Press Releases
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…
ASTORIA MAN CONVICTED OF MURDERING FDNY EMS LIEUTENANT IN SEPTEMBER 2022
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Peter Zisopoulos was convicted at trial of murder in the second degree and weapon possession for the vicious knife attack that claimed the life of Lieutenant Alison Russo, a 24-year veteran of the FDNY EMS. The victim was posthumously promoted to captain. The unprovoked attack occurred just…
BROTHERS PLEAD GUILTY TO POSSESSING BOMBS, ASSAULT WEAPONS AND 3D-PRINTED GUNS IN THEIR ASTORIA APARTMENT
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Andrew and Angelo Hatziagelis pleaded guilty to possession of explosive substances, assault weapons and other charges after an arsenal of improvised explosive devices, ghost guns and 3D-printed weapons was found inside an Astoria apartment they shared with their mother and another brother. Instructions for making a variety of…
BROOKLYN MAN INDICTED FOR STABBING DEATH OF FLUSHING WOMAN IN 2022
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Shao Tong Lian was indicted by a grand jury and charged with murder in the second degree for the August 2022 death of 55-year-old Fang Chen, who was discovered fatally stabbed after the defendant visited her Flushing apartment for sex. District Attorney Katz said: “As alleged, this…
MARYLAND MAN SENTENCED TO 25 YEARS TO LIFE IN PRISON FOR SHOOTING SPRINGFIELD GARDENS GRANDFATHER
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Sheldon Dottin was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison following an April jury conviction for murder. Dottin confronted his children’s grandfather, 72-year-old Gladstone Barrett, in the older man’s Springfield Gardens home in April 2022 and shot him. Dottin then fled to Panama before he was…
RIDGEWOOD MAN CHARGED WITH ASSAULTING 9-YEAR-OLD GIRL AND OFF-DUTY POLICE SERGEANT DURING APPREHENSION
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Feliz Enrique was arraigned on charges of assault and other crimes for striking a 9-year-old girl with his hand as she played on a street in Glendale. As the defendant was apprehended by an off-duty police sergeant, Enrique bit the top off the officer’s right index finger. District…
CORONA MAN INDICTED FOR FIRST-DEGREE MURDER FOR FATAL STABBING OF BICYCLIST
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Nelson Torres was indicted by a grand jury and charged with murder in the first degree for the death of 22-year-old Anderson David Archila Martinez after the two encountered each other on a Corona sidewalk on April 14. The victim rode his bicycle near Torres and inadvertently…
NINE DEFENDANTS CHARGED WITH DEFRAUDING DISASTER RELIEF PROGRAMS: ALLEGEDLY STOLE MORE THAN $2.2 MILLION WITH BOGUS CLAIMS OF ECONOMIC HARM DUE TO COVID-19
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz and New York State Inspector General Lucy Lang announced that nine individuals have been charged with grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property and other crimes for allegedly separately stealing thousands of dollars in pandemic relief funds intended to help small business owners suffering hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic….
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