Press Releases
BROOKLYN MAN INDICTED BY GRAND JURY FOR NEARLY FATAL ATTACK ON COUSIN
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Jonathan Velez was indicted on assault and reckless endangerment charges for punching his cousin after the two got into an argument on Rockaway Boulevard in Ozone Park in August. Velez allegedly knocked his 39-year-old relative to the ground and while the victim was unconscious, the defendant went through…
NEW JERSEY MAN INDICTED FOR ASSAULT STEMMING FROM 2023 HIT-AND-RUN COLLISION THAT SERIOUSLY INJURED 26-YEAR-OLD MOTORCYCLIST
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Moustafa Taher was indicted for assault, reckless driving, leaving the scene and other crimes for a motor vehicle collision that took place on November 18, 2023, at the intersection of 29th Street and Broadway in Astoria. Taher struck the victim, who was operating a motorcycle, and seriously…
DEFENDANT ARRAIGNED ON HATE CRIME CHARGES FOR UNPROVOKED ATTACK ON RABBI IN FOREST HILLS
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Eric Zafra Grosso was arraigned on assault as a hate crime and related charges for allegedly attacking a man who was wearing a yarmulke and walking at the intersection of Queens Boulevard and Yellowstone Boulevard on Tuesday. The unprovoked attack was preceded by antisemitic slurs. District Attorney Katz…
MASPETH MAN CONVICTED OF MURDER FOR STABBING FELLOW BAR PATRON IN THE HEART AT WOODSIDE BUS STOP
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Olmedo Osorio was convicted of murder in the second degree for the fatal stabbing of 55-year-old Freddy Jimenez during an argument at a Woodside bus stop in September 2022. The men had been inside the same bar shortly before the altercation. District Attorney Katz said: “This defendant brutally…
DA KATZ ANNOUNCES PADLOCKING OF FOUR ILLEGAL CANNABIS STOREFRONTS
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced the third phase of a sweeping enforcement action against illegal cannabis storefronts in the borough. Dubbed Operation Weed Whacker, the months-long investigation included undercover buys and resulted in the padlocking of four locations, seven arrests and the seizure of hundreds of pounds of illicit cannabis and tobacco products. Two…
VIRGINIA MAN CONVICTED OF 1992 COLD CASE MURDER OF FAR ROCKAWAY TEEN
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Jerry Lewis was convicted at trial of murder for strangling 15-year-old Nadine Slade to death in May 1992. The victim was found dead inside a bathroom her family shared with an adjacent unit at a multi-family home in Far Rockaway. The defendant was arrested in May 2023 after…
LONG ISLAND MAN CHARGED WITH GRAND LARCENY FOR POSING AS LAWYER AND STEALING MORE THAN $15,000
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Leonardo Ferretti was charged with grand larceny and other crimes for falsely representing himself as an attorney and charging a Corona woman more than $15,000 for immigration services. After meeting in December 2022, Ferretti socialized with the victim, allegedly offered a fake business card and provided routine updates…
NYPD OFFICER INDICTED FOR PERJURY AND OFFICIAL MISCONDUCT FOR FALSE TESTIMONY AND STATEMENTS IN GUN POSSESSION CASE
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Miguel Vanbrakle, an NYPD officer, was indicted for perjury, tampering with physical evidence, official misconduct and other crimes for allegedly lying under oath and falsifying documents in a weapon possession case. The defendant’s testimony was allegedly contradicted by video from his body-worn camera. Vanbrakle was part of an…
SOUTH CAROLINA MAN EXTRADITED; ARRAIGNED FOR EXECUTION-STYLE MURDER OF 21-YEAR-OLD EX-GIRLFRIEND
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that De’Ovryion Elijha Ray was extradited to New York and arraigned on an indictment charging him with murder and criminal possession of a weapon for the fatal shooting of 21-year-old Dashanna Donovan. The victim, Ray’s ex-girlfriend, was found shot dead inside her basement apartment in East Elmhurst on September…
DEFENDANT INDICTED ON MURDER CHARGE FOR 1998 COLD CASE STRANGULATION OF UNIDENTIFIED VICTIM
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Jose Velasquez was indicted by a grand jury and arraigned today on a charge of second-degree murder in the 1998 strangulation homicide of an unidentified female victim. The victim was found inside an Astoria motel on January 12, 1998, with a scarf tightly wrapped around her neck. No…
