SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

A notorious bank robber who once graced the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list and was featured on “America’s Most Wanted” moved to Sheepshead Bay after finishing up a 25-year stint in prison – and was arrested again yesterday after allegedly robbing a New Jersey bank.

From our good friends at Cliffview Pilot:

For years, John Edward Stevens taunted authorities — calling and telling them “You’ll never catch me” while robbing nearly two dozen banks across the country — before they put him in prison for 25 years. Yesterday, a Waldwick police sergeant grabbed the recently-paroled Stevens after police said he robbed the TD Bank branch in Oakland at gunpoint of $4,000.

Stevens, 59,  who most recently lived in Brooklyn, was charged with several counts, including various weapons and eluding offenses, after Waldwick Sgt. Robert Woessner pulled over his getaway car and found a TD Bank bag with the cash and a handgun inside, Sgt. Douglas J. Moore told CLIFFVIEW PILOT last night.

The TD Bank on Ramapo Valley Road was held up moments earlier.

…  Authorities said Stevens — recognizable by an angular scar running down his forehead — had robbed nearly $1.5 million during a three-year holdup spree while remaining on the run.

… The former bookkeeper and cabbie’s biggest heists included $50,000 and $13,000 hauls robbed from the very same bank in Albany a quarter-century ago.

He was both dangerous and arrogant.

Using various aliases and forged identities, Stevens eluded authorities for years. The FBI said he even called agents, saying, “You’ll never catch me.”

After being released from prison earlier this year, Stevens moved to 3235 Emmons Avenue, near Knapp Street.

Get the full story from Cliffview Pilot.

Steven Koifman, one of the defendants (via Facebook)

Authorities unsealed charges against a Manhattan Beach man and six others last Thursday, claiming they conspired to commit securities fraud, but when the deal soured they turned on a co-conspirator and threatened to “put slugs into” him if he failed to come up with $350,000.

Alex Puzaitzer, 52, of Manhattan Beach, was one of the seven arrested in three states. The other defendants are Alexander Goldshmidt, 47, of New Jersey; Michael Vax, 54, of New Jersey; Paul Orena, 38, of New York; Yitz Grossman, 58, of New York; Efim Aksanov, 39, of Florida; and Steve Koifman, 41, of Florida.

According to authorities, the group operated what’s known as a “pump and dump” scheme, in which they acquired control of a large block of penny stock shares of Face Up Entertainment Group, a Valley Stream-based online gaming company that operates poker platforms and social media games. The alleged fraudsters inflated the prices and trading volumes of stock in the company, then sought to unload them on the public and reap hundreds of thousands of dollars in ill-gotten gains.

Investigators from the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s office wiretapped the group, capturing the defendants discussing ways to seize ownership of stock and then inflate the value through false press releases disseminated online. They coordinated trading to create an impression of high trading volume and attract unsuspecting investors.

However, their tactics failed, and they did not reap a profit, according to investigators.

As a result, the seven indicted members of the ring turned on an eighth co-conspirator, who then began cooperating with authorities. Several members of the ring, including Puzaitzer, allegedly met with the cooperating conspirator in Manhattan, demanding they pay him $350,000 and return his shares – or else Efim Aksanov, one of the Florida-based members of the ring, would “put slugs into” his chest.

The cooperating conspirator was allegedly harassed by the defendants in subsequent phone calls and meetings, and, during a meeting in March, Puzaitzer, Goldshmidt, Orena and Vax issued more threats to the conspirator and his family if he didn’t come up with the money.

All seven defendents are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, and one count of conspiracy to commit extortion, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

Dr. Davie’s office in Manhattan Beach. (Source: Google Maps)

Just days after it was revealed that CBS is planning a reality show following Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes, the borough’s top prosecutor announced the indictment of a Manhattan Beach plastic surgeon accused of manslaughter by liposuction – a case that will be featured prominently in the television series.

Hynes’ office announced on Thursday the indictment of Dr. Oleg Davie, 51, charging him for recklessly performing liposuction on a patient he knew previously had a heart transplant, causing her death during the operation.

From the DA’s press release announcing the indictment:

According to the indictment, Isel Pineda had received heart transplant surgery on February 20, 2004 at NY Presbyterian Hospital. As a result of that