About Ernest Johnson

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, October 19, 2015

 

New York City Police Officer Indicted for Stealing Townhouse; Allegedly Transferred Title to Bedford-Stuyvesant Property to Herself

Faces Up to 15 Years in Prison if Convicted

Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson, together with New York City Sheriff Joseph Fucito, today announced that a New York City police officer has been indicted for allegedly stealing a neglected three-family house in Bedford-Stuyvesant by filing a deed transferring the property from the deceased owner’s nephew to herself in 2012, only to see her alleged scheme unravel when the nephew was approached by an actual potential buyer last year.

District Attorney Thompson said, “This defendant allegedly stole a house from its rightful owner with the stroke of a pen, apparently hoping no one would notice. But her brazen actions have unraveled and she will now be held accountable. That she is a veteran NYPD officer makes this alleged crime all the more disturbing.”

Sheriff Fucito said, “The Sheriff’s Office is actively investigating real property theft and related financial crimes throughout New York City. Those who think they can simply file false documentation with the NYC Department of Finance should take notice. The Sheriff will aggressively investigate and arrest any party involved in such criminal activity.”

The District Attorney identified the defendant as Blanche O’Neal, 45, of 4 Vernon Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. She was arraigned today before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun on a four-count indictment in which she is charged with second-degree grand larceny, second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, first-degree offering a false instrument for filing and first-degree perjury. She was released without bail and ordered to return to court on January 6, 2016. If convicted, she faces up to 15 years in prison.

The District Attorney said that, according to the indictment, on September 12, 2012, the defendant, who is an NYPD officer assigned to the 83^rd precinct, executed a deed that stated that she bought the property, 23A Vernon Avenue, from the nephew of the deceased homeowner, Lillian Hudson, who died in 1993. The nephew and three other relatives inherited the property, though it sat vacant and neglected for many years.

The defendant, according to the indictment, falsely indicated in her filings with the New York City Department of Finance, Office of the City Register, that she purchased the property for $10,000 from the nephew and the deed was purportedly signed by him. The Office of the City Register recorded the deed on October 11, 2012.

Furthermore, the defendant is charged with perjury. In connection with a burglary involving the property, the defendant falsely testified before a grand jury on September 29, 2014, that she owned the property.

In 2014, the nephew and the other three heirs to the house sought to sell it to an entity known as 23A Vernon LLC. That is when they discovered the 2012 deed allegedly filed by the defendant.

Finally, according to the indictment, by filing the false deed in 2012, the defendant transferred ownership of the property from the true owners to herself and thus stole title to the property.

The case was investigated by the New York City Office of the Sheriff, Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Investigator Teresa Russo, under the supervision of Chief Investigator James Grayson, First Deputy Sheriff Maureen Kokeas, and the overall supervision of Sheriff Joseph Fucito.

New York City Police Department Internal Affairs Bureau, Group 31, assisted in the investigation, including Detective Michael Greenwood, under the supervision of Sergeant Linda Serrapica, Sergeant Anthony Laporta, Sergeant Feliks Ladyzhenskiy, Lieutenant Robert Bava, and Deputy Inspector Paul Babbick, under the overall supervision of Deputy Commissioner Joseph Reznick.

The case is being prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Frank Dudis, of the District Attorney’s Real Estate Fraud Unit, under the supervision of Richard Farrell, Unit Chief, and Felice Sontupe, Chief of the Frauds Bureau, and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney William E. Schaeffer, Chief of the Investigations Division.

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         An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, October 16, 2015

 

Owners and Manager of Brooklyn and Queens Hotels Charged
With Promoting Prostitution and Falsifying Records

Workers Allegedly Directed Johns to Prostitutes Inside Sunset Park and Flushing Hotels;
Arrested Following Undercover Investigation; Closure Orders Served on Both Hotels

Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson, together with Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, FBI Assistant Director in Charge Diego G. Rodriguez, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations Glenn Sorge, today announced that two owners and a manager of two sister hotels, located in Sunset Park, Brooklyn and Flushing, Queens, have been variously charged with promoting prostitution and falsifying business records after an investigation revealed that employees directed clients to rooms that were occupied by sex workers.

District Attorney Thompson said, “We believe that this hotel was being used by pimps and prostitutes and that hotel workers allegedly facilitated this criminal activity. We will not tolerate prostitution-based businesses to operate in Brooklyn and create a nuisance in the community. We closed down this hotel and will hold everyone involved in illegal operations there responsible.”

Queens District Attorney Brown said, “This case is another example of the close law enforcement relationships that we have established to combat human traffickers and those who aid and abet them. Let the message be heard loud and clear that those who would profit from, assist and aid in this, one of the most heinous crimes being inflicted upon humankind, will have to answer for their crimes in a court of law.”

Attorney General Schneiderman said, “These arrests are one piece of a focused, comprehensive effort by my office and our law enforcement partners to seek out human trafficking in New York – a deplorable form of modern-day slavery. We will use every law enforcement tool at our disposal to identify and shut down hotels and other businesses that illegally profit from the trafficking of men, women, and children. Together with the expertise of District Attorney Thompson and the New York State Interagency Task Force on Human Trafficking, I’m confident that we can accomplish our shared goal of ending human trafficking in our state.”

Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI New York Field Office, Diego G. Rodriguez said, “Prostitution facilitates the activities of other criminals with direct connections to human trafficking, organized crime, and other illegal activities. The migratory nature of these crimes makes it critical for law enforcement entities to work together to tackle this widespread dilemma. The FBI continues to work with our law enforcement partners who play a role in combating this type of criminal activity.”

Glenn Sorge, acting special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations, New York said, “These arrests are part of a comprehensive effort by federal and local authorities to rid neighborhoods of businesses that contribute to prostitution which can lead to human trafficking and other crimes. HSI is committed to working with our law enforcement partners to rid our neighborhoods of these deplorable activities.”

District Attorney Thompson identified the defendants as Cui Yu Li aka Lucy Li, 50, Xiao Ming Lu, 53, both of 136-05 Sanford Avenue in Queens, and Amy Vincent aka Qing Li, 43, of 723 40th Street in Brooklyn. Lu and Vincent were each charged with fourth-degree promoting prostitution, permitting prostitution and second-degree falsifying business records. They face up to a year in jail if convicted. Li was charged with permitting prostitution and second-degree criminal nuisance. She faces up to three months in jail if convicted.

Vincent was employed as the desk manager at Sunny 39 Hotel at 517 39^th Street in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. According to the investigation, on at least three different occasions she directed patrons to rooms booked by undercover police officers who were posing as a pimp and a prostitute. The rooms were booked without requesting identification or a signature as required and in one occasion the defendant accepted a $20 “tip” from the undercover.

A search warrant was executed at the hotels on October 15, 2015. Li, the principal owner, was present at the premises of Sunny 39 and was found in possession of guest receipts that showed numerous short stay rentals and has also allegedly maintained premises where unlawful prostitution openly occurred. A nuisance abatement closure orders were served on both hotels, directing the establishments be shut down.

Lu, who is Li’s husband, is the principal owner of the New Farrington Hotel at 33-53 Farrington Street in Flushing, Queens. It is alleged that he similarly directed patrons to rooms occupied by prostitutes.

District Attorney Thompson said that Sunny 39 Hotel has been the subject of numerous community complaints and 911 calls regarding prostitution. Several ads on Backpage.com for individual sex workers directed clients to the hotel and a hotel room appeared in the background of one such advertisement.

The District Attorney thanked the Queens DA’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, the New York State Attorney General’s Office, the New York City Police Department, New York City Department of Buildings, New York State Department of Labor and New York State Workers Compensation Board for their assistance in this investigation.

The case was investigated by Detective Investigator William Pettie, Deputy Chief of the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Investigations Bureau, under the overall supervision of Chief Investigator Richard Bellucci.

The Queens case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Jessica Melton, the supervisor of District Attorney Brown’s Human Trafficking Unit, under the supervision of the Special Proceeding Bureau Deputy Chief Oscar Ruiz and Bureau Chief Anthony M. Communiello.

The Brooklyn case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney David Weiss of the District Attorney’s Human Trafficking Unit, and Assistant District Attorney Laura Neubauer, Chief, under the supervision of Miss Gregory, Chief of the District Attorney’s Special Victims Bureau.

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A criminal complaint is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, October 15, 2015

 

Brooklyn Handyman Sentenced to 25 Years to Life in Prison
For Murdering His Boss

Defendant Bragged on Tape That He Dismembered the Body, Which Was Never Recovered

Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson today announced that a former handyman who boasted about his crime on a secret audio recording has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. The defendant was convicted last month of killing and dismembering a 55-year-old Brooklyn property owner whose body was never found.

District Attorney Thompson said, “Even though we didn’t have a body, we were determined to get justice for Bruce Blackwood and his family. And that’s exactly what we did by using the defendant’s own words to convict him.”

The District Attorney identified the defendant as Luis Perez, 50, formerly of 983 Hancock Street, in Bushwick, Brooklyn. He was sentenced today to 25 years to life in prison by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun, who presided over a jury trial last month in which the defendant was convicted of one count of second-degree murder.

The District Attorney said that, according to trial testimony, the victim, Bruce Blackwood, owned several properties in Brooklyn and hired the defendant to work in some of the apartments, which he was preparing to rent out. At some point, however, the victim discovered that the defendant stole the victim’s checkbook and cashed multiple checks against the victim’s account, totaling $7,700.

According to the evidence presented at trial, the victim confronted the defendant about the stolen checks on March 6, 2006, at one of the victim’s properties at 983 Hancock Street, where the defendant was living at the time. The defendant, who had a criminal history and did not want to return to prison, then killed the victim, and disposed of his body, according to 3 ½ hours of audiotape secretly recorded by the defendant’s daughter.

In the audiotape, the defendant told his daughter how he choked the victim and then used a machete to cut up his body and dispose of it in construction-grade plastic bags. He then told her that he used hospital-grade bleach to clean up the crime scene.

“It’s not about committing the perfect crime, it’s just about how well you clean it up,” the defendant boasted on the audiotape. The defendant told his daughter that he killed Mr. Blackwood to avoid going to prison for stealing his checks and cashing them, though he ultimately was convicted of that crime and was sentenced to two to four years in prison. He was arrested for the murder last year.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Melissa Carvajal of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Kenneth Taub, Bureau Chief.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, October 14, 2015

 

Eight Defendants Indicted For Trafficking Weapons Across State Lines;
Guns Purchased in Georgia and Pennsylvania, Then Bused to New York
For Resale on the Streets of Brooklyn

112 Guns, Including 20 Assault Weapons, Purchased During Course of Investigation

Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson, together with New York City Police Commissioner William J. Bratton, today announced that eight men and women from three states have been charged in a 541-count indictment with conspiracy and other charges for trafficking guns purchased in Atlanta, Georgia, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and resold on the streets of Brooklyn.

