By Michael V. Cusenza

A pair of Brooklyn cops last week arrested a man who had been wanted since June for terrorizing Queens communities by allegedly snatching nearly a dozen cellular phones from people as they used them, according to the NYPD.

Police Officers Nicholas Atsaves and Jun Chen, who are assigned to the 66^th Precinct’s Conditions Team, were familiar with the details of the case of the suspect who would ride his bike on the sidewalk, sneak up on unsuspecting victims and grab their cell phones from their hands. According to investigators, from late June through July, the young man allegedly swiped at least 11 phones – mostly iPhones and Samsung models – from people in Corona and Jackson Heights.

Detectives recovered more than 15 stolen phones – many belonging to Queens victims.

Atsaves and Chen last Thursday recognized a man that met the description of the suspect as he rode his bike on the street. The two officers kept tabs on the suspect and watched him ride through a red traffic light. They stopped the man, who had no identification, and eventually arrested him.

Detectives from the 66^th Precinct Squad interrogated the suspect, which led to the recovery of 15 phones and the man being charged with several counts of grand larceny.

michael@theforumnewsgroup.com

By Michael V. Cusenza

The National Pediatric Center in Corona last week hosted the first in a series of summer family health fairs.

Hundreds gathered on Thursday at Corona Plaza on Roosevelt Avenue for the free event which, according to organizers, aims to address chronic medical issues affecting low-income and immigrant communities throughout the borough.

“The series of health fairs we are launching today is an important step toward improving health literacy and promoting healthy behaviors for the communities we serve,” said Moisés Pérez-Martínez, director of Workforce, Community & Government Relations for Advocate Community Providers – one of 25 Performing Provider Systems in the state’s Delivery Reform Incentive Payment program to transform New York’s Medicaid system.

The goals of the Delivery Reform Incentive Payment program, according to ACP, include reducing “avoidable hospitalizations,” and ensuring that patients and their families with Medicaid switch to a community-based care system that emphasizes preventative care over reliance on the emergency room.

The fair featured wellness-focused activities and seminars, including a pop-up shop run by Get Focused, an organizations that empowers students to “purchase” books by completing fitness challenges guided by certified trainers. Additional features included informational pamphlets on Zika virus, which is prevalent in Latino communities; seminars on asthma management and healthy eating; as well as fun activities for parents and children. National Pediatric Center also staffed free body mass index and blood pressure stations throughout the four-hour event.

Fair organizers indicated that Thursday’s event and the continued series will encourage families to develop healthy behaviors necessary for improving community well-being.

michael@theforumnewsgroup.com

By Michael V. Cusenza

With the target 76-year-old edifice as a backdrop, elected officials and civic leaders last Thursday demanded the “substantial renovation” of the 110^th Precinct’s Corona stationhouse and the construction of a Precinct Satellite Station in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.

State Sen. Jose Peralta (D-East Elmhurst), U.S. Rep. Joe Crowley (D-Queens and Bronx), Assemblyman Francisco Moya (D-Jackson Heights) announced that they have sent a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio encouraging them to support funding for the two projects.

“For far too long, our community’s police officers have been working in subpar conditions at the 110^th Precinct’s dilapidated stationhouse,” the missive reads in part. “We must act to support these professionals with the proper facilities that they need in order to best carry out their duties.”

The officials noted that the 43^rd Avenue building “hasn’t undergone any major renovations” since it opened its doors in January 1940.

“We owe it to the men and women who we entrust to keep us safe, to provide them with the proper resources to effectively carry out their jobs,” Crowley said. “For the officers of the NYPD’s 110^th Precinct in Corona, that means being able to work out of a facility that’s up to standards as well as from a strategically placed substation to better fight crime within their jurisdiction, which includes the second-largest park in the city. Allowing the 110^th Precinct stationhouse to fall into further disrepair is not fair to them and it’s not fair to the people they are sworn to protect. I’m pleased to join Senator Peralta and Assemblyman Moya in this effort as we work toward addressing these critical public safety needs in our own community.”

The complete renovation of the stationhouse, according to the officials, will cost approximately $70 million.

Additionally, in light of what the pols characterized as “increasing crime and gang activity,” they called for the financial support for the construction of a Precinct Satellite Station in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, the fourth-largest public park in the city. According to city Police Department statistics, last year there were 48 serious crimes reported at the 897-acre green space, including eight felony assaults and seven robberies.

