Press Releases
FIVE INDICTED ON GUN AND DRUG CHARGES FOLLOWING LONG-TERM INVESTIGATION
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that five defendants were indicted on charges of conspiracy and criminal sale of drugs and guns following a six-month investigation into a trafficking operation in Far Rockaway. The investigation included a series of undercover drug buys and tracking of defendants’ phones, resulting in the seizure of 10 firearms, including…
MAN SENTENCED AFTER PULLING GUN IN CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL AND THREATENING TO KILL WIFE
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Thomas Saxton was sentenced today to seven years in prison for pulling a gun in Cohen’s Children Medical Center and threatening to kill his wife as she held their 2-year-old, who had just been discharged from surgery. Responding officers recovered two loaded guns, ammunition and cocaine from Saxton…
QUEENS MAN SENTENCED FOR KILLING NYPD OFFICER IN HIGH SPEED CRASH
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Kassun Brown was sentenced today to up to 12 years in prison for speeding through a stop sign while drunk and crashing into a car driven by an off-duty NYPD officer, Michael Ellis, who suffered a traumatic brain injury and broken neck in the collision and later died…
ARVERNE MAN SENTENCED FOR BLOODY ATTACK ON FRIEND AND CONTRACTING TO KILL HIM BEFORE HE TESTIFIED
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Mark Douglas was sentenced today to nine years in prison for brutally assaulting a longtime friend with whom he argued at a birthday party and then agreeing to pay $5,000 to have him killed before testifying to the attack, which left the victim needing more than 100 stitches…
DISTRICT ATTORNEY KATZ SWORN IN FOR SECOND TERM
Photo credit: Jack Miller Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz was sworn in for a second term today by Supreme Court Administrative Judge Donna-Marie Golia. The ceremony, held in the Helen Marshall Cultural Center at Queens Borough Hall, was attended by some 200 staff. The District Attorney’s youngest son, Hunter, held the copy of the Old…
BROOKLYN TEEN CHARGED WITH GUN POSSESSION IN DOG SNATCHING
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that a 16-year-old was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, petit larceny and other crimes in the gunpoint theft of a French bulldog on Christmas day in Long Island City. District Attorney Katz said: “Pulling a gun in broad daylight to steal a dog and then casually taking…
CON MEN, CORPORATION PLEAD GUILTY IN DEED FRAUD SCHEME TO STEAL HOUSES IN QUEENS, NASSAU
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Russell Carbone and Terrell Hill pleaded guilty to a wide-ranging scheme to steal residential properties by filing forged deeds with city officials. As part of the plea, the court voided deeds to seven homes in Queens and two in Nassau County so they could be returned to their…
LONG ISLAND DRIVER INDICTED ON AGGRAVATED VEHICULAR HOMICIDE CHARGE IN FATAL LIE CRASH
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that a grand jury indicted Reginald Nash on charges of aggravated vehicular homicide, aggravated vehicular assault and driving under the influence, among numerous other charges, in connection with a high-speed, three-car collision last month on the Long Island Expressway that left one of his passengers dead and two others…
ASTORIA MAN INDICTED FOR DEADLY STAIRWELL SHOVE OF NEIGHBOR
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Kevin Ogara was indicted by a grand jury on charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide for allegedly pushing his 60-year-old neighbor down a stairwell in their Astoria apartment building causing fatal injuries. District Attorney Katz said: “We will argue that the victim was walking away from the…
MAN CHARGED WITH HATE CRIME FOR DEFACING APARTMENT BUILDING WITH SLURS AND THREATS
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Neal Milano was arraigned today on an indictment charging him with defacing the Sunnyside apartment building where he lives with threats, including “Kill Hamas Condo Board,” and homophobic and anti-female slurs. District Attorney Katz said: “Hateful and bias-motivated attacks have no place in our communities and this shameful…
QUEENS CON MAN SENTENCED FOR STEALING $40,000 FROM VICTIMS
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Shahab Khan was sentenced to three-and-a-half to seven years in prison for stealing more than $40,000 through apartment rental and investment scams. District Attorney Katz said: “The defendant victimized people in his own community. These were hard-working people looking for a place to call home or trying to…
QUEENS MAN INDICTED IN VOTER FRAUD CASE
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Abdul Rahman was arraigned today on an indictment charging him with falsifying business records, criminal possession of a forged instrument and other crimes for submitting falsified absentee ballot applications for the Democratic primary election in August 2022. District Attorney Katz said: “Every vote has to count. Election integrity…
TWO MEN INDICTED FOR MURDERING MOTORIST WITH HIS OWN VEHICLE
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Aaron Mayers and Zahir Williams were indicted in connection with the murder of a Brooklyn man who was pummeled unconscious before being run over with his own car. According to the Office of Chief Medical Examiner, 50-year-old Francisco Ortega survived a brutal beating by the defendants and two…
FAMILIAL DRUG TRAFFICKING RING DISMANTLED
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that 11 defendants were arraigned on drug and gun charges following a 15-month investigation into a sprawling drug trafficking organization that reached from Jamaica to suburban Suffolk and Westchester Counties and involved several members of the same family. The investigation included a series of undercover drug buys inside a…
MAN INDICTED IN MURDER OF LANDLADY AFTER RENT DISPUTE
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Davi Vidal was indicted for the murder of his landlord, whom he is accused of strangling in her East Elmhurst home after the two argued about rent. District Attorney Katz said: “We will seek justice for the brutally murdered victim and her loved ones. The defendant will have…
MOTORIST CHARGED WITH MANSLAUGHTER IN DEATH OF 3-YEAR-OLD RUN OVER IN QUEENS
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Kevin Gomez was charged in an indictment today with manslaughter in the death of a 3-year-old boy run over in Flushing. Gomez is accused of hitting the child with his car and dragging him approximately 10 feet before driving away. District Attorney Katz said: “There are few threats…
QUEENS MAN CHARGED WITH RAPE, ASSAULT, ROBBERY IN CRIME SPREE TARGETING SPAS
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Shahab Usman was charged with rape, assault and robbery for a crime spree targeting spas in South Richmond Hill that left a patron paralyzed from a gunshot. District Attorney Katz said: “We will be prosecuting the man we believe to be the violent predator responsible for a string…
TENANT CHARGED FOR SHOOTING BUILDING SUPERINTENDENT, FIRING AT RESPONDING POLICE OFFICERS
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that William Hernandez was arraigned today on an indictment charging him with attempted murder, kidnapping and assault for allegedly getting into a shootout with police officers after holding his building superintendent at gunpoint and then shooting him. District Attorney Katz said: “The defendant is charged with attempted murder in…
TEEN DRIVER AND PARENTS CHARGED IN GRUESOME COLLISION THAT KILLED 14-YEAR-OLD GIRL
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that a teenage driver and his parents have been charged in connection with the death of a 14-year-old girl who was a passenger in a car sheared in half after crashing at more than 100 miles an hour into a parked UPS truck on a busy Queens thoroughfare. The…
QUEENS MAN SENTENCED FOR SHOOTING CORRECTION OFFICER
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Mark Gibbs was sentenced today to 11 and a half years in prison for wounding an off-duty correction officer during a shootout in broad daylight on a busy Jamaica street in July 2022. His co-defendant, Sevaughn Green, is awaiting sentencing. District Attorney Katz said: “This kind of reckless…
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