weapons were exchanged for bank cards pre-loaded with cash. The event was completely anonymous, with no identification required and no questions asked. The buyback is…
QUEENS MAN INDICTED ON KIDNAPPING AND SEXUAL ASSAULT CHARGES FOR ATTACKING 11-YEAR-OLD GIRL INSIDE FOREST PARK
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz today announced that defendant Teddy Moussignac was arraigned on grand jury indictment charges of kidnapping and other crimes for allegedly grabbing an 11-year-old child, dragging her into the woods and sexually assaulting her on May 19 in Forest Park. District Attorney Katz said: “This is every parent’s nightmare. A father…
TWO TEENS CHARGED WITH ATTEMPTED GANG ASSAULT FOR BEATING 15-YEAR-OLD GIRL AT ASTORIA SUBWAY STATION
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that two 16-year-old girls were charged with attempted gang assault, assault and attempted robbery and other crimes in connection with the beating of a 15-year-old girl in the 46th Street subway station in Astoria on June 2. The defendants and victim are students at William Cullen Bryant High…
QUEENS MAN AND MOTHER INDICTED FOR TARGETING EX- GIRLFRIEND FOR ATTACK
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Brayahan Agudelo was indicted for burglary, strangulation, stalking and menacing and other crimes for attacking his ex-girlfriend and then enlisting an undercover police officer to harm her. Agudelo is accused of asking the officer, who was investigating the defendant on another case, to make his ex-girlfriend “a paraplegic.”…
BERNARDO RAUL CASTRO MATA SENTENCED TO 28 YEARS IN PRISON FOR SHOOTING TWO POLICE OFFICERS
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Bernardo Raul Castro Mata was sentenced today to 28 years in prison for shooting Police Officer Richard Yarusso in the lower chest area and Police Officer Christopher Abreu in the leg. The officers attempted to stop the defendant on June 3, 2024, for driving the wrong way on…
QUEENS MAN SENTENCED TO 34 YEARS IN PRISON FOR RAPING TWO GIRLS – AGES 12 AND 16 – IN SEPARATE INCIDENTS
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Viando Ricketts was sentenced to 34 years in prison on multiple counts of rape of two young girls, ages 12 and 16. The defendant took both girls to a Queens motel and raped them in 2022 in separate incidents. District Attorney Katz said: “This sexual predator targeted…
NASSAU COUNTY DRIVER INDICTED ON MURDER CHARGE FOR DRAGGING PEDESTRIAN UNDER VEHICLE WHILE FLEEING COLLISION SCENE
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Warren Rollins was indicted by a grand jury on charges of murder, manslaughter, leaving the scene of an incident and related crimes for allegedly driving over a pedestrian who had been hit by another vehicle moments earlier. According to eyewitnesses, Rollins allegedly came to a complete stop and…
BROTHERS SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR POSSESSING BOMBS, ASSAULT WEAPONS AND 3D-PRINTED GUNS IN THEIR ASTORIA APARTMENT
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Andrew Hatziagelis was sentenced to 10 years in prison and his brother Angelo Hatziagelis was sentenced to four years in prison for possessing explosive devices, assault weapons, 3-D printed ghost gun pistols and ammunition in an Astoria apartment. Instructions for making a variety of bombs and anarchist…
QUEENS MAN ARRAIGNED ON ANIMAL CRUELTY CHARGES FOR KEEPING 48 DOGS IN CRAMPED FOREST HILLS APARTMENT
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Isaac Yadgarov was arraigned on a 96-count criminal complaint charging him with animal neglect and abuse for allegedly keeping 48 dogs inside of a cramped, filthy one-bedroom apartment on 62nd Road in Forest Hills. The animals were found and rescued on May 8 by members of the ASPCA,…
BROOKLYN TEENAGER CHARGED WITH MURDER IN SHOOTING DEATH OF 19-YEAR-OLD
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that a 16-year-old male was indicted for murder in the second degree and other crimes in the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Kevin Hernandez in Ridgewood on April 22. The shooting took place on the same street as Joseph F. Quinn Intermediate School 77. District Attorney Katz said: “As…
DRIVER PLEADS GUILTY TO CAUSING FATAL THREE-CAR COLLISION ON THE LONG ISLAND EXPRESSWAY IN 2023
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Reginald Nash pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide and assault for causing a high-speed, three-car collision in November 2023 on the Long Island Expressway. The defendant was driving at approximately 89 mph, with alcohol in his system, when he hit an exit barrier and spun out of control….
GLENDALE MAN ARRAIGNED FOR ASSAULTING 9-YEAR-OLD GIRL AND OFF-DUTY POLICE SERGEANT DURING APPREHENSION
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Feliz Enrique was arraigned on a grand jury indictment charging him with assault in the first degree and other crimes. The defendant allegedly approached a 9-year-old girl as she was playing on a Glendale street and forcefully struck the child with his hand on May 10. When a…
FLUSHING MAN CONVICTED IN ABSENTIA OF VIOLENT ROBBERY OF QUEENS WOMAN
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Michael Fan has been convicted of burglary in the first degree, robbery in the first degree and other crimes for a September 2022 violent attack on a Queens woman as she stood in front of her residence smoking a cigarette. The defendant failed to return to court…
BERNARDO RAUL CASTRO MATA PLEADS GUILTY TO ATTEMPTED MURDER AND ASSAULT FOR SHOOTING TWO POLICE OFFICERS
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Bernardo Raul Castro Mata pleaded guilty to attempted murder for shooting Police Officer Richard Yarusso in the lower chest area and assault for shooting Police Officer Christopher Abreu in the leg. The officers attempted to stop the defendant on June 3, 2024, for driving the wrong way on…
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