KEW GARDENS MAN SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR POSSESSING ARSENAL OF WEAPONS, INCLUDING ASSAULT WEAPONS, AND BULLETPROOF VESTS INSIDE APARTMENT
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Charles Foehner was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty in November to criminal possession of a weapon stemming from charges in which the defendant was in possession of unlicensed and unregistered firearms, including four assault weapons, inside his Kew Gardens apartment. The defendant was accosted…
TWO DEFENDANTS CHARGED WITH MURDER FOR STABBING DEATH OF 17-YEAR-OLD IN WOODHAVEN
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that 18-year-old Derek Trejo and a 17-year-old co-defendant have been charged with murder and weapon possession for the stabbing death of 17-year-old Josue Argudo in Woodhaven on Friday. The two defendants argued with the victim, who was returning home from school, and allegedly acted in concert to punch and…
GLENDALE RESIDENT PLEADS GUILTY TO ASSAULT FOR ATTACK ON 9-YEAR-OLD GIRL AND OFF-DUTY POLICE SERGEANT
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Feliz Enrique pleaded guilty to multiple assault charges for attacking a 9-year-old girl who was playing on a Glendale street. The defendant forcefully struck the child with his hand on May 10. When a nearby off-duty police sergeant intervened to apprehend him, Enrique bit off the top segment…
DISBARRED ATTORNEY SENTENCED TO ONE TO THREE YEARS IN PRISON FOR STEALING $1 MILLION FROM ASTORIA CHURCH
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Debra Hoskins was sentenced to one to three years in prison for stealing more than $1 million dollars from an Astoria church. Hoskins, now a disbarred attorney, pleaded guilty to grand larceny in November 2025. Between 2018 and 2020, Hoskins improperly accessed escrow funds from a real estate…
FAR ROCKAWAY MAN INDICTED ON CHARGES OF GANG ASSAULT AND RIOT FOR BEATING MALBA HOMEOWNER AT VIOLENT CAR MEETUP; FACES UP TO 25 YEARS IF CONVICTED
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Justin Aguilera was indicted by a grand jury on charges of gang assault, riot and other related crimes in connection with an illegal car meetup in November in Malba which devolved into a violent assault. Aguilera allegedly attacked a homeowner and his wife as the couple attempted to…
SOUTH CAROLINA MAN INDICTED FOR EXECUTION-STYLE MURDER OF 21-YEAR-OLD DASHANNA DONOVAN
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that De’Ovryion Elijha Ray was indicted for murder and criminal possession of a weapon for the fatal shooting of 21-year-old Dashanna Donovan in Elmhurst on September 12. The defendant allegedly fled New York immediately following the murder. He was apprehended October 7 in South Carolina and refused to waive…
MOTHER INDICTED ON MURDER CHARGE FOR KILLING 15-MONTH-OLD SON
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Nicole Boodhai has been indicted on murder in the second degree for intentionally causing the death of her 15-month-old son, Charlie Ramraykha. The defendant was at the home of Charlie’s father on December 29 when she was discovered in a locked bathroom with the lifeless child. District Attorney…
QUEENS MAN ARRAIGNED ON ANIMAL CRUELTY CHARGES FOR TYING DOGS BEHIND CAR AND DRAGGING THEM
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Dan Bujor was charged with animal cruelty for tying two dogs behind his car in Long Island City and then driving through the neighborhood. Video captured by a bystander showed the dogs, named Marzipan and Nougat, forced to run behind the vehicle. District Attorney Katz said: “As alleged,…
ROSEDALE MAN INDICTED FOR MAKING TERRORISTIC THREATS AS A HATE CRIME; DEFENDANT THREATENED TO KILL ‘JEWS,’ ‘ISRAELIS,’ ‘NYPD,’ AND ‘FEDS’
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Nathan White was arraigned on grand jury indictment charges of making a terroristic threat as a hate crime and related crimes for posting threatening messages on his X account in November. The messages threatened the murder of Jewish and Israeli residents of New York City, as well as…
DRUG TRAFFICKING OPERATION DISMANTLED ALONG ROOSEVELT AVENUE CORRIDOR IN JACKSON HEIGHTS
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, NYPD Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York Special Agent in Charge Ricky J. Patel announced the indictment of 16 individuals charged with conspiracy, drug trafficking and other crimes following a long-term investigation into the sale of cocaine, fentanyl, crystal meth and other drugs on 93rd Street…
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