District Attorney Thompson said, “These defendants conspired to use the lax gun laws down south and elsewhere to flood the streets of our city with assault weapons and other guns, which, in the wrong hands, could have caused mayhem and massive bloodshed in our communities. We will now hold these merchants of death accountable no matter where they live.”

Commissioner Bratton said, “I commend the members of NYPD’s Firearms Investigations Unit, whose dedication to this dangerous long-term investigation not only prevented more than 100 firearms from reaching the streets of Brooklyn, but undoubtedly saved lives in the process. The NYPD will continue to work with the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office and our many law enforcement partners to bring to justice any individuals or criminal organizations that seek to profit from the illegal sale of firearms.”

The District Attorney said that the alleged mastermind of the trafficking ring, Michael Bassier, boasted on wiretaps that he was essentially taking advantage of lax gun laws outside of New York to bring firearms into the City.

“I’m selling them the right way and the wrong way. When I’m out of state, like in Atlanta and Georgia and all that, it’s all legal, but New York, it’s completely illegal. So when I bring (expletive) up here and sell it up here, that’s illegal,” Bassier allegedly said in a phone conversation that was intercepted via electronic surveillance.

The District Attorney identified the defendants as Michael Bassier, 31, of 1487 East 96^th Street, in Canarsie, Brooklyn; Willie Ware, 26, of 1607 East 96^th Street, in Canarsie, Brooklyn; Anthony Jackson, 25, of 454 Kingsborough 4^th Walk, in Crown Heights, Brooklyn; Jonathan Destin, 26, of 2517 Snyder Avenue, in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn; Lance Millien, 27, of 1624 Graves Road, Norcross, Georgia; Tanisha Minor, 26, of 416 Whitney Chase, Stone Mountain, Georgia; Nicole Taylor, 24, of 229 Cambridge Square, Monroeville, Pennsylvania; Terrah Moore, 22, of 5710 Rippey Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The defendants have been variously charged in a 541-count indictment with fourth-degree conspiracy; first-, second- and third-degree criminal sale of a firearm; first-degree criminal possession of a weapon and other related charges. The defendants were arrested and arraigned over the last week before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Martin Murphy. Minor’s bail was set at $500,000 bond or $250,000 cash; Jackson’s bail was set at $250,000 bond or $100,000 cash; and both Destin and Bassier were remanded. The other defendants were arrested in Georgia and Pennsylvania and are pending extradition. If convicted, Bassier faces up to 25 years in prison on the top count. Ware is not in custody yet, but is being actively pursued by the NYPD.

The District Attorney said the indictment is the result of a long-term investigation conducted by the New York City Police Department’s Firearms Investigations Unit and the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office. Between September 2014 and September 2015 the defendants allegedly conspired to sell guns purchased in Georgia and Pennsylvania to an NYPD undercover detective in Brooklyn. The investigation included the use of intercepted electronic communications as well as physical and video surveillance. The weapons recovered during the course of the investigation include 9mm Ruger and Glock pistols, .22 caliber Walther pistols, .40 caliber Smith & Wesson pistols, .45 caliber Taurus pistols, and a variety of assault weapons including multiple .22 long rifle caliber semi-automatic Walther Model MP Uzis, .39 mm caliber semi-automatic Norinco Model SKS, 9mm Luger semi-automatic Jimenez Arms Model JA25 and others.

During the course of the investigation, it is alleged, Michael Bassier made 12 trips to Atlanta, Georgia, using Chinatown buses for transportation, including the Bus2NYC and other Chinatown bus lines. He allegedly brought up to six guns to New York from Atlanta on each trip, which were later brought to Brooklyn and sold to the undercover.

It is further alleged that Bassier made at least six trips by automobile to Pittsburgh to purchase guns which were later brought to Brooklyn and sold to the undercover.

According to the investigation, Bassier allegedly enlisted several individuals, referred to as “straw purchasers,” in the Atlanta, Georgia area to purchase firearms on his behalf from gun stores, pawn shops and street dealers. Specifically, it is alleged that Jonathan Destin of Brooklyn introduced Bassier to the Atlanta, Georgia area. Destin, Lance Millien and Tanisha Minor, both of Georgia, acted as Bassier’s primary accomplices there. Minor, Millien and Destin are alleged to have purchased firearms and to have recruited other women to purchase firearms for Bassier.

It is further alleged, that, in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area Bassier relied on Nicole Taylor and Terrah Moore, both of Pennsylvania, to purchase firearms from gun stores, pawn shops, websites and street dealers, as well as to recruit other buyers.

Furthermore, according to the investigation, once he returned to Brooklyn with the guns, Bassier arranged to sell them to the undercover. Almost all of the sales took place at a Walgreens parking lot located at Rockaway Parkway and Avenue M in Canarsie, Brooklyn. Bassier allegedly paid between $150 and $300 per gun, and paid the straw purchasers a fee of $50 per gun. The undercover paid on average between $800 and $1,200 per gun, although the assault weapons purchased by the undercover cost approximately $2,000 to $2,500. The undercover spent a total of $130,050 on the firearms purchased during the course of the investigation.

