Press Releases
TEACHER CHARGED WITH RAPE OF 14-YEAR-OLD STUDENT
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz today announced that Melissa Rockensies, a New York City public school teacher, was charged with rape for an alleged sexual relationship with a 14-year-old male student. District Attorney Melinda Katz said: “These disturbing allegations represent an abuse of authority and a betrayal of the trust students and parents place in…
MAN CONVICTED OF ATTEMPTED MURDER FOR WHITESTONE ATTACK ON BLACK LIVES MATTER DEMONSTRATORS
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Frank Cavalluzzi was convicted of nine counts of attempted murder for attacking peaceful Black Lives Matter demonstrators in June 2020, first charging at them wearing a glove with serrated blades and then attempting to run them over driving his SUV on the sidewalk. District Attorney Katz said: “A…
MAN CHARGED WITH ATTEMPTED MURDER IN ASTORIA ATTACKS BY SKATEBOARDER WIELDING BASEBALL BAT
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Matthew Lloyd was arraigned today on charges of attempted murder and assault for allegedly clubbing two men with a metal baseball bat he wielded while riding a skateboard. District Attorney Katz said: “The randomness of the attacks is as frightening as their brutality. As a city, we cannot…
SEXUAL PREDATOR SENTENCED FOR RAPING CHILD RELATIVE
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Julio Fernando Pina-Illescas was sentenced to 17.5 years to life in prison for sexually assaulting a child relative over the course of 10 years, beginning when the girl was 4 years old. In a separate case, Pina-Illescas has been charged with abusing two other pre-teen girls. District Attorney…
MAN CHARGED WITH RAPE AND ASSAULT IN ROOFTOP ATTACK ON WOMAN
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Jerson Vasquez was arraigned on charges of rape, robbery and assault for allegedly arranging to meet a woman for paid sex and then viciously attacking her on a Jamaica rooftop and taking back the money he paid along with her cellphone. District Attorney Katz said: “The charges portray…
MANHATTAN MAN SENTENCED TO 13 YEARS FOR KIDNAPPING IN BOTCHED RICHMOND HILL HOME INVASION
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Tex Ortiz was sentenced today to 13 years in prison for a kidnapping in which five people – including a 9-month-old – were held at gunpoint during a botched home invasion robbery that turned into a hostage standoff in Richmond Hill in 2020. The case against his co-defendant…
DISTRICT ATTORNEY KATZ ANNOUNCES PILOT INITIATIVE TO FIGHT RETAIL THEFT WILL EXPAND ACROSS QUEENS
Program’s Success in Jamaica, Flushing and Astoria Leads to Expansion Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz and the NYPD announced the borough-wide expansion of the Merchants Business Improvement Program, an initiative to combat repeat shoplifting and the harassment and threatening of customers and store staff by the handful of individuals responsible for many of the disruptions…
NEXT-DOOR NEIGHBOR INDICTED IN MURDER OF 10-YEAR-OLD BOY IN FAR ROCKAWAY
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Ashram Lochan was arraigned today on an indictment charging him with murder in connection with a 2021 shooting, apparently sparked by a dispute over a shared driveway, that killed 10-year-old Justin Wallace and seriously injured his cousin, 29-year-old Kyle Forrester. Lochan allegedly acted in concert with Jovan Young,…
BRONX MAN CHARGED WITH MURDER IN SMOKE SHOP SHOOTING
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Albert Edwards was arraigned on charges of murder, robbery and weapon possession in the March 18 robbery of a Richmond Hill smoke shop during which a 20-year-old employee was fatally shot. District Attorney Katz said: “A young man lost his life in a senseless act of gun violence….
