Press Releases
QUEENS MAN SENTENCED TO PRISON IN VEHICULAR HOMICIDE CRASH THAT KILLED MOTHER AND DAUGHTER
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Tyrone Absolam, 42, has been sentenced to up to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide. The defendant caused the death of the female motorist and her daughter during a July 24, 2021 vehicle collision on Rockaway Boulevard. District Attorney Katz said, “The…
DEFENDANT CHARGED WITH ANTI-SEMITIC ATTACK IN FAR ROCKAWAY
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that James Purcell, aka James Porcell, 34, has been charged with assault as a hate crime for allegedly attacking a Jewish man in Far Rockaway on Tuesday. District Attorney Katz said, “This defendant is accused of assaulting an individual of the Jewish faith while making anti-Semitic statements. We…
SECOND INDICTMENT OF COUPLE ON SEX TRAFFICKING AND PROMOTING PROSTITUTION CHARGES
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz today announced that defendants Destiny Lebron, 19 and Gil Iphael, 22, have been indicted by a Queens County grand jury and arraigned in Supreme Court on sex trafficking and other charges in the July 2022 incident that took place inside the Quality Inn hotel in Jamaica, Queens. District Attorney Katz…
DEFENDANT PLEADS GUILTY IN VISA SCAM; OVER $90,000 IN RESTITUTION SECURED FOR VICTIMS
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, joined by New York City Police Department Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell and Special Agent-in-Charge of the Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service New York Field Office Keith J. Byrne, announced today that Olimzhon Turdialiev, 39, pleaded guilty to criminal possession of stolen property and subsequently made restitution of $92,000 to…
DEFENDANT AWAITING TRIAL ON ASSAULT CHARGES INDICTED FOR ALLEGEDLY HIRING HITMAN TO KILL MAIN WITNESS
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, joined by New York City Police Department Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell, announced today that Mark Douglas, 44, has been indicted by a Queens County grand jury and arraigned in Supreme Court on charges of second-degree conspiracy to commit murder and other charges for allegedly hiring a hitman to kill the…
ACCUSED DRUG DEALER INDICTED FOR SELLING DEADLY NARCOTICS AND LOADED FIREARM IN QUEENS
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, joined by New York City Police Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell, announced today that Justin Echeverry, 19, has been indicted by a Queens County grand jury and arraigned in Supreme Court on charges of criminal sale of a controlled substance, criminal possession of a weapon, and other crimes. The defendant is…
QUEENS MAN SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR MANSLAUGHTER IN STABBING DEATH OF HIS WIFE
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Manuel Villar, 52, has been sentenced to 24 years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter for the fatal stabbing of his 43-year-old wife. The 2020 incident took place inside their Arverne home. District Attorney Katz said, “The defendant, who pleaded guilty, is responsible for a brutal…
FAR ROCKAWAY WOMAN INDICTED ON MURDER CHARGES IN FATAL SIDEWALK HIT AND RUN
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Kiani Phoenix, 26, has been indicted by a Queens County grand jury on murder and other charges for allegedly fatally striking a 59-year-old man with her vehicle as she drove onto the sidewalk outside of a deli convenience store on August 27th in Far Rockaway. The defendant…
QUEENS MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO ASSAULTING POLICE OFFICER WHO WAS STRUCK IN EYE WITH CROWBAR
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz today announced that Andres Tabares, 40, has pleaded guilty to assault in the first degree for striking a police officer with a crowbar causing severe physical injuries. Police officers were pursuing two defendants who were attempting to burglarize a home on April 16, 2019, in Kew Gardens, Queens when the…
WOMAN CHARGED WITH MURDER IN SIDEWALK HIT AND RUN
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Kiani Phoenix, 26, has been charged with murder and other crimes for allegedly driving her car onto the sidewalk and fatally striking a 59-year-old man and another pedestrian outside a Far Rockaway deli convenience store on August 27. The defendant allegedly intended to strike a woman with…