Finally, it is alleged, Bassier was aided in Brooklyn by Willie Ware, who personally sold firearms to the undercover on two occasions and by Anthony Jackson, who worked as a lookout for Bassier during firearms transactions.

The District Attorney said that prosecutors assigned to his newly created Violent Criminal Enterprises Bureau, working with detectives from the New York City Police Department’s Firearms Investigations Unit, have taken 553 guns off Brooklyn streets since he took office.

The investigation was conducted by New York City Police Department Detective Charles Lennon and Detective Scott Martin of the NYPD’s Firearm’s Investigations Unit, under the supervision of Sergeant Donald Morgan, Lieutenant Michael Jennings, Captain Robert Van Houten, and Deputy Inspector Brian Gill and the overall supervision of Chief Thomas Purtell of the Organized Crime Control Bureau.

The District Attorney thanked the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms for their assistance in this matter.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Ashlyn Forde and Kathleen Murphy, of the District Attorney’s Violent Criminal Enterprises Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Tara Lenich, Deputy Chief for Special Investigations and Assistant District Attorney Nicole Chavis, VCE Bureau Chief and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney William E. Schaeffer, Chief of Investigations.

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An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, October 7, 2015

 

Disbarred Lawyer Indicted for Stealing Over $1 Million by Conducting Fraudulent Real Estate Deals

Staten Island Resident Allegedly Made Bogus Sales of Two Brooklyn Homes
He Didn’t Own by Pretending to Be an Attorney and Filing Forged Documents,
Including Deed Falsely Claiming a House Was Sold to Him for $10

Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson today announced that a disbarred lawyer has been indicted for allegedly stealing over $1 million from an investor, potential home buyers and a title insurance company when conducting various scams in connection with two distressed properties in Brooklyn. In the course of the schemes, which allegedly ran between February 2011 and June 2015, the defendant used numerous forged documents and falsely represented himself as a practicing attorney.

District Attorney Thompson said, “This defendant allegedly concocted elaborate schemes to defraud in which he stole money from acquaintances and strangers, falsely claimed to be an attorney when it suited his schemes and filed numerous forged documents with public agencies. We’ve put an end to these fraudulent acts and will now fully prosecute him for committing such fraud.”

The District Attorney identified the defendant as Domenick Crispino, 52, of 148 Main Street in Staten Island. He was arraigned today before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun on a 21-count indictment in which he is charged with second-degree grand larceny, second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, practicing law without a license and related counts. He was ordered held on $500,000 bond or $250,000 cash bail. The defendant faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of the top count. His next court date was scheduled to December 9, 2015.

The District Attorney said that, according to the indictment, between February 15, 2011 and June 29, 2015, the defendant allegedly engaged in various schemes to enrich himself from two private homes in Brooklyn that were subject to foreclosure actions: 35 Bay 7^th Street in Bath Beach and 1848 West 7^th Street in Gravesend.

Crispino was disbarred in 1999 amid allegations of felony larceny, for which he was later convicted. Despite that, he represented himself as an attorney and offered to help the owner of the Bay 7^th Street property keep her house after failing to make mortgage payments. The homeowner, who knew the defendant through her late brother, wanted her elderly father to remain in the family home. According to the indictment, in June 2011, Crispino advised Bruce Abdenour, a friend of the homeowner who was assisting with loan payments, to assume ownership of the property and write checks to Meritus Group, a company Crispino owned, so they can be held in escrow while the defendant negotiated the mortgage with the banks, which would later allow Abdenour to sell the house.

Through April 2013, Abdenour issued checks totaling $597,750 to Meritus and Crispino. The defendant allegedly used these funds by writing checks to himself, making cash withdrawals and making debit card purchases, according to the indictment. After the elderly resident of the home passed away, Abdenour asked Crispino for proof that he was holding onto the payments. On February 28, 2014, the defendant emailed Abdenour an allegedly phony escrow agreement with Merrill Lynch, which had a foreclosure action on the house.

In April 2014, Crispino sent a contract of sale to the lawyer of two sisters who were interested in buying the Bay 7^th Street property and collected 10% down payment totaling $86,800, the investigation found. In December 2014, Abdenour was informed during the closing that the mortgage would have to be paid from the proceeds of the sale, not from the now-empty escrow account, and the deal was cancelled. Neither he nor the potential buyers got any of the payments back and he subsequently reported Crispino to the District Attorney’s Office. The property was foreclosed on and sold in an auction in January 2015 with a mortgage surplus of about $410,000. In June 29, 2015, the defendant filed a claim on the surplus on behalf of Abdenour’s company without permission or authority to do so, according to the indictment. The defendant did not obtain those funds.

In 2011, according to the indictment, Crispino also initiated business dealings relating to the West 7^th Street property, which was the subject of a foreclosure action. On February 15, 2011 he filed a deed, allegedly bearing the owner’s forged signature, with the city’s Department of Finance, purporting that Meritus Group bought the house for $10. In June 2012, he signed a contract of sale on the property, accepting a 10% down payment of $47,500. The defendant allegedly spent all that money and stopped returning calls from the potential buyers’ lawyer.

