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007
006
 KINGS
COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S CHIEF OF RACKETS DIVISION MICHAEL
VECCHIONE TO RECEIVE THOMAS E. DEWEY MEDAL FROM NYC BAR
ASSOCIATION
FIRST ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY
ANNE SWERN TO BE HONORED BY BROOKLYN LAW SCHOOL ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
Brooklyn, November 28, 2007 –
First Assistant District Attorney Anne J. Swern and Michael F.
Vecchione, Chief of the DA’s Rackets Division, will be honored in
separate ceremonies on November 29 for their accomplishments as
prosecutors in the Kings County District Attorney’s Office. Anne
Swern, Brooklyn Law School class of 1980, will be honored by the
Brooklyn Law School Alumni Association along with two other
distinguished alumni. Michael Vecchione will receive the Thomas E.
Dewey Medal Award from the NYC Bar Association. The award is
presented each year to an outstanding prosecutor in each county,
recognizing their excellent work as prosecutors as well as their
contributions to public service. Anne Swern was awarded the Thomas
E. Dewey Medal last year.
Ms.
Swern will be honored at a cocktail reception on November 29 from
6:30 PM – 8:30 PM at 3 West Club, located at 3 W. 51st
Street in New York City. The speakers will be Robert E. Grossman,
Alumni Association President and Dean Joan G. Wexler. Mr. Vecchione
will receive the Thomas E. Dewey Award at the Bar Association’s
third annual presentation ceremony on November 29 at 6:00 PM at
their headquarters, located at 42 West 44th Street in
Manhattan. He will be honored along with prosecutors from the city’s
four other DA’s offices. Hon. John F. Keenan, United States
District Judge for the Southern District, will be the keynote
speaker. Seth Farber, Chair of the Dewey Medal Committee, will be
the moderator. Barry Kamins, President of the NYC Bar, will be the
presenter.
“I am delighted that our First Assistant
District Attorney Anne J. Swern is one of the distinguished alumni
to be honored by Brooklyn Law School for 2007. I know you will share
the pride such recognition bestows on Anne and this office for her
many accomplishments,” said Kings County District Attorney Charles
J. Hynes. “I also want to congratulate Mike Vecchione. He is an
exceptional prosecutor in our office who handles many of our biggest
cases. He is truly deserving of this award from the Bar Association
as he exemplifies the qualities that serve as an example to all of
our prosecutors.”
Ms. Swern has been a prosecutor for 27
years. She currently supervises more than 1,000 employees in the
DA’s Office. She oversees three substance-abuse treatment courts,
the Red Hook Community Justice Center and the Mental Health Court.
In addition, she is in charge of the nationally acclaimed Drug
Treatment Alternative to Prison (DTAP) Program, the first
prosecution-run program in the country to divert prison-bound felony
offenders into residential drug treatment. She is the author of the
Brooklyn DTAP Annual Report. Ms. Swern also supervises the TADD
(Treatment Alternatives for Dually Diagnosed) Program, an
alternative to incarceration program which diverts mentally ill
defendants into treatment.
Ms. Swern serves on the Judiciary
Committee of the Brooklyn Bar Association and the Prosecution
Function Committee of the American Bar Association. She is a member
of the Board of Directors of the National District Attorney’s
Association. Ms. Swern was selected 1999 Humanitarian of the Year by
the Education and Assistance Corporation and the 2000 Prosecutor of
the Year by the Kings County Criminal Bar Association.
She is also an adjunct associate
professor at Brooklyn Law School and a recipient of its 2007 Alumni
of the Year award. Ms. Swern has guest lectured at several other
universities as well. In addition, she has served as the keynote
speaker at several national conferences dedicated to problem-solving
justice.
Michael
Vecchione has worked in the DA’s Office for over 22 years. He has
prosecuted some of the most high-profile cases in the DA’s Office
including the trials of Clarence Norman and former Supreme Court
Judges Gerald Garson and Victor Barron. He is known nation-wide for
prosecuting white-collar crimes, racketeering, corruption and
fraud. In his current role, Mr. Vecchione supervises investigations
in his office, in addition to prosecuting felony cases himself. He
also oversees numerous bureaus, including Organized Crime, Gangs,
Civil Rights and Police Integrity, Major Narcotics Investigations,
Money Laundering and Revenue Crimes, and the Official Corruption
Unit.
Outside
his work at the DA’s Office, Mike is an adjunct professor at
Brooklyn Law School, Hofstra University School of Law and St. John’s
University.
Contact:
Sandy Silverstein
718-250-2300
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005
KINGS
COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY CHARLES J. HYNES ANNOUNCES
SENTENCINGS IN
ANTI-GAY HATE CRIME KILLING
Brooklyn, November
20, 2007 – Kings County District Attorney
Charles J. Hynes today announced the Hate Crime sentencing of
Anthony Fortunato, 21, John Fox, 20, and Ilya Shurov, 21, for their
involvement in killing a gay man in October 2006, who they targeted
because of his sexuality.
Fortunato, who was convicted October 11,
was sentenced to seven to 21 years in prison, for Manslaughter in
the Second Degree as a Hate Crime and 90 days for Attempted Petit
Larceny. The sentences will run concurrently. Fox, convicted October
5, was sentenced to seven to 21 years for Manslaughter in the Second
Degree as a Hate Crime, 13 years for Attempted Robbery in the First
Degree as a Hate Crime, and 10 years for Attempted Robbery in the
Second Degree as a Hate Crime, all to run concurrently. Shurov
pleaded guilty November 5, to Attempted Robbery in the First Degree
as a Hate Crime and Manslaughter in the Second Degree as a Hate
Crime, for which he received 17-and-a-half years and four to 12
years, respectively. Those sentences will run concurrently.
