|
001
 KINGS
COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY CHARLES J. HYNES TODAY ANNOUNCED A
40-COUNT INDICTMENT IN A CONSPIRACY TO SELL DRUGS OUT OF A
BAY RIDGE BAR
Brooklyn, August 3, 2007
– Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes today
announced the arrest and indictment of four people charged
with selling cocaine and marijuana out of a Bay Ridge bar,
the Thirsty Duck.
Husband and wife Christopher,
40, and Faith Bantis, 39, own the bar, at 8122 7th
Ave. They and two bartenders, Sevda Jenny Onder, 26, and
Jeffrey Swansen, 50, are all charged in a 40-count
indictment, which includes Conspiracy in the Second Degree,
Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Second
Degree and Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the
Third Degree. They face up to 25 years in prison if
convicted.
The arrest is the culmination of
an eight-month investigation, during which the defendants
made multiple sales of marijuana and $35 packets of cocaine
to undercover detective investigators from the DA’s Major
Narcotics Investigations Bureau. Investigators executed
search warrants at the bar, the Bantis’ Bay Ridge Home and a
Manorville residence. More than a quarter-pound of cocaine,
valued at roughly $18,000; two pounds of marijuana, worth
$5,000; packaging materials and a scale were recovered at
the bar. More than $69,000 in cash, a 2007 Jaguar, a
Cadillac Escalade and more than $200,000 taken from bank
accounts and investment funds have been seized as well.
An indictment is merely an
accusatory instrument and not proof of guilt.
Detective Investigators Bill
Pettie, Edwin Murphy, John Beale and Supervising
Investigators Jim Russell and Joe Piraino worked on the
case. Joe Ponzi is Chief Investigator.
Assistant District Attorney
Maria Haymandou is prosecuting the case. Lawrence Oh is a
Bureau Chief in the Major Narcotics Bureau. Deputy District
Attorney Suzanne Corhan is Chief of the Major Narcotics
Bureau.
Contact: Jonah Bruno
718-250-2300
back to top
002
KINGS
COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY CHARLES J. HYNES ANNOUNCES
CONVICTION OF BEAUTY SALON RAPIST
FINGERPRINTS AND MULTIPLE DNA SAMPLES
CONNECTED DEFENDANT TO CRIME
Brooklyn, August 15, 2007 – Kings County District Attorney Charles
J. Hynes today announced the conviction of Marvin Winkfield, 24, on
charges of Rape in the First Degree, Assault in the Second Degree
and Burglary in the Second Degree.
He faces up to 25 years in prison, when
he is sentenced September 5, before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice
Cassandra Mullen.
The 34-year-old victim was working at a
beauty salon, on 52nd Street in Sunset Park, June 7, 2006, when
Winkfield came to the locked door asking to be let in, to make an
appointment to have his wife’s hair done. After being let in,
Winkfield asked to use the restroom, and when he was about to leave,
he told the victim he had left his umbrella there. When she walked
back to get it, he followed her and forced her into the bathroom. He
then struck her repeatedly in head with a hammer, tied her hands and
raped her.
Winkfield fled the scene, and a week
later, June 16, 2006, was arrested at an Orlando, Florida bus
terminal.
He was identified by a palm print he
left at the scene and then later by DNA evidence, including semen
and samples taken from the hammer he used, which had both his and
the victim’s DNA.
The case was prosecuted by Sex Crimes
Deputy Bureau Chief Rachel Schmidt and Senior Trial Attorney
Elizabeth Doerfler. Rhonnie Jaus is Chief of the Sex Crimes Bureau.
Contact: Jonah Bruno
718-250-2300
back to top
003
KINGS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY
CHARLES J. HYNESTODAY ANNOUNCED SENTENCING IN
MULTI-MILLION-DOLLAR MORTGAGE FRAUD
Brooklyn, August 20,
2007
– Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes today announced
the sentencing of Delbert Baptiste, 45, to three to nine years in
prison for a mortgage fraud scheme totaling more than two million
dollars.
Baptiste
pleaded guilty to Grand Larceny in the Second Degree.
Baptiste
used the property at 600 St. Marks Place in Crown Heights to defraud
several mortgage companies. He repeatedly recruited acquaintances to
pose as purchasers and allow their credit to be used in order to
obtain mortgages in their names. These individuals were merely straw
buyers and Baptiste, in fact, retained control of the property and
resold it several times at inflated values, thus realizing a profit.
For their participation in the scheme, straw buyers received a
payment from Baptiste.
Between June 1 and
October 29, 2003, Baptiste arranged to obtain a $512,000 loan from
US Mortgage property and purchase the property. The straw buyer
earned $10,000; Baptiste earned $69,000. In 2003 and 2005, Baptiste
again arranged for the fraudulent sale of the property at inflated
values, thus obtaining several additional fraudulent mortgages,
totaling $1.5 million.