On February 21, 2014, Crispino filed an allegedly bogus satisfaction of mortgage with the City Register, falsely claiming the mortgage on the property had been paid. A month later, he signed a contract of sale with another buyer for the same West 7^th Street home. At the May 2014 closing, he collected checks totaling $97,936 from the buyer’s lawyer, according to the investigation.

There was a lien, as well as Environmental Control Board violations on the property that needed to be paid before the sale could be finalized. The buyer paid $152,850 to Liberty Land Abstract, the title insurance company, which held it in escrow, plus $112,000 to the law firm representing the lien holder. After the lien was cleared and the violations paid, Liberty issued Meritus Group – the purported owner of the property – two checks for a total of $151,540.27, the investigation found.

The District Attorney said that all told, Crispino allegedly stole from Abdenour, from the three potential buyers and from Liberty a total of $981,436.27. He allegedly spent all this money on personal expenses by writing checks to himself, making cash withdrawals and making debit card purchases. He also caused a potential buyer to pay $112,000 to clear the lien, which she wouldn’t have paid had she known about the phony deed, for a total alleged larceny of $1,094,417.27.

The case was investigated by Detective Investigator Jacqueline Klapak, of the District Attorney’s Investigations Bureau, under the supervision of Detective Investigator Michael Seminara and the overall supervision of Chief Investigator Richard Bellucci. Assistant District Attorney Richard Farrell, Chief of the District Attorney’s Real Estate Fraud Unit, Paralegal Megan Carroll and Financial Investigator Arthur Criscione, assisted in the investigation.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Michael Spanakos, Chief of the District Attorney’s Public Integrity Bureau, under the supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney William E. Schaeffer, Chief of the Investigations Division.

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         An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, October 7, 2015

 

Relative Pleads Guilty to Fatally Stabbing Five Family Members

Defendant Will Be Sentenced to 125 Years to Life in Prison After
Admitting to Killing Mother and Her Four Children

Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson today announced that a 27-year-old man pleaded guilty to killing a mother and her four children with a cleaver. The defendant, a cousin of the woman’s husband, had been staying in the family’s Sunset Park apartment in the weeks before the attack.

District Attorney Thompson said, “Today’s outcome guarantees that this dangerous defendant will never be on the streets again.  It also brings some peace to a devastated family and spares them from reliving this horrific tragedy at trial.”

The District Attorney identified the defendant as Mingdong Chen, 27. He pleaded guilty today in front of Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Vincent Del Giudice to three counts of second-degree murder and two counts of first-degree manslaughter. The judge set sentencing for October 20, 2015, at which time the defendant will be sentenced to three consecutive terms of 25 years to life in prison for the murder counts and two consecutive terms of 25 years on the manslaughter counts for a sentence of 125 years to life in prison. The defendant waived his right to appeal as part of the plea.

The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, on October 27, 2013, Qiao Zhen Li placed a call from her apartment at 870 57^th Street in Sunset Park, Brooklyn to her mother-in-law in China, stating that the mother-in-law’s cousin had a knife and was threatening her and her family. Children were heard crying in the background before the call terminated. The mother-in-law alerted relatives in Brooklyn who rushed to the apartment.

They encountered the defendant, a cousin of Li’s husband who had been staying in the home for about two weeks. The defendant’s clothes, hands and feet were heavily bloodstained and he was forcibly held by relatives until police arrived. Inside, cops found five victims with grievous stab wounds to the neck and head. Li, 37, her children Linda Zhuo, 9; Amy Zhuo, 7; Kevin Zhuo, 5 and William Zhuo, 1, were pronounced dead.

The defendant was questioned by detectives in Mandarin and made statements, confessing to killing all the victims with a meat cleaver.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Mark Hale, formerly of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Kenneth Taub, Bureau Chief.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, October 1, 2015

 

Brooklyn Man Sentenced to 75 Years to Life in Prison for
Torturing and Raping Former Girlfriend for Three Days

Victim Was Hogtied, Beaten and Assaulted With Her 2-Year-Old Daughter in the Next Room

Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson today announced that a 31-year-old Brooklyn man was sentenced to 75 years to life in prison for kidnapping, raping and torturing his former girlfriend for three straight days, with their 2-year-old daughter present at the apartment for most of that time. The defendant struck the victim with a dumbbell, cut her feet, shaved off her hair and sexually assaulted her repeatedly until a neighbor called police.

District Attorney Thompson said, “The brutal violence the defendant unleashed on this innocent woman was truly shocking and shows that he is totally unfit to remain in society. I hope that his long prison sentence will bring some solace to the victim and her daughter for all the trauma they have suffered.”

The District Attorney identified the defendant as Alex Anselmo, 31, of 71 Grand Avenue, in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. He was sentenced today by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice John Ingram to 75 years to life in prison following his conviction on September 16, 2015 after a jury trial. The defendant was found guilty of all 17 charges he faced, including first-degree kidnapping, first-degree rape, first-degree burglary, second-degree assault, criminal possession of a weapon, aggravated criminal contempt and related counts.

The District Attorney said that, according to trial testimony, the 31-year-old victim broke up with the defendant, with whom she has two daughters, in the spring of 2012, and he became increasingly obsessive. After learning via Facebook that she met another man and was planning to move to Florida, he grew more incensed, the evidence showed, contacting her in violation of an order of protection taken against him in 2012.