The elected representatives noted in the letter that FMCP is also home to Citi Field, the US Open, the Queens Museum, the Queens Zoo, Queens Theater in the Park and the New York Hall of Science.

michael@theforumnewsgroup.com

By Forum Staff

Initial financing for nearly 600 new affordable apartments across the city has been paid for by $10 million in settlements with property owners who violated the law, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio and State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who made the announcement last Thursday.

The new homes will serve formerly homeless New Yorkers, low-income families, veterans, seniors and people with mental health and substance abuse challenges.

The settlement money results from investigations spearheaded by the attorney general into abuses of tax incentive programs. The $9.8 million includes restitutions paid by owners who failed to provide the rent-regulated leases their tenants deserved, violated tenant rights laws and denied service workers the required prevailing wage.

“The attorney General and the City are cracking down on bad actors, and we’re putting the proceeds to work, building more affordable housing. Today, we’re announcing that hundreds of families in need will have a home they can afford. And our seniors, and people with mental health and substance abuse challenges, will have specialized housing with services to meet their needs,” de Blasio said.

The joint investigations began in 2014, uncovering violations of tax exemption and abatement programs, including illegal deregulation of rent-stabilized units, violations of tenant right laws, and failure to provide rent regulated leases. This included restitution paid by 23 property owners for their failure to register apartments with the State’s Department of Homes and Community Renewal and/or to comply with 421-a prevailing wage requirements for service workers in more than 31 City properties. In addition to the payment of restitution and as part of the legal case against them, the landlords were required to properly register their properties and to provide tenants with proper regulated leases, according to de Blasio and Schneiderman.

“New York has always been, and must remain, a city for working people,” Schneiderman said. “For more than two years, my office has been investigating unscrupulous building owners who have been abusing the law to unfairly take millions in tax exemptions from programs intended to help everyday New Yorkers. Today, we turn the proceeds of those investigations into real housing relief for our communities. I am proud to stand with Mayor de Blasio to announce another important step toward our shared goal of all New Yorkers having a safe, affordable place to call home.”

Ultimately, the settlement funding could help finance more than 1,000 affordable apartments. The total amount for each project will be determined as their financing deals are secured.

The four projects identified so far are:  Institute for Community Living, The Bridge, Kenmore Hall, and HANAC, Inc., which has pledged to build a low-income senior development with a total of 68 affordable apartments in Corona. The development will be affordable to seniors earning no more than $30,250 for an individual, and will include intergenerational programming such as an on-site management office and a social service office to assist residents, according to the City.

“HANAC is a worthy partner and has done exceptional work in this project to build homes for seniors in Corona to help keep them in the community they love. Dedicating this restitution pay to speed up the construction of affordable housing and uplift those families having difficulty keeping a roof over their heads is smart use of government resources,” said City Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras-Copeland (D-East Elmhurst).

By Forum Staff

Four female students between the ages of 12 and 14 were sexually abused over the past year and a half, allegedly by their instructor at a Corona martial arts studio, according to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.

Lorenzo Ramos, 26, of Corona, has been charged with three counts of first-degree sexual abuse, one count of first-degree attempted sexual abuse, eight counts of forcible touching, two counts of second-degree sexual abuse, three counts of third-degree sexual abuse, four counts of endangering the welfare of a child and three counts of second-degree harassment.

The Tae Kwon Do instructor was initially arraigned earlier this month on charges in an incident involving one girl, and then again last Friday, to answer to charges regarding three other girls.

According to the charges, Ramos, while working as an instructor at United Tae Kwon Do on Roosevelt Avenue, on multiple occasions between May 1, 2015, and Feb. 25, 2016, allegedly approached his four female victims individually and touched them in an inappropriate manner. His alleged actions ranged from hugging them and picking them up, to grabbing their breasts and squeezing their buttocks.

In one incident he allegedly rubbed his penis against the vagina of one of the 12-year-old victims over her clothing; and in another, he allegedly rubbed his hand up and down the side of the body of a 14-year-old victim.

Ramos also allegedly offered to or actually provided money to three of the girls and, in one instance, when he offered money to one of the 14-year-old victims, he told her not to “say anything because both of us will be killed.”

“These are serious allegations,” Brown said. “As a martial arts instructor, the defendant was supposed to train his students to protect themselves from unwanted advances. Instead he is accused of taking advantage of his teaching position to touch his students in inappropriate ways.”

According to police, the victims began talking about their experiences among each other, and then discussed what had happened with the owners of the studio. Ramos was terminated, and one of the victims told her mother, who then called the police.

If Ramos is convicted, he faces up to seven years behind bars and would be required to register as a sex offender upon release. He was ordered held on a total of $31,000 bail, and ordered to return to court on April 1.

