Press Releases
DEFENDANT SENTENCED TO 17 YEARS IN PRISON FOR MANSLAUGHTER
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Atekel Donaldson was sentenced to 17 years in prison for the death of a 15-year-old getting off of a city bus in Far Rockaway in February 2018. District Attorney Katz said: “A teenager’s life was senselessly cut short by gun violence, which continues to steal family, friends, and…
DEFENDANT SENTENCED TO 20 YEARS FOR DEADLY SHOOTING
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Edson Giron Figueroa was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the 2021 shooting death of a 25-year-old. District Attorney Katz said: “This is a case of yet another young person’s life cut short by gun violence. We will continue to fight against illegal guns with everything we…
33 REPUTED GANG MEMBERS INDICTED ON MURDER, GUN VIOLENCE CHARGES
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, joined by NYPD Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell, announced one of the largest gang takedowns in the history of the office, a 151-count indictment brought against 33 alleged gang members, five of whom are charged with murder. The murder charges are for the shooting death of 14-year-old Aamir Griffin, gunned down in…
QUEENS MAN SENTENCED FOR SEX TRAFFICKING TEENAGE GIRLS AT JAMAICA HOTEL
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Tyrone “Angel” Miles was sentenced today to seven years in prison for sex trafficking of a child. The defendant, along with co-defendant Bryant Lowery, forced female victims to have sex with strangers for cash at the JFK Inn Hotel in Jamaica, Queens. An escape by one of the…
SON CHARGED IN STABBING DEATH OF MOTHER
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Dennis Cho was arraigned today, accused of murder in the stabbing death of his 59-year-old mother inside their Flushing home. According to the charges against him, Cho stabbed his mother multiple times in the back. District Attorney Katz said: “The defendant is charged with the gruesome, cold-blooded stabbing…
MAN SENTENCED FOR SEX TRAFFICKING TEENAGE GIRL
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Quan Raheem Booker was sentenced today to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to sex trafficking a 16-year-old girl for several days inside a Flushing hotel. District Attorney Katz said: “Undercover operations like this one are key in finding and helping girls that are trafficked. We will continue…
QUEENS MAN SENTENCED TO 22 YEARS FOR FATAL SHOOTING
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Tyseam McRae was sentenced to 22 years in prison for manslaughter, assault and robbery for three separate incidents, including the fatal shooting of an 18-year-old man in Rochdale in October 2019. District Attorney Katz said: “A violent, dangerous man is going to prison for a long time. The…
MAN INDICTED FOR KIDNAPPING, RAPING AND ASSAULTING THREE YOUNG WOMEN
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Andres Portilla was arraigned today on an indictment charging him with kidnapping and sexually assaulting three young women whom he kept captive in his car. District Attorney Katz said: “The brutality inflicted upon these vulnerable young women is unspeakable. This indictment is the first step toward providing some…
DEFENDANTS CHARGED WITH ANTI-ASIAN ATTACK IN CORONA
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Elijah Fernandez and Natalie Plaza are charged with assault as a hate crime for their alleged involvement in a hate-motivated assault in Corona on a woman and two men who attempted to stop the attack. District Attorney Katz said: “In the most diverse county in the country, perhaps…
QUEENS MAN INDICTED IN FATAL CAR CRASH
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Kassun Brown has been charged with manslaughter and drunk driving in connection with a fatal car crash in St. Albans. Brown is accused of speeding through a stop sign and hitting another vehicle, killing its driver, a police officer from the 63rd Precinct. District Attorney Katz said: “There…
DISTRICT ATTORNEY KATZ HOSTS 8TH ANNUAL MOCK TRIAL COMPETITION
The Queens District Attorney’s Office hosted its 8th Annual Mock Trial Competition over the weekend, with Rutgers School of Law defeating 15 other teams from top-tier, nationally ranked law schools. New York Supreme and Criminal Court judges presided as law school students competed before senior prosecutors and members of the defense bar. The event was…
NEW JERSEY MAN INDICTED FOR EXECUTION-STYLE MURDER
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Ron Reeder was indicted for an execution-style murder in broad daylight in September 2021. Wearing a mask and garments typically worn by Hasidic Jewish men, Reeder ran up behind the victim, who was entering a car parked on a South Ozone Park street, and shot him in the…
PIONEERING USE OF STATUTE RESTORES HOME TO DEED FRAUD VICTIMS
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that a house in St. Albans was returned to its rightful owners, a disabled veteran and his family, through the first-ever use of a state law enacted to protect deed fraud victims. District Attorney Katz said: “This is the first time the law has been applied in New York…
QUEENS MAN CHARGED WITH POSSESSING ARSENAL OF ILLEGAL WEAPONS
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Grzegorz Blachowicz was charged with criminal possession of weapons after search warrants executed at his home and a storage unit uncovered an arsenal of firearms and ammunition. District Attorney Katz said: “Ghost gun trafficking is a developing cottage industry that threatens to make an already pervasive gun violence…
HOUSECLEANING COMPANY AND CEO PLEAD GUILTY IN WAGE THEFT CASE
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, joined by New York State Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon, announced that the MPStar Pros housecleaning company and its chief executive officer pleaded guilty to charges stemming from stealing wages from employees. The company advertised for apartment cleaners, hired them, allowed them to clean and then did not pay for their…
DEFENDANT PLEADS GUILTY TO MANSLAUGHTER IN DEADLY SHOOTING OF ELMONT MAN
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Edson Giron Figueroa pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the 2021 shooting death of a 25-year-old Elmont man in Jamaica, Queens. District Attorney Katz said: “By pleading guilty, the defendant admitted responsibility for ending a man’s life during a craven robbery attempt. I hope this resolution brings closure for…
QUEENS MAN CHARGED WITH CRUELTY TO ANIMALS
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Paul Verite has been charged with aggravated cruelty to animals and other crimes for allegedly repeatedly injuring his 10-week-old female Boston Terrier to the point the puppy could neither walk nor stand. A necropsy and review of medical records revealed that the puppy, named Espy, suffered excruciating pain…
MAN CHARGED WITH ATTEMPTED MURDER IN QUEENS DELI SHOOTING
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Donnie Hudson has been charged with attempted murder, assault and other crimes in connection with yesterday’s shooting in a South Ozone Park deli. District Attorney Katz said: “This was a brutal, calculated assault using battlefield weaponry. Under absolutely no circumstances are we going to stand for turning our…
DEFENDANT SENTENCED TO 19 YEARS FOR DEATH OF PEDESTRIAN AND OTHER CRIMES
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Nigel Covington was sentenced to 19 years in prison for the death of a pedestrian struck by a stolen car he was driving before leaping out to evade police, and for driving into another woman, then beating her and stealing her purse. The incidents occurred November and December…
DISTRICT ATTORNEY KATZ APPEALS TO PUBLIC FOR INFORMATION ABOUT SHOOTING DEATHS OF BROTHERS
Brothers Shawn and Neshawn Plummer were gunned down three years and a few blocks apart in Far Rockaway, the innocent, unintended victims of the gun violence that is a national plague. On July 13, 2012, 18-year-old Shawn Plummer was hit by gunfire intended for someone else as he stood on Seagirt Avenue. Detectives found no…