On April 1, 2013, Anselmo pushed his way into the victim’s Bedford-Stuyvesant apartment. He punched her and handcuffed her to the bed, and she remained tied-up for most of the following three days. The defendant raped and sodomized her each day, used a knife to cut her feet, severing a tendon, and beat her with a dumbbell and an extension cord. He threatened to shoot her with a gun, stuffed a sock in her mouth and used clippers to cut off all of her hair. The victim suffered 50 wounds to her body and feet.

The 2-year-old girl was forced to stay in the living room for most of the ordeal and was released by the defendant hours before police arrived. A neighbor called 911 on April 3, 2013 after getting concerned, listening through the door and hearing the cocking of a gun. When police officers from the Emergency Services Unit broke down the door, they found the victim tied to the bed in a formal dress she was forced to wear earlier that day, according to testimony. A revolver was recovered in the apartment.

The District Attorney said that evidence presented at trial showed that the defendant took a cell phone photo of the woman’s stab wound during the crime, which was deleted but later recovered. It also showed that two days prior to the incident he conducted web searches on how many Xanax pills are needed to cause a death and on how to sterilize a woman.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Brooke Cohen of the District Attorney’s Domestic Violence Bureau and Assistant District Attorney Audra Beerman, Deputy Bureau Chief, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Michelle Kaminsky, Bureau Chief.

 

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, September 30, 2015

 

Company Manager Pleads Guilty To Polluting Newton Creek by Dumping Environmental Waste Using Secret System to Bypass Proper Controls

Defendant Will Pay $110,000 Fine and Comply With Monitoring Agreement

Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson, together with New York City Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Emily Lloyd and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Acting Commissioner Marc Gerstman today announced that a Bedford-Stuyvesant company and its manager pleaded guilty in connection with rigging a bypass line located underground at its facilities and dumping industrial waste into the sewer system that leads into Newtown Creek in Greenpoint.

District Attorney Thompson said, “This case should make clear that we take environmental crimes in Brooklyn seriously and will vigorously prosecute any company that dumps environmental toxins into our waterways.”

Commissioner Lloyd said, “New York Harbor is cleaner today than it has been in more than a century and prosecuting those that illegally discharge pollution into our waterways sends a strong message that we will protect our environment and public health. I’d like to thank District Attorney Thompson and his staff for their work on this, and other important environmental cases.”

Acting Commissioner Gerstman said, “DEC is committed to its diligent work in investigating illegal dumping cases around the state. DEC’s Law Enforcement Officers and Legal team continue to enforce against any violators that do not respect the quality of our environment and abuse it for personal gain. I commend the joint efforts of our DEC staff, New York City DEP and the Brooklyn DA’s Office in their work on this case to protect our state’s valuable natural resources.”

The District Attorney identified the defendant as Manuel Acosta, 58, of 84-24 109^th Street, in Kew Gardens, Queens. He pleaded guilty today to one count of the making or use of an outlet or point source discharging into the waters of the state, of the Environmental Conservation Law, an E felony, before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Matthew Sciarrino. Acosta is the manager of Control Electropolishing Corp., located at 109-111 Walworth Street, in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. The corporation pleaded guilty to one count of endangering public health, safety or the environment in the fourth-degree, an A misdemeanor and one count of disposal of hazardous waste without authorization, an unclassified misdemeanor, both of the Environmental Conservation Law.

The judge set sentencing for December 16, 2015. As part of the plea agreement, Acosta and the corporation will pay a fine of $110,000 to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection and the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.

Control Electropolishing Corp., provides metal cleaning services to a wide array of industries including cleaning medical, surgical and dental instruments; boating, fishing and swimming pool accessories; pharmaceutical equipment; aircraft components; meat and fish hooks; and wire goods, among other items.

The District Attorney said that, according to the complaint and the plea, between November 22, 2013 and January 9, 2014, at the direction of Acosta, the manager of Control Electropolishing Corp., employees at Control’s facility introduced hazardous waste into the sewer by disposing of unprocessed and un-neutralized hazardous waste and sludge into the sewer in violation of DEP permits. Control disposed of the hazardous waste in an illicit manner through a bypass line or pipe that operated unless NYCDEP inspectors conducted an inspection of the facility. When NYCDEP conducted inspections at the company, defendant Acosta instructed employees to insert a plug into the bypass line to disable the bypass line thereby concealing their illegal bypass line from the DEP. The waste and sludge that Control dumped into the sewer contained high levels of chromium, copper, lead and nickel. The bypass line bypassed the tank and system that was supposed to properly treat the wastewater before it was released into the sewer.

When the defendants dumped untreated wastewater and sludge directly into the NYC sewers, this waste was carried to the Newtown Creek Water Pollution Control Plant. The plant does not treat industrial process wastewater containing chromium, copper, lead and nickel, so some of the wastewater was introduced, untreated, into Newtown Creek.

Newtown Creek was declared a Superfund site in 2010 by the United States Environmental Protection Agency following decades of oil spills, toxic dumping and other pollution.

To report an environmental crime call the District Attorney’s Action Center at 718-250-2340. You may also contact New York State Encon Police at their 24 hour Stop Polluters Hotline at 1-844-332-3267.

