Press Releases
QUEENS WOMAN INDICTED FOR SEX TRAFFICKING TRANSGENDER VICTIM ON ROOSEVELT AVENUE
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Valezka Echeverrias was arraigned on an indictment charging her with sex trafficking and other crimes for allegedly forcing a transgender woman to engage in prostitution on Roosevelt Avenue and to pay the defendant a weekly sum of money. After the victim stated that she wanted to stop engaging…
QUEENS MAN CHARGED WITH DEFRAUDING FEDERAL DISASTER RELIEF PROGRAM OF MORE THAN $240,000 WITH BOGUS CLAIMS OF ECONOMIC HARM DUE TO COVID-19
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Humayun Kabir has been charged with grand larceny and other crimes for allegedly stealing thousands of dollars in pandemic relief funds intended to help workers and small business owners suffering hardship due to COVID-19. The defendant allegedly applied for a federal Payroll Protection Program loan and an Economic…
FDNY EMT CHARGED WITH ATTEMPTED MURDER IN UNPROVOKED SHOOTING OF 36-YEAR-OLD MAN IN ASTORIA
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Isaiah Keller, an FDNY emergency medical technician, was charged with attempted murder, assault and weapon possession for the shooting of a 36-year-old man on a residential block in Astoria in the early morning of August 31. The defendant and victim did not know one another. District Attorney Katz…
THREE ALLEGED SQUATTERS INDICTED FOR ILLEGALLY OCCUPYING ST. ALBANS HOME
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that True Jackson, Saliam Sudler, and Shania Outar have been indicted on charges of burglary, criminal trespass and other crimes for illegally occupying a single-family home in St. Albans. The rightful owner’s family noticed unauthorized activity in the home this spring after the property was vacated in early 2024….
QUEENS MAN PLEADS GUILTY IN ARSON FIRE THAT SERIOUSLY INJURED TWO OCCUPANTS OF SOUTH OZONE PARK HOME
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Evan Person pleaded guilty to arson in the second degree for setting fire to cars in South Ozone Park and entering a home where he set a blaze that critically injured two of its occupants. District Attorney Katz said: “This defendant is a serial arsonist who set fire…
DA KATZ ANNOUNCES TAKEDOWN OF MAJOR NETWORK CABLE THEFT OPERATION
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Kong Gao has been charged with fraudulent making of an electronic access device and criminal possession of forgery devices in connection to a large-scale theft of network cable streaming and Wi-Fi services in Flushing and Whitestone. Gao is accused of manufacturing approximately 200 fraudulent modem devices embedded with…
QUEENS MAN CONVICTED OF ATTEMPTED MURDER IN SHOOTING OF NYPD OFFICER
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Devin Spraggins was convicted of attempted murder in the first degree for shooting NYPD Detective Brett Boller after an altercation in April 2023. The rookie officer and his partner, Officer Anthony Rock, were on routine patrol in the Jamaica business district when they confronted Spraggins after he assaulted…
FAR ROCKAWAY MAN SENTENCED TO 24 YEARS TO LIFE IN PRISON FOR FATAL SHOOTING IN 2021
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Waturi Johnson was sentenced today to 24 years to life in prison for the shooting death of Uriah Richardson, a father of three gunned down in midday outside of the Mott Avenue A train station in Far Rockaway in 2021. The two men did not know one another….