TWO DEFENDANTS INDICTED ON SEX TRAFFICKING AND OTHER CHARGES FOR FORCING WOMAN INTO PROSTITUTION
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Shamiek Anderson, 34, and Lashay Moseley, 27, have been indicted by a Queens County grand jury and arraigned in Queens Supreme Court on charges of sex trafficking, assault, and other crimes for allegedly forcing a 25-year-old woman into having sex with strangers for cash. Defendants allegedly withheld the…
TWO INDICTED ON KIDNAPPING, ASSAULT AND ROBBERY CHARGES
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz today announced that defendants Destiny Lebron, 19 and Gil Iphael, 22, have been indicted on multiple charges and arraigned in Queens Supreme Court for an August 6, 2022 incident where the defendants kidnapped, assaulted, punched and robbed the victim inside a Queens hotel. District Attorney Katz said, “As alleged, the…
GRAND JURY INDICTS TWO MEN FOR DEADLY TAXI DRIVER ATTACK
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Austin Amos, 20, and Nickolas Porter, 20, have been indicted by a Queens grand jury on charges related to a fatal attack on a 52-year-old taxi driver in Far Rockaway, Queens on August 13, 2022. The defendants repeatedly punched and kicked the victim after he confronted them…
QUEENS MAN CHARGED WITH 67 COUNTS OF CRIMINAL POSSESSION OF A WEAPON AND OTHER CRIMES FOR CACHE OF ILLEGAL GHOST GUNS AND FIREARMS
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Joseph A. Maddaloni Sr., 55, has been charged with 67 counts of criminal possession of a weapon and other crimes following a long-term investigation conducted by the District Attorney’s Office. Recovered were a total of 42 illegal firearms including: 15 fully assembled ghost gun semiautomatic pistols; 23…
TWO MEN TO BE ARRAIGNED ON HOMICIDE ASSAULT CHARGES IN DEADLY FAR ROCKAWAY ATTACK ON TAXI DRIVER
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Austin Amos, 20, and Nickolas Porter, 20, have been charged with gang assault and manslaughter related to a fatal attack on a 52-year-old taxi driver in Far Rockaway, Queens last Saturday. The defendants are accused of repeatedly punching and kicking the victim after he confronted them for…
EMT ALLEGEDLY TOOK PATIENT’S BANK CARD AND BOUGHT BOOZE
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 8th ambulance call. The defendant allegedly purchased champagne and food then discarded…
BROOKLYN MAN SENTENCED TO 15 YEARS TO LIFE IN PRISON FOLLOWING JURY CONVICTION FOR SEXUAL ABUSE OF TWO YOUNG GIRLS
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Djamshed Lukmanov, 55, has been sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for sexually abusing two young girls over a period of three years. The defendant was convicted in April of predatory sexual assault against a child and course of sexual conduct against a child in…
BROOKLYN RESIDENT CHARGED IN HIT-AND-RUN COLLISION THAT INJURED THREE PEDESTRIANS INCLUDING MOTHER AND TODDLER
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz today announced that Tyshawn Baldwin, 28, has been charged with assault, reckless endangerment, unlawful fleeing of police officers and other crimes for the hit-and-run collision that injured three pedestrians, including a mother and toddler inside a stroller, in Ridgewood, Queens on August 10, 2022. The defendant allegedly struck the pedestrians…
JUDGE CONVICTS QUEENS MAN OF ATTEMPTED MURDER FOR JUNE 2020 ARMED ROBBERY
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Orlando Plummer, 47, has been convicted of attempted murder for shooting a 44-year-old pedestrian in the stomach and robbing him of his backpack on the Horace Harding Expressway in Corona, Queens. The defendant followed the victim, who years earlier had dated the mother of the defendant’s child,…
THIRD FEMALE CHARGED WITH HATE ATTACK ON QUEENS BUS
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Jahnaiya Williams, 19, has been charged with assault as a hate crime and other crimes. Williams is the third person accused in the July 9, 2022 assault on a 57-year-old-woman while on a public bus near the intersection of Jamaica Avenue and Woodhaven Boulevard. One of the…
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