A fourth defendant, Gary Timmons,
pleaded guilty to Attempted Robbery in the Second Degree as a Hate
Crime and testified against Fox and Fortunato, in exchange for a
four-year prison sentence. He has not been sentenced yet.
The defendants were convicted of using
an Internet chat room for gay men, to lure Sandy to Plumb Beach,
just off the Belt Parkway in Sheepshead Bay. At the beach they
attempted to steal money from Sandy, but when he resisted, they
chased him, forcing him to run onto the three-land Belt Parkway,
where he was struck and killed by a car.
The
case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Anna-Sigga
Nicolazzi, of the Homicide Bureau. Kenneth Taub is Chief of the
Homicide Bureau.
Contact:
Jonah Bruno
718-250-2300
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001
KINGS
COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY CHARLES J. HYNES ANNOUNCES
25-YEAR MAXIMUM SENTENCE IN SHOOTING AND ROBBERY
VICTIM WAS SHOT IN THE
NECK AND LEFT PARALYZED
Brooklyn, November 13, 2007
– Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes today announced
the sentencing of Shawn Joseph, 20, for the September 2006 shooting
and robbery of three men. Joseph was convicted after a jury trial
of Assault in the First Degree and sentenced today to 25 years, the
maximum sentence, in prison before Justice James Sullivan.
On
September 4, 2006, Joseph was at a party when he approached Justin
Davis, Terence Williams and Durell Grant. He demanded the victims’
jewelry and money. When the three victims refused, Joseph then
displayed a handgun and Williams and Grant then handed over their
belongings, but Davis walked away and called his uncle to tell him
what was happening. When Davis’ uncle, Bryand Blondiville arrived,
the suspect ran down the block. As the three victims chased after
him, the suspect turned and fired several shots. One shot hit Davis
in the neck.
Davis, 18, was taken to Brookdale Hospital where he underwent
surgery to his spine. He is now paralyzed.
Joseph was arrested on the same day after Williams and Grant picked
him out of a photo array.
The
case was prosecuted by Senior Trial Attorney Michael Vista from the
Kings County District Attorney’s Red Zone Trial Bureau. Paul
Gliatta is Chief of the Red Zone.
Contact:
Sandy Silverstein
718-250-2300
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002
KINGS
COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY CHARLES J. HYNES ANNOUNCES
SENTENCING IN COP KILLING
ALLAN CAMERON SENTENCED TO
LIFE IN PRISON WITHOUT PAROLE FOR SHOOTING OF OFFICER DILLON
STEWART
Brooklyn, November 8, 2007
– Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes today
announced the sentencing of Allan Cameron, 29, to life in
prison without parole for the murder of Police Officer
Dillon Stewart in November 2005.
Cameron was convicted October 11, of Murder in the First
Degree.
On November 28, 2005, Officer Stewart and his partner, Paul
Lipka were patrolling Flatbush, in uniform, in an unmarked
car, when they observed Cameron drive through a red light.
They attempted to pull him over, but Cameron sped away,
going through several red lights and weaving in and out of
traffic. When the officers finally pulled alongside
Cameron’s vehicle, he fired six shots into their patrol car.
One bullet slipped under Stewart’s bulletproof vest and
struck him in the heart. Despite being gravely wounded,
Stewart continued to pursue Cameron. The officer died a
short while later at Kings County Hospital.
Cameron faces more charges for a separate, unrelated
incident in which he is charged with shooting at another
police officer. No trial date has been set yet in that
case.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Mark
Hale and Tom Ridges of the Homicide Bureau. Ken Taub is
Chief of the Homicide Bureau.
Contact: Jonah Bruno
718-250-2300
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003
KINGS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY
CHARLES J. HYNES ANNOUNCES ARREST OF CYBER SEX PREDATOR
KCDA DETECTIVE INVESTIGATOR POSED AS
14-YEAR-OLD GIRL
Brooklyn, November 2, 2007
– Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes today announced
the arrest of Steven V. Delgatto, 23, for attempting to have sex
with a 14-year-old girl he met on the Internet, who was actually an
undercover KCDA Detective Investigator.
On
multiple occasions, between July 10, and November 1, Delgatto
engaged in online chats with the undercover detective, who he
believed was a 14-year-old girl. Delgatto is accused of discussing
sexual acts he wanted to perform on or with the girl. In several of
those conversations, he admitted knowing his conduct was illegal,
according to the detective. On November 1, he arranged to meet the
girl at her Sunset Park home, but when he arrived, carrying condoms
in his pocket, he was arrested.
Delgatto is charged with Attempted
Rape in the Second Degree, Attempted Criminal Sexual Act in the
Second Degree, three counts of Attempted Disseminating Indecent
Materials to a Minor in the First Degree and two counts of Attempted
Endangering he Welfare of a Child.
If convicted, he could face up to 16
years in prison.
Detective Investigator Annabel
Talavera investigated the case. Detective Investigator Shawn Winter
is the Supervising Investigator in the Cyber Crimes Unit.
The case is being prosecuted by
Assistant District Attorney Kevin O’Donnell, Chief of the Cyber
Crimes Unit of the Sex Crimes Bureau. Rhonnie Jaus is Chief of the
Sex Crimes Bureau.
Contact:
Jonah Bruno
718-250-2300
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