Press Releases
DEFENDANT FOUND GUILTY OF MURDER IN DEATH OF NYPD DETECTIVE BRIAN SIMONSEN AND WOUNDING OF SECOND POLICE OFFICER DURING BOTCHED ROBBERY
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Jagger Freeman, 28, has been convicted at trial of murder, robbery, assault and other crimes for his role in the February 2019 cell phone shop robbery that resulted in the death of New York City Police Detective Brian Simonsen in February 2019. A second police officer was…
DEFENDANT INDICTED BY GRAND JURY FOR SLAYING OF PAWN SHOP OWNER; VICTIM WAS REPEATEDLY STRUCK WITH BLUNT OBJECT
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Rodolfo Lopez-Portillo, 48, has been indicted by a Queens County grand jury and arraigned in Supreme Court on murder charges and other crimes. The defendant allegedly struck and killed a 60-year-old pawn shop owner in broad daylight inside the Jamaica Avenue store in March 2022. District Attorney…
QUEENS MAN WHO BABYSAT SEVEN-YEAR-OLD GIRL CONVICTED FOR SEXUALLY ABUSING VICTIM FOR THREE YEARS
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Jose Nivelo, 43, has been convicted of course of sexual conduct against a child for sexually abusing a seven-year-old girl over a three-year period starting in 2012. The defendant was babysitting the girl in his Queens home when the abuse occurred. DA Katz, when she was an…
BROOKLYN MAN CHARGED IN SCHEME TO STEAL JAMAICA HOME FROM ELDERLY WIDOW BY CLAIMING SHE DIED AND HE WAS HER SON
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, along with New York City Sheriff Anthony Miranda and New York City Finance Commissioner Preston Niblick, announced today that Christopher Williams, 41, has been charged with grand larceny, falsifying business records, identity theft, scheme to defraud and other crimes. The defendant allegedly used forged paperwork to claim ownership of a…
QUEENS MAN SENTENCED TO 21 YEARS IN PRISON FOR 2019 FAR ROCKAWAY SHOOTING THAT KILLED MAN
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Michael Hall, 36, has been sentenced to 21 years in prison for the December 2019 fatal shooting of a 45-year-old man in front of a Far Rockaway deli. The defendant pleaded guilty to manslaughter last month in Queens Supreme Court. District Attorney Katz said, “Gun violence is…
QUEENS HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER CHARGED WITH FORCIBLY TOUCHING STUDENT AND OTHER CRIMES
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Shannon Hall, 31, a teacher at Jamaica Gateway to the Sciences High School has been charged with forcible touching, endangering the welfare of a child and other crimes for abusing two female students, 14 and 16, from the school. District Attorney Katz said, “As parents, each day…
BRONX MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO ATTEMPTED MURDER FOR BEATING WOMAN WITH NAIL-RIDDLED WOODEN PLANK
Queens District Melinda Katz announced today that James Fitzgerald, 55, has pleaded guilty to attempted murder for nearly killing his estranged girlfriend. The defendant attacked the woman in front of a Jamaica fish market, kicking and punching her then using a wooden beam embedded with nails to continue the beating on May 16, 2020. District…
BROOKLYN MAN SENTENCED TO EIGHT YEARS IN PRISON AFTER PLEADING GUILTY TO SEX TRAFFICKING A TEEN GIRL
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Jordan Adderley, 32, was sentenced to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to sex trafficking of a child, rape and other crimes. The defendant profited from the prostitution of a 16-year-old girl whom he drove to various hotels, including the now-closed Umbrella Hotel in Kew Gardens,…
GEORGIA DEFENDANT SENTENCED TO 10 YEARS IN PRISON FOR RAPING WOMAN IN QUEENS ALLEY IN 2020
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Rony Lopez Alvarez, 39, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to rape in the first degree. The defendant attacked a woman, dragged her into a dark alley and raped her in 2020. The defendant fled the state but was caught in Georgia…
NYPD OFFICER INDICTED AND CHARGED WITH TAMPERING WITH EVIDENCE
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that NYPD Police Officer Kevin Martin, 45, has been indicted by a Queens County grand jury and arraigned in Supreme Court on tampering with evidence and other charges. The defendant failed to wear his body-worn camera during a March 2019 arrest in which an illegal gun was recovered….