The case was
prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Michael Ryan and Laura
Neubauer. Michael Vecchione is Chief of the Rackets Division.
Contact:
Jonah Bruno
718-250-2300
back to top
004
KINGS
COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY CHARLES J. HYNESTODAY
ANNOUNCED THE CONVICTION OF FOUR MEN WHO ATTACKED A RELATIVE OF ONE
DEFENDANT’S DAUGHTER TO PREVENT A WEDDING THE FATHER OPPOSED
Brooklyn, August 20, 2007
– Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes today announced
the conviction of four men convicted of breaking into another man’s
home and attacking him, because one of the defendants disapproved of
a relationship his daughter had with the victim’s nephew.
Javed Khalid, 53; Azad Malik, 67; Hussain Sada, 29; and Shafiq
Mohammed, 41, were all convicted of Burglary in the First Degree, a
Class B felony. They face up to 25 years in prison when they are
sentenced September 27.
The four defendants forced their way
into the victim’s home, handcuffed him, threw him to the floor and
began punching and kicking him. They demanded to know the location
of the man’s nephew and Khalid’s daughter. The couple had met James
Madison High School, where both were students, and they planned to
marry, in defiance of Khalid’s arrangement for his daughter to marry
a man in Pakistan.
The defendants beat the victim with a
hammer and a pipe, threatened to stab him and then put a loaded gun
to his head and threatened to shoot him. They also stole $2,000 from
him, but he refused to divulge the couple’s location.
The
case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Samantha Magnani,
of the Orange Zone Trial Bureau. Caryn Stepner is Chief of the
Orange Zone.
Contact: Jonah Bruno
718-250-2300
back to top
005
KINGS
COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY CHARLES J. HYNES ANNOUNCES
INDICTMENT IN FATAL DWI CRASH
SPEEDING 22-YEAR-OLD CHARGED WITH
MANSLAUGHTER
Brooklyn, August 28, 2007
– Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes today announced
the indictment of Alexey Bushuyev, 22, for running down a livery cab
driver who was helping a colleague fix a disabled car, while
Bushuyev was driving drunk.
The top count against Bushuyev is
Manslaughter in the Second Degree, a Class-C Felony which carries a
maximum penalty of 15 years in prison. He is also charged with
Vehicular Manslaughter in the Second Degree, Criminally Negligent
Homicide, Driving While Intoxicated, Driving While Impaired,
Speeding and Reckless Driving.
At around 1:20 a.m. victim Rafael
Rafailov, 50, had stopped his car in the center southbound lane of
Ocean Parkway, at the intersection of Church Avenue, in order to
help a fellow livery cab driver whose car had broken down.
Bushuyev’s speeding 2007 Toyota Camry struck the disabled car,
killing Rafailov – who was standing beside it – and careened through
the intersection, colliding with a minivan stopped across Church
Avenue.
At the time of the accident, Bushuyev’s
blood alcohol was .11 percent, three points above the legal limit,
of .08 percent.
An indictment is merely an accusatory
instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.
The case is being prosecuted by
Assistant District Attorney Craig Esswein, of the Vehicular Crimes
Bureau. Gayle Dampf-Littman is Chief of the Vehicular Crimes
Bureau.
Contact:
Jonah Bruno
718-250-2300
back to top
006
KINGS
COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY CHARLES J. HYNES ANNOUNCES FINAL
PRISON SENTENCE AGAINST FORMER ASSEMBLYMAN CLARENCE NORMAN,
JR. IS CARRIED OUT
Brooklyn, August 30, 2007
– Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes today announced
that a one-to-three-year prison sentence, previously imposed on
former New York State Assemblyman Clarence Norman, Jr., was carried
out today in Brooklyn Supreme Court.
District Attorney Hynes said, “Clarence
Norman betrayed the people he was elected to serve and lined his own
pockets with their money. His trial for extorting money from two
sitting judges, for which his sentence was carried out today,
revealed a system of selecting judges that is thankfully now in the
process of much needed change. His convictions are evidence that the
people of Kings County will not accept corruption in government.
Those who believe differently will find themselves on the same path
to prison as Mr. Norman.”
Norman was convicted last February of
extorting money from judicial candidates in 2002, his third felony
conviction. The sentence, imposed in April and covering a conviction
on charges including Grand Larceny in the Third Degree and Coercion
in the Second Degree, increased Norman’s total prison term to three
to nine years. He had previously been sentenced to two consecutive
terms of one to three years, and has been in prison since June.
The case was prosecuted by Rackets
Division Chief Michael Vecchione and Assistant District Attorneys
Monique Ferrell, Kevin Richardson, Gavin Miles.
Contact: Sandy Silverstein
718-250-2300
back to top
007 |
