Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that FDNY emergency medical service responder Robert Marshall, 29, has been charged with grand larceny and other crimes for allegedly taking a debit card from the purse of a 79-year-old Springfield Gardens woman during an August 8^th ambulance call. The defendant allegedly purchased champagne and food then discarded the bank card.

District Attorney Katz said, “First responders take an oath to safeguard the welfare of our residents. As alleged, the defendant in this case used his position as an EMT to steal the victim’s property at a particularly vulnerable time, as she was being transported to a local hospital. This behavior goes against the mission of public service. The defendant is now charged accordingly and faces justice in our courts.”

Marshall, 29, of 114^th Street in College Point, Queens, was arraigned Tuesday night before Queens Criminal Court Judge Scott Dunn on a seven-count complaint. Marshall is charged with grand larceny in the fourth degree and 6 counts of petit larceny. Judge Dunn set the defendant’s return date for October 18, 2022. If convicted, Marshall faces up to 4 years in prison.

According to the charges, on August 8, 2022, at approximately 9 a.m., the defendant entered the home of the victim Barbara Faison near Edgewood Avenue and 230^th Avenue in Springfield Gardens when he was working as a Fire Department of New York emergency medical services responder. The victim required medical attention and was transported to a local hospital. When the victim checked her purse several days later, she realized that a red debit card was missing from the handbag.

DA Katz said, according to the complaint, video surveillance footage from a liquor store on 20^th Avenue in Queens shows the defendant on August 8, 2022, at approximately 6:48 p.m., purchasing two bottles of Moet brand champagne using a red debit card. The same debit card was also used to make purchases at a brick oven pizzeria, a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant, a Key Food grocery store and a laundromat.

The investigation was conducted by Detective Colin Sparks of the NYPD 105^th Precinct Queens Detective Area.

Assistant District Attorney Emily Santoro, of the Felony Trials III Bureau, is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Rachel Buchter, Bureau Chief, and Assistant District Attorneys Peter Lomp and Christine McCoy, Deputy Bureau Chiefs, under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Supreme Court Trials Pishoy Yacoub.