QUEENS MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO ATTEMPTED MURDER FOR SHOOTING FORMER SUNY BUFFALO FOOTBALL PLAYER
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Jeffrey Thurston, 28, has pleaded guilty to attempted murder, criminal possession of a weapon and other crimes for shooting a former student athlete outside a deli on Springfield Boulevard in July 2020. The defendant also pleaded guilty to burglary charges for a March 2020 incident involving an…
QUEENS MAN CHARGED WITH MURDER FOR DEADLY STABBING OF FLUSHING RESIDENT
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Yang Zhang, 35, has been charged with murder, burglary and other crimes in the stabbing death of a 41-year-old man that took place in the early morning hours of Sunday, May 22, 2022. District Attorney Katz said, “This brutal act of violence is compounded by the seemingly…
QUEENS MAN SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR THREATENING TRANSGENDER WOMAN WITH ILLEGAL FIREARM
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Quame Truitt, 24, has been sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted criminal possession of a weapon for a September 2021 incident in which the defendant pointed an illegal firearm at a transgender woman in Jamaica, Queens. District Attorney Katz said, “The defendant…
BROOKLYN MAN INDICTED ON MURDER CHARGES IN ROCK ATTACK ON WOMAN IN CORONA
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Elisaul Perez, 33, has been indicted by a Queens County grand jury on murder and manslaughter charges, in addition to earlier filed charges of assault and criminal possession of a weapon in the November 2021 Thanksgiving weekend attack of 61-year-old Guiying Ma. Mrs. Ma was struck in…
QUEENS MAN SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER FOR SHOOTING UPS DELIVERY DRIVER WHOSE TRUCK BLOCKED TRAFFIC
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Jahsheen Osbourne, 21, has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for the unprovoked shooting of a UPS delivery driver in Woodside, Queens. The 15-year-veteran UPS worker was attempting to parallel park the brown box truck while the defendant waited in the passenger seat of a stolen…
QUEENS MAN CHARGED WITH MURDER OF JAMAICA PAWN SHOP OWNER
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Rodolfo Lopez-Portillo, 47, has been charged with murder and other crimes for the death of a 60-year-old pawn shop owner. The defendant allegedly struck the victim multiple times with a blunt object at a Jamaica Avenue pawn shop business in March 2022. District Attorney Katz said, “As…
TWO DEFENDANTS SENTENCED TO LENGTHY PRISON TERMS FOR GUNNING DOWN VICTIM IN BODEGA
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that 32-year-old Fabian DeJesus-Garcia has been sentenced to 25 years-to-life in prison after being convicted at trial of killing a man in a bodega in Jackson Heights, Queens. Second defendant, Gamaliel Desiderio-Sanchez, also 32, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 18 years in prison for the…
MAN PLEADS GUILTY IN 2019 SEXUAL ATTACK OF ELDERLY QUEENS WOMAN
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Rodrigo Escamilla, 28, has pleaded guilty to criminal sex act for the 2019 attack on a 74-year-old Queens woman that took place inside the victim’s Corona apartment. District Attorney Katz said, “The defendant viciously violated an elderly woman in a place that is supposed to be her…
DEFENDANT SENTENCED TO 16 YEARS-TO-LIFE IN PRISON FOR MURDER DURING BOTCHED SOUTH RICHMOND HILL HOME INVASION
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz today announced that Kristof Williams, 27, has been sentenced to 16 years-to-life in prison after being convicted at trial of murder and other crimes for his role in the death of a 20-year-old man. The victim was killed during a home invasion in South Richmond Hill, Queens, in November 2016….
DEFENDANT FOUND GUILTY OF MANSLAUGHTER IN DEATH OF TWO MEN KILLED IN 2018 HOUSE FIRE
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Kahj Woods, 20, has been found guilty at trial of two counts of manslaughter. The defendant set fire to a three-story building where he was visiting with a relative in December 2018. Two men – one an octogenarian and the other disabled – were unable to escape…
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