Press Releases
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…
23 REPUTED GANG MEMBERS CHARGED WITH CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT MURDER, ATTEMPTED MURDER, RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT AND GUN POSSESSION
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, joined by Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell, announced that a two-year investigation into gang violence in and around two Queens public housing developments led to the indictments of 23 alleged members of warring subsets of the Crips street gang, one based in the Astoria Houses, the…
DEALER SENTENCED FOR SELLING DRUGS, LOADED FIREARM
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Renshan Lin was sentenced on February 7th to 7 ½ years in prison for selling narcotics and a loaded firearm to an undercover officer in 2021. On February 10th, the defendant received an additional 1 1/3 to 4 years in prison, to run concurrently, for possessing a loaded…
LAURELTON MAN INDICTED FOR CAUSING LIE CRASH THAT KILLED TOW OPERATOR
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Denzel Porter was indicted and arraigned today on charges of vehicular manslaughter, driving under the influence of alcohol and other crimes. The defendant allegedly caused a chain of collisions on the Long Island Expressway that resulted in the death of a tow operator and serious injury to a…
BROOKLYN WOMAN CONVICTED OF ATTEMPTED MURDER IN CHEESECAKE POISONING OF QUEENS LOOK-ALIKE
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Viktoria Nasyrova has been convicted by a jury of attempted murder and other charges for poisoning a Queens woman who resembled her with sedative-laced cheesecake and then stealing her identification and other property in August of 2016. District Attorney Katz said: “The jury saw through the deception and…
QUEENS MAN SENTENCED FOR SEXUALLY ABUSING WOMAN ON STREET
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Basam Syed was sentenced today to three years in prison after pleading guilty to persistent sexual abuse following charges of forcibly rubbing his genitals on a woman last summer. District Attorney Katz said: “The sentence punishes the defendant’s lewdness and should teach him that his disgusting behavior has…
QUEENS MAN SENTENCED FOR BURGLARY
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Marquis Silvers was sentenced to 2 years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted burglary. District Attorney Katz said: “I want to thank the Rockaway Nassau Safety Patrol for their help and relentless efforts in getting this defendant off the streets. My priority will always be to keep…
ARRAIGNED FOR OZONE PARK MURDER AFTER SHOOTING ACCOMPLICE INSTEAD OF INTENDED TARGET
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Richard Dixon was indicted by a grand jury and arraigned for murder and other crimes for fatally shooting his accomplice in a botched attempt to gun down a rival. District Attorney Katz said: “As alleged, this is yet another example of the brazen lawlessness inherent in illegal gun…
LONG ISLAND CITY MAN SENTENCED IN SHOOTING DEATH OF SCHOOL TEACHER WALKING HIS DOG
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Ike Ford was sentenced to 19 years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter in the shooting death of a schoolteacher who was walking his dog when the defendant fired upon a rival gang member in broad daylight. The teacher, George Rosa, was shot in the abdomen by…
HUSBAND INDICTED FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER AFTER ALLEGEDLY MOWING DOWN WIFE WITH SUV AND STABBING HER
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Stephen Giraldo was indicted by a Queens grand jury on attempted murder, assault and other charges for allegedly hitting his wife with his SUV and then stabbing her with a knife. The couple’s three children were in the vehicle at the time of the incident, which occurred in…
BRONX MAN SENTENCED AS PERSISTENT VIOLENT FELON FOLLOWING LONG ISLAND CITY SLASHING
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Bobby Dee Cruz was sentenced to 18 years-to-life in prison as a persistent violent felon after being convicted for slashing the neck of a fellow patron at a Long Island City strip club in 2019. District Attorney Katz said: “Thankfully, the victim survived this unprovoked grisly attack, which…
QUEENS MAN INDICTED ON SEX TRAFFICKING AND FIREARMS CHARGES
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Troy Siddons was arraigned on charges of sex trafficking of a child, rape and other crimes. Siddons was separately indicted for criminal weapon possession related to an incident in September. District Attorney Katz said: “I have put significant resources into finding and helping those who are being forced…
LITTLE NECK MAN SENTENCED TO 15 YEARS IN PRISON FOR KIDNAPPING AND ATTEMPTING TO STRANGLE WIFE
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Yaspal Persaud was sentenced today to 15 years in prison for kidnapping his estranged wife from where she worked, in full view of stunned onlookers, as well as strangling her on a previous date. The defendant led police on a multi-county, high-speed chase before he was apprehended with…
MAN CHARGED AFTER SEARCH OF HOME TURNS UP WEAPONS ARSENAL AND DRUGS [PHOTO]
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Kevin Sygney was charged today with criminal possession of weapons and controlled substances after a search warrant executed at his St. Albans home uncovered an arsenal of firearms and ammunition, as well as more than eight ounces of cocaine and 625 tablets of methylenedioxymethamphetamine, or “molly.” District…
DISTRICT ATTORNEY KATZ CREATES NEW PROSECUTORIAL DIVISION, ANNOUNCES SENIOR-LEVEL APPOINTMENTS
District Attorney Melinda Katz announced the creation of a division in her office that will be dedicated to investigating and prosecuting criminals who prey on society’s most vulnerable. The Special Prosecutions Division, comprised of the Special Victims and Domestic Violence Bureaus and the Juvenile Prosecutions Unit, will be led by newly appointed Executive Assistant District…
DEFENDANTS SENTENCED FOR SLAYINGS IN SOUTH RICHMOND HILL, OZONE PARK
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Richard Davenport and Neville Brown were sentenced on manslaughter charges in connection with four fatal shootings that took place in South Richmond Hill and Ozone Park between 2015 and 2018. Davenport was sentenced a combined total of 29 years in prison, consisting of consecutive 14.5-year sentences, and Brown…
DEFENDANTS PLEAD GUILTY IN SCHEME TO STEAL EAST ELMHURST HOME
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Jorge Vasquez Jr. and Andy V. Singh pleaded guilty to grand larceny for filing fraudulent paperwork to claim ownership of an East Elmhurst home. The defendants impersonated a deceased woman and her son to unlawfully access the property’s mortgage information, then sold the house to a shell corporation….
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