Court Cases

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that seven defendants have been indicted by a grand jury on charges of grand larceny, money laundering, identity theft and other related crimes following a long-term investigation into a hack of a private cryptocurrency wallet belonging to a Queens resident. Bitcoin was removed from the victim’s Blockchain.com wallet through…

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Jeffrey Thurston has been indicted by a grand jury on murder in the second degree for shooting former college athlete Malachi Capers after the victim accidentally bumped into him inside a deli in Laurelton in July 2020. In June 2022, Thurston was sentenced to 18 years in prison…

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that six defendants are variously charged in a 161-count indictment with criminal possession of a forged instrument, falsifying business records, illegal voting and other crimes in an alleged scheme to submit falsified absentee ballot applications for the campaign of Yu-Ching James Pai, who was a candidate in the June…

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that the parents of a teen driver – who was charged with manslaughter in the death of the 14-year-old passenger in the BMW he was driving – were sentenced today in a groundbreaking case on endangering the welfare of a child charges for facilitating the child’s access to the…

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Curtis Benjamin was indicted by a grand jury and arraigned today on murder, attempted murder and weapon charges in the shooting death of 24-year-old Justin Baerga who was at a party in Richmond Hill while celebrating his birthday in July 2022. Three other partygoers were wounded in the…

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Jahshua Kelley was indicted by a grand jury and arraigned today on murder, assault and weapon charges in the fatal stabbing of a 40-year-old man inside a Jamaica deli on June 22. The violence allegedly unfolded after the two men encountered each other outside the deli and the…

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Ashik Zaman was sentenced today to 36 years in prison for killing a 39-year-old man in 2020 in a dispute over money and for fatally shooting another man in 2021 outside a liquor store in South Ozone Park. That victim died the next day, his 29th birthday. District…

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Jamshaid Choudhry has been charged with criminal mischief as a hate crime and other related crimes for allegedly smashing a Holy Family statue outside of the Holy Family Roman Catholic Church in Fresh Meadows on June 30. The attack caused the head of one of the statues, the…

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Marcus Wilcher was sentenced today to three to nine years in prison for stealing an East Elmhurst home from its elderly owner by using forged documents and by creating a fictitious character – the owner’s purported son — to facilitate the transaction. The home was then sold for…

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that six people were arraigned on a grand jury indictment charging them with attempted assault in the first degree, attempted gang assault in the first and second degrees and related crimes for an attack on two NYPD officers. The officers were checking on the welfare of three unattended children…

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Judd Sanson has been indicted by a grand jury and arraigned on charges of criminal possession of a weapon and other crimes after a traffic stop in East Elmhurst near LaGuardia Airport led to the discovery of an arsenal of weapons along with body armor inside his vehicle….

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Dennis Vassilenko, a member of the Crips 8 Trey gang, was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for the murder of 17-year-old Eduardo Hernandez-Martinez in July 2021. Vassilenko was found guilty of murder following a jury trial for shooting the teen at point-blank range in front…

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Osvel Diaz was arraigned on a criminal complaint charging him with attempted murder and assault in the beating of a 62-year-old worker at the Sunnyside Mini Mart in Woodside on June 17. Diaz allegedly pummeled the victim until he was rendered unconscious and then continued to kick him…

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Bernardo Raul Castro Mata was arraigned today on grand jury indictment charges of two counts of attempted murder in the first and second degrees, and other related crimes, for allegedly shooting two NYPD officers who attempted to pull him over on June 3 for driving the wrong way…

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Jayson Scott and Richard Swygert were arraigned today on an indictment charging Scott with first- and second-degree murder and Swygert with second-degree murder in the 2021 shooting death of 47-year-old Darius Guillebeaux in South Jamaica. Scott is alleged to have been hired to kill Guillebeaux. District Attorney Katz…

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Austin Amos was sentenced today to 10 years in prison for his role in a violent attack that killed Kutin Gyimah, a 52-year-old taxi driver, following a confrontation over an unpaid fare from Manhattan to Far Rockaway in 2022. Amos was among a group of passengers in the…

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Waheed Foster was sentenced today to 22 years in prison for the violent, unprovoked attempted murder of a commuter at the Howard Beach – JFK Airport subway station in September 2022. The victim, who was on her way to work at the time of the attack, was so…

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Christian Inga was charged today with first-degree rape, two counts of kidnapping in the second degree, predatory sexual assault and other crimes for attacking two 13-year-olds who were in Kissena Park in the middle of the afternoon on June 13. He is alleged to have held them at…

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that two NYPD officers, who were checking on the welfare of three unattended children on bikes outside a Long Island City hotel, were attacked by a group of adults at approximately 4:20 a.m. on June 17. Four defendants were arraigned today, accused of attempted gang assault and related charges,…