Anyone who believes that they may have been a victim of abuse of this nature is asked to contact the NYPD’s Queens Special Victims Squad at (718) 520- 9277.

By Forum Staff

Despite having been shoved in front of a train two weeks ago on Saturday, March 5, one could say it was the luckiest day in the life of the teenager who lived to tell about it.

The unidentified 15-year-old girl faced unspeakable horror when a man threw her onto the tracks as 7-train rolled into the station at 103^rd street and Corona Avenue.

George Pautt, 38, of 42^nd Avenue in the Corona section of Queens has been charged with second-degree attempted murder for pushing the teenage girl.

“The defendant is accused of doing what subway commuters fear the most – having someone suddenly shove them onto the tracks as a train rolls into the station. The young victim in this case managed to survive by squeezing herself between the platform and the wheels of the train,” said Queens DA Richard Brown.

The DA characterized the attack as heinous and speculated that the victim will likely be terrorized by the memory of the incident for the rest of her life. “The defendant… must be punished for this heinous act and locked away from society for a very long time,” Brown said.

According to the charges, as the teen was waiting for a Manhattan bound train, witnesses saw Pautt suddenly push the girl onto the tracks. He then fled the platform and exited the train station.

Quick thinking on the part of the victim helped her position herself between the platform and the tracks thereby avoiding being crushed by the oncoming 7 train.

The girl had to be extracted by the FDNY. She was taken to a nearby hospital and treated for bruising and lacerations to her wrists, ankles and ribs.

If he is convicted, Pautt faces up to 25 years in prison.

By Michael V. Cusenza

Cops have asked for help in identifying a man wanted in connection with a bizarre menacing incident earlier this month in front of a Corona gas station during which the suspect brandished a gun.

On Feb. 5, around 10 p.m., according to police, the man parked his car next to the 30-year-old female victim’s vehicle in front of the BP gas station on Horace Harding Expressway near 99^th Street. The suspect then approached the victim, who was outside of her car, and displayed a handgun. The victim jumped into her car and locked herself inside while the suspect proceeded to masturbate inside of his car with the door open.

After he was finished he yelled obscenities at her before he got inside his car and drove away.

The suspect is described as 30-40 years old, 5-foot-7 to 5-foot-8, weighing around 200 pounds. He was last seen wearing a blue and gray hooded sweatshirt, light blue jeans and yellow boots. His vehicle is described as a gold-colored GMC Yukon SUV.

Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at (800) 577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit tips by logging onto NYPDCrimestoppers.com or by texting 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.

All correspondences are strictly confidential.

michael@theforumnewsgroup.com

By Forum Staff

Two brothers, Evan Hernandez, 25, of Corona, and Richard Hernandez, 27, of Brooklyn, who pleaded guilty to felony charges in a gunpoint sex-trafficking case have been sentenced to prison.
“This case makes it abundantly clear that prostitution is not a victimless crime but a terrifying and despicable offense against society – and the young women that it enslaves. The sentences imposed by the court punish both defendants for their actions and send a clear message that crimes such as these will not be tolerated in Queens County,” said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
Evan Hernandez, who had previously pleaded guilty to sex trafficking, was sentenced to four and a half years to nine years in prison; older brother Richard was sentenced to three years to six years in prison. He previously entered a plea of guilty to second-degree promoting prostitution.
According to the charges, Evan Hernandez was introduced to the 25-year-old female victim on April 15, 2014, by another woman at the Queens Motor Inn, located on Queens Boulevard in Woodside. The following morning, the other woman disappeared with most of the victim’s belongings. Evan Hernandez returned to the motel and, while holding a gun to her head, told the victim that the other woman had sold her to him for $200 and that she now needed to work for him as a prostitute to repay the debt. Evan Hernandez then brought his brother to the room to ensure the victim did not leave.

Both brothers forced the victim to have sex with them on several occasions at the motel, including times when Evan Hernandez held a gun to her head while having sex or forcing her to perform oral sex on him.

Additionally, it is charged that the two brothers kept the victim inside the inn between April 16 and April 21, 2014, and forced her to have sex with numerous men in exchange for cash, all of which she was required to turn over to Evan and Richard. During this time, Evan Hernandez threatened the victim, stating that he was her pimp and that he would kill her if she did not obey him. He also slapped and punched her and put his gun against her numerous times, stating that she could not leave and must make more money by prostituting. At one point, Evan took the victim’s phone and posted pictures of her on backpage.com, arranging prostitution dates for her at the Woodside motel.

On April 21, 2014, the victim managed to call her mother from a client’s phone and her mother, in turn, called 911 and alerted the police to the victim’s location.