BROOKLYN MAN CHARGED WITH STAGING CAR CRASH ON BELT PARKWAY IN ROSEDALE
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Maikel Martinez was charged with staging a motor vehicle accident, reckless endangerment and other crimes after being in a car that allegedly cut off another driver on the Belt Parkway, forcing that driver to come to a stop. The car the defendant was in then reversed into…
THREE MEN CHARGED WITH CANNABIS POSSESSION AFTER MORE THAN 850 POUNDS OF MARIJUANA FOUND IN A LONG ISLAND CITY APARTMENT
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Cesar Egas Nagua, Michel Garcia Rodriguez and Alain Prieto Romero were charged with criminal possession of cannabis after a search warrant uncovered more than 850 pounds of cannabis flower with a street value in excess of $100,000 in a Long Island City apartment. District Attorney Katz said: “A…
SQUATTER SENTENCED AFTER PLEADING GUILTY TO THREE FELONIES FOR ILLEGALLY OCCUPYING JAMAICA HOME
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Lance White-Hunt was sentenced today after pleading guilty to identity theft, offering a false instrument for filing and tampering with physical evidence. White-Hunt illegally occupied a home in Jamaica and went as far as to forge leasing documents to stake his claim to the property as a legal…
DA KATZ, NYPD AND SHERIFF’S OFFICE SHUTTER UNLICENSED CANNABIS SHOP IN SUNNYSIDE
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced the closure of an unlicensed cannabis shop that operated near the Thomas A. Noonan Playground on Greenpoint Avenue in Sunnyside. A woman working at the shop was charged with criminal sale of cannabis and criminal possession of a controlled substance. District Attorney Katz said: “This shop, which was located…
BROOKLYN MAN CHARGED WITH RUNNING A LARGE-SCALE POSTAL THEFT OPERATION
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Jamil Brown has been charged with criminal possession of stolen property, identity theft and other crimes after a court-authorized search warrant revealed a slew of stolen bank checks, credits cards, debit cards and driver’s licenses in open view inside the defendant’s home in Brooklyn. Brown’s girlfriend, Kadija Corke,…
FORMER PTA PRESIDENT ARRESTED FOR ALLEGEDLY STEALING MORE THAN $41,000 FROM ASTORIA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ASSOCIATION
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Athena Gonzalez, the former parent teacher association president at P.S. 166 in Astoria, has been charged with grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property for allegedly stealing more than $41,000 from the school’s PTA. District Attorney Katz said: District Attorney Katz said: “This defendant, as PTA president…
FOURTH PERSON INDICTED FOR DOUGLASTON HOME INVASION BURGLARY AND KIDNAPPING
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that a fourth person has been indicted and arraigned on charges of kidnapping, robbery and burglary following a violent home invasion in Douglaston in August. The defendant, Oneil Thompson, is alleged to have acted as a getaway driver for three men – Jone Smith and brothers Ryan and Brandon…
LONG ISLAND MAN INDICTED FOR MANSLAUGHTER IN FATAL ROAD RAGE CRASH ON THE LONG ISLAND EXPRESSWAY
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Shaqeem Douglas was arraigned on an indictment charging him with manslaughter and related crimes for the death of 41-year-old Pradeppa Desai, who was a passenger in a for-hire Lyft SUV that Douglas cut off while both cars were traveling on the Long Island Expressway on August 14….
TEENAGE ALLEGED GANG MEMBER INDICTED ON MURDER CHARGE FOR SHOOTING DEATH OF QUEENS MOTORIST IN ST. ALBANS
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that a 15-year-old male has been indicted on charges of murder, criminal possession of a weapon and other crimes for allegedly shooting and killing a motorist in St. Albans on September 16. The defendant, an alleged gang member, is accused of discharging a 9 mm handgun multiple times following…
ALLEGED SQUATTER INDICTED FOR ILLEGALLY OCCUPYING HOWARD BEACH HOME
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Laurel Bay has been indicted on charges of burglary, criminal trespass and other crimes for illegally occupying a single-family home in Howard Beach. The property had been vacant since 2012, with the homeowner managing the property from out of state. Observant neighbors spotted the defendant allegedly moving items…
QUEENS WOMAN SENTENCED TO 27 YEARS IN PRISON FOR MANSLAUGHTER AND BURGLARY
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Haiyan Deng was sentenced to 27 years in prison for killing a man in her Flushing apartment and a related burglary in September 2021. First responders found 26-year-old Justin Li in the defendant’s bed, dead from a single gunshot wound to the head. The fatality followed an incident…
FORMER FBI AGENT CHARGED WITH POSSESSING ARSENAL OF ILLEGAL GHOST GUNS AND STOCKPILE OF AMMUNITION
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Scott Chiang has been charged with multiple counts of criminal possession of a weapon after search warrants executed at his home in Queens Village and a storage unit in Port Washington, Long Island, uncovered 18 illegal firearms, including eight ghost guns and six assault weapons, as well as…
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