Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Ryan Dash, Brandon Dash and Oneil Thompson were sentenced for their roles in a violent home invasion robbery. The Dashes and defendant Jone Smith broke into a Douglaston family home in August 2024, brandished weapons and threatened the residents, including a child and an elderly couple, with demands for cash. Thompson drove the trio to the home. All four defendants previously pleaded guilty for their roles in the home takeover.

District Attorney Katz said: “These defendants thought they could violate the tranquility of a family’s home, take their money and evade accountability. If not for the brave mother who escaped with her baby and called for help, they may have succeeded in their plan. Three of the defendants who terrorized this family have now been sentenced to lengthy terms in prison. Our thoughts are with the victims as they continue to recover from the harm inflicted on them.”

Acting Queens Supreme Court Justice Joanne Watters sentenced the following defendants:

• Brandon Dash, 41, and Ryan Dash, 36, both of Cambria Heights, pleaded guilty in March to kidnapping in the second degree. They were each sentenced today to 15 years in prison and five years of post-release supervision.
• Oneil Thompson, 46, of Cambria Heights, who pleaded guilty in March to kidnapping in the second degree, was sentenced June 16 to 12 years in prison and five years of post-release supervision.
• Jone Smith, also known as Conrad Harrigan, 47, of Cambria Heights, pleaded guilty in April to seven counts of kidnapping and one count of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree in satisfaction of the indictment. He is facing a sentence of seven 17-year prison terms and five years post-release supervision and an additional 15 years in prison and five years of post-release supervision with all sentences to be served concurrently. He is due in court July 20.

DA Katz said that, according to the charges and investigation, on August 17, 2024, at approximately 2:15 a.m., Thompson drove Smith and brothers Brandon and Ryan Dash in a large white van without license plates to a residence on 247^th Street in Douglaston. Smith and the Dashes, all wearing masks, exited the van and two of the defendants entered the home by breaking a front window and then let in the third defendant.

One of the defendants entered the homeowners’ bedroom, where the husband and wife and their 1-year-old daughter were sleeping and awakened them at gun point. He demanded to know where the family’s money was kept.

The husband was taken into the home’s living room while the two other defendants entered the bedroom with a hammer and crowbar and began searching through drawers.

After the two men left the bedroom, the wife and her 1-year-old daughter managed to jump out of a bathroom window and the woman called 911.

In the meantime, the husband was hit on his foot with a hammer when he refused to say where his money was located. He then grabbed cash and handed it to the intruders. At that point, the man’s sister, older daughter and 72-year-old father entered the living room. The defendants held weapons at them and told them to sit down, keep quiet and raise their arms.

The defendants brought the four people to the home’s basement at gunpoint and tied up three of them with belts. The homeowner’s 72-year-old mother, who was upstairs, screamed after one of the men punched her in the right eye.

NYPD officers arrived on the scene and surrounded the home. They observed the three defendants climbing out a window at the back of the house.

Ryan Dash was arrested behind an adjacent house. Brandon Dash was apprehended shortly thereafter in the driveway of a nearby residence.

Smith was arrested at the intersection of 251^st Street and the Grand Central Parkway Service Road. At the time he was apprehended, Smith had one of the hostage’s backpacks containing a hammer and more than $20,000 taken from the residence.

A .45-caliber semi-automatic firearm loaded with nine rounds of ammunition was later found inside the pantry of the residence.

Thompson abandoned the white van, which was legally registered to him, at the crime scene. Three days after the incident, he attempted to file a stolen vehicle claim for it. Police recovered cell phones, including one belonging to Thompson, and other evidence from the van which linked Thompson to the vehicle during the incident. Thompson was arrested in October 2024.

Assistant District Attorney Hugh McCann of the District Attorney’s Career Criminal Major Crimes Bureau prosecuted the case, with the assistance of Assistant District Attorney Thomas Harrington, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Michael Whitney, Bureau Chief and Timothy Regan, Deputy Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Shawn Clark.