The case was investigated by DEP’s Industrial Inspection and Permitting staff, led by Chetan Patel, and the Compliance Monitoring Staff, led by Jorge Villacis. It was additionally investigated by Lieutenant John Fitzpatrick, Lieutenant Jesse Paluch, Investigator Jeff Conway and program staffer Rasani Juzer and Captain Cisco Lopez of the DEC’s Bureau of Environmental Crimes Investigation (BECI).

The case was also investigated by Supervising Detective Investigator Michael Seminara, of the District Attorney’s Investigations Bureau, under the supervision of Chief Investigator Richard Bellucci.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Felice Sontupe, Chief of the District Attorney’s Frauds Bureau, under the supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney William E. Schaeffer, Chief of the District Attorney’s Investigations Division. 

 

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, September 29, 2015

 

Brooklyn Handyman Convicted Of Murder for Killing His Boss

Defendant Bragged on Tape That He Dismembered the Body, Which Was Never Recovered

Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson today announced that a former handyman who boasted about his crime on a secret audio recording has been convicted of killing and dismembering a 55-year-old Brooklyn property owner whose body was never found. The jury returned the verdict yesterday afternoon following less than a day of deliberations.

District Attorney Thompson said, “This verdict is a measure of justice for Bruce Blackwood and all of his friends and family members who knew that this hardworking, reliable man did not just simply disappear. The jury listened to the defendant’s own words as he coldly described what he had done to the victim, including cutting up his body and discarding his remains. And the jury used the defendant’s own words to convict him of murder.”

The District Attorney identified the defendant as Luis Perez, 50, formerly of 983 Hancock Street, in Bushwick, Brooklyn. He was convicted today of one count of second-degree murder following a jury trial before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun, who set sentencing for October 13, 2015, at which time the defendant faces 25 years to life in prison.

The District Attorney said that, according to trial testimony, the victim, Bruce Blackwood, owned several properties in Brooklyn and hired the defendant to work in some of the apartments, which he was preparing to rent out. At some point, however, the victim discovered that the defendant stole the victim’s checkbook and cashed multiple checks against the victim’s account, totaling $7,700.

According to the evidence presented at trial, the victim confronted the defendant about the stolen checks on March 6, 2006, at one of the victim’s properties at 983 Hancock Street, where the defendant was living at the time. The defendant, who had a criminal history and did not want to return to prison, then killed the victim, and disposed of his body, according to 3 ½ hours of audiotape secretly recorded by the defendant’s daughter.

In the audiotape, the defendant told his daughter how he choked the victim and then used a machete to cut up his body and dispose of it in construction-grade plastic bags. He then told her that he used hospital-grade bleach to clean up the crime scene.

“It’s not about committing the perfect crime, it’s just about how well you clean it up,” the defendant boasted on the audiotape. The defendant told his daughter that he killed Mr. Blackwood to avoid going to prison for stealing his checks and cashing them, though he ultimately was convicted of that crime and was sentenced to two to four years in prison. He was arrested for the murder last year.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Melissa Carvajal of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Kenneth Taub, Bureau Chief.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, September 17, 2015

 

Twenty-Five Defendants Named in 368-Count Indictment
For Operating Heroin Trafficking Ring;
Williamsburg Man, His Mother and Siblings among Those Charged

Alleged Distribution and Sales of More Than $1.5 Million a Year,
Including to a Court Employee Who Acted As Staten Island Supplier

Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson, together with New York City Police Commissioner William J. Bratton, today announced that 25 defendants, including a Williamsburg man and a Midtown Community Court employee, have been variously charged in a 368-count indictment with conspiracy, sale and possession of a controlled substance and money laundering.

District Attorney Thompson said, “There’s a growing heroin epidemic in New York and other parts of the country that’s taking the lives of many of our young people hooked on this deadly and highly-addictive drug. We must deal with this quiet drug plague by going after those who peddle this poison in our communities. The indictment of these 25 defendants, who include a court employee, an aspiring drug counselor, a 24-year-old man, his mother, sister, brother and two cousins, shows our determination to prevent any more families from being destroyed by heroin.”

Commissioner Bratton said, “The epidemic of heroin use continues to destroy the lives of countless individuals and their families. As alleged, the persons responsible for this heroin trafficking ring operated a network comprised of family and associates to distribute this deadly drug. But thanks to the investigators of the Brooklyn North Gang Squad and the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, this criminal operation has been dismantled.”

The District Attorney said that the investigation was conducted using electronic, video and physical surveillance, and that the indictment charges that between January 2015 and this month the defendants conspired to possess and sell heroin in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and Manhattan. It is alleged that Josie Tavera, 25, of Williamsburg, was at the nexus of the distribution ring, and that several of his family members helped him flood the streets of Brooklyn and the rest of New York City with heroin sold under various brands including “Knockout,” “Takeover,” “Power Hour,” “Killing Time,” “Pure,” “Gucci,” and “Scorpion.”

In addition to Tavera’s family, it is alleged, two other key defendants are Jason Collazo, 36, and Michael Mineo, 37, both of Staten Island. Collazo, who works in the Midtown Manhattan Community Court as a community service supervisor, allegedly used the Court’s phone to coordinate heroin transactions, purchased heroin from Tavera, and distributed it to several individuals in Brooklyn and Staten Island, including Mineo, who has studied substance abuse at the College of Staten Island and has identified himself to police as a drug counselor.

