Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that three defendants — Ryan Dash, Brandon Dash and Jone Smith — are charged with kidnapping, robbery, burglary and other crimes for an alleged home invasion robbery in Douglaston on Saturday morning, in which they held eight people, including three children, hostage. The defendants are accused of physically restraining the residents, demanding money and valuables from them under threat of physical harm.

District Attorney Katz said: “As alleged, these three defendants held a family of eight people, including children, as hostages, while displaying a gun and two hammers. These victims showed incredible courage during a home invasion in which a mother escaped with her youngest child and called 911. These defendants not only threatened the family, but also destroyed the family’s sense of safety in their own home.”

Brandon Dash, 39, and Ryan Dash, 34, of 218^th Street in Cambria Heights, and Jone Smith, also known as Conrad Harrigan, 47, of Cambria Heights appeared before Queens Criminal Court Judge Gonzales Sunday evening on a 24-count complaint jointly charging them with six counts of kidnapping in the second degree, three counts of burglary in the first degree, two counts of robbery in the first degree, four counts of burglary in the second degree, three counts of robbery in the second degree, two counts of assault in the second degree, grand larceny in the third degree, three counts of endangering the welfare of a child, and one count of criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree.

If convicted of the charges, the defendants face a maximum of 25 years in prison.

The defendants were ordered to return to Court on August 22.

According to the charges:

• On August 17, 2024, between 2:15 and 3:18 a.m., three men entered the bedroom door of a home on 247^th Street in Douglaston and awakened the owners at gunpoint. The homeowners were sleeping in the room with their 1-year-old child.
• The defendants, who were masked, allegedly physically restrained the occupants of the home and demanded to know the location of any money in the house. One of the defendants allegedly brandished a gun, while two others carried hammers.
• One woman and an infant escaped the home, and a 911 call was placed to police.
• The defendants allegedly took in excess of $10,000 cash from the homeowners.
• Responding officers determined that three defendants, as well as four adult hostages and two children remained inside the house.
• Police arrested the three defendants after an extensive manhunt in the vicinity of the house. Two of the hostages were taken to a local hospital for treatment of minor injuries. The stolen money was recovered after the arrests.

The investigation was conducted by Police Officer John Adames and other members of the 111^th Precinct.

Assistant District Attorney Hugh McCann of the District Attorney’s Career Criminal Major Crimes Bureau is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Michael Whitney, Bureau Chief and Roni C. Piplani, Deputy Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Shawn Clark.