QUEENS WOMAN SENTENCED TO 10 YEARS FOR TRAFFICKING ILLEGAL FIREARMS USING THE IRON PIPELINE
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Jessica Heyliger was sentenced today to 10 years in prison for heading a ring that sold guns and ammunition brought to Queens from the south via the Interstate 95 “Iron Pipeline.” District Attorney Melinda Katz said: “This defendant trafficked illegal lethal weapons with no regard for the bloodshed…
DOCTOR CHARGED WITH SEXUALLY ASSAULTING PATIENTS IN HOSPITAL, RAPING ACQUAINTANCES AT HIS HOME
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Dr. Zhi Alan Cheng was arraigned today on a 50-count indictment charging him with sexually abusing three patients at New York-Presbyterian Queens hospital and raping three other women in his Queens home. Cheng was previously indicted in December for allegedly raping a female acquaintance in his apartment. Cheng…
QUEENS WOMAN INDICTED IN FATAL CRASH THAT KILLED ONE, SERIOUSLY INJURED ANOTHER
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Semone Douglass was arraigned today on an indictment charging her with manslaughter, assault and leaving the scene in connection with a high-speed car crash on the Van Wyck Expressway that killed a passenger in another vehicle and seriously injured its driver. District Attorney Katz said: “We have all…
QUEENS MAN CHARGED WITH MURDERING HIS MOTHER AND BROTHER
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Roscoe Danielson was arraigned today on an indictment charging him with two counts of murder and concealment of a human corpse in connection with the shooting death of his younger brother and stabbing death of his mother. His brother’s body was found in a black plastic garbage bag…
BRONX WOMAN CHARGED WITH MURDER FOR HIGH-SPEED CRASH THAT KILLED PASSENGER IN UBER
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Melissa Rodriguez-Lopez was arraigned today on an indictment charging her with murder and manslaughter for a high-speed car crash that killed a passenger in an Uber allegedly struck by Rodriguez-Lopez while drag racing at up to 123 miles an hour on the Whitestone Expressway. District Attorney Katz said:…
MAN ARRAIGNED IN SCOOTER SHOOTING SPREE THAT LEFT ONE DEAD AND TWO OTHERS WOUNDED IN QUEENS
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Thomas Abreu was arraigned today on an indictment charging him with murder and five counts of attempted murder after allegedly going on a shooting spree while riding a scooter and killing an 86-year-old man and wounding two others in Queens. District Attorney Katz said: “This is a chilling…
BOYFRIEND OF WOMAN KILLED AND STUFFED IN CAR TRUNK PLEADS GUILTY
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Kareem Flake pleaded guilty to manslaughter for killing the 26-year-old mother of his two children in November 2020. The victim’s remains were discovered four months later in the trunk of an abandoned car belonging to the defendant. District Attorney Katz said: “This young mother was brutally murdered and…
MAN INDICTED IN SCOOTER SHOOTING SPREE THAT LEFT ONE DEAD AND TWO OTHERS WOUNDED IN QUEENS
Faces Up to Life in Prison Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Thomas Abreu was charged today in a 14-count indictment with murder and five counts of attempted murder after allegedly going on a shooting spree while riding a scooter, killing an 86-year-old man and wounding two others in Queens. District Attorney Katz said:…
QUEENS MAN INDICTED ON VEHICULAR HOMICIDE, DWI AND OTHER CHARGES IN DEADLY RICHMOND HILL CRASH
Faces up to 25 Years in Prison if Convicted Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Tamir Khan was arraigned today in Queens Supreme Court on an indictment charging him with aggravated vehicular homicide, driving under the influence and other crimes for a deadly collision in the early morning hours of June 5 that killed…
QUEENS RESIDENT SENTENCED TO 30 YEARS TO LIFE FOR MURDER AND PRIOR ASSAULT OF 30-YEAR-OLD FAR ROCKAWAY FATHER
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Jahvon Frazier was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for killing a Far Rockaway man in an unprovoked shooting in August 2020 as well as a previous assault. District Attorney Katz said, “Three children will have to grow up without their father because of this…
MAN CHARGED WITH MURDER IN RANDOM SHOOTING SPREE
Defendant Faces 25 Years-to-Life in Prison Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Thomas Abreu has been charged with murder, attempted murder, assault and weapon possession in a Saturday morning shooting spree that killed an 86-year-old man and injured three others in Queens and Brooklyn. District Attorney Katz said: “The streets of two boroughs were…
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