Specifically, according to the investigation, it is alleged that much of the drug-related activity occurred in and around Tavera’s Driggs Avenue apartment. Several people allegedly supplied Tavera with heroin, including his brother, Jose Taveras, and Jose Sosa. Tavera, in turn, supplied a number of individuals with a large quantity of heroin to be resold, including defendants Collazo, Adam Almodovar and Pablo Soto.

One of Tavera’s biggest customers is alleged to be Collazo, who directed defendants Jonathan Cruz and Albert Alvarez, who acted as couriers, to pick up heroin from Tavera and bring it back to Collazo’s Staten Island home. He in turn allegedly sold it to his largest Staten Island customer, Michael Mineo, who in turn allegedly sold it to his customers there.

In addition to receiving the heroin from his brother, Tavera’s other family members are also accused of participating in the ring, including his sister, Sheila Taveras, a.k.a., Tavera, 26, of Jamaica, Queens, who allegedly packaged, delivered and distributed heroin; his cousin, Gustavo Taveras, 27, of Bushwick, Brooklyn, who allegedly supplied him with heroin as well as purchased heroin from him; another cousin, Christian Rodriguez, 24, of the Bronx, who allegedly supplied him with heroin; and Tavera’s mother, Haydee Cordero, 46, of Williamsburg, who is accused of money laundering for allegedly depositing proceeds from heroin sales into her bank account to disguise the origin of the funds.

Of the 25 defendants, 22 were arrested yesterday and two others are already in custody on other charges. Most of the defendants were arraigned yesterday before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Cassandra Mullen. The outstanding defendant is being actively sought by the NYPD.    All of the defendants are charged with second-degree conspiracy, which is a B felony punishable by up to 25 years in prison. They are variously charged with first-, second- and third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance; first-, second-, third-, and seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and fourth-degree money laundering.

Furthermore, 16 additional defendants, who were allegedly customers and couriers, were arrested during the course of the investigation at which time a ½ kilo of heroin and a ½ ounce of cocaine were recovered.

The District Attorney thanked the Staten Island District Attorney’s Office for their assistance during this investigation.

The case was investigated by Detective Michael Scoloveno and Sergeant Michael Lennihan of the New York City Police Department’s Gang Squad Brooklyn North, under the supervision of Captain Stephen Espinoza, Deputy Chief Kevin Catalina, Commanding Officer of the Gang Division and the overall supervision of Chief Thomas Purtell, Commanding Officer of the Organized Crime Control Bureau.

Assistant District Attorneys Jason Goldberg and James Slattery of the District Attorney’s Violent Criminal Enterprises Bureau are prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Jonathan R. Sennett and Tara Lenich, Deputy Bureau Chiefs, and Assistant District Attorney Nicole Chavis, Bureau Chief, and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney William E. Schaeffer, Chief of the District Attorney’s Investigations Division.

DEFENDANT ADDENDUM: 

1. Josie Tavera (Fresh), 24, of 778 Driggs Avenue, Brooklyn.
2. Sheila Taveras, 26, of 778 Driggs Avenue, Brooklyn.
3. Haydee Cordero, 46, of 778 Driggs Avenue, Brooklyn.
4. Geovanny Fabian (Pancho), 34, of 209 South 1^st Street, Brooklyn.
5. Adam Almodovar, 30, of 286 South 2^nd Street, Brooklyn.
6. Julian Soto (Gordo), 24, of 367 South 2^nd Street, Brooklyn.
7. Pablo Soto, 22, of 367 South 2^nd Street, Brooklyn.
8. Steven Alvarez, 30, of 571 Wythe Avenue, Brooklyn.
9. Johnny Tejada (Big J), 25, of 541 Wythe Avenue, Brooklyn.
10. Rebecca Rolon, 24, of 22 Lewis Avenue, Brooklyn.
11. Gustavo Taveras, 27, of 1201 Gates Avenue, Brooklyn.
12. Lawrence Harrell, 27, of 130 Clymer Street, Brooklyn.
13. Gandin Matos (Geets), 30, of 233 Bay 7^th Street, Brooklyn.
14. Wilfredo Payano, 33, of 323 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn.
15. Walter Simms, 24, of 56 Marcus Garvey Boulevard, Brooklyn.
16. Luis Soto, 25, of 220 Throop Avenue, Brooklyn.
17. Javier Herrera, 27, of 1151 Glenmore Avenue, Brooklyn.
18. Jonathan Cruz (Pete the Cat), 35, of 121 Wilson Street, Brooklyn.
19. Michael Mineo (Nevada), 37, of 272 Timber Ridge Drive, Staten Island.
20. Jason Collazo (Papo), 36, of 99 Foch Avenue, Staten Island.
21. Albert Alvarez, 29, of 320 Brookfield Avenue, Staten Island.
22. Jose Taveras (Champ), 26, of 175 Lauren Court, Jamaica, Queens.
23. Christian Rodriguez (Handsome), 24, of 84-43 60^th Avenue, Middle Village, Queens.
24. Jose Sosa, 25, of 62-04 Elliot Avenue, Middle Village, Queens.
25. Sheila Rodriguez (Shay), 29, of 17 Chester Avenue, Congers, New York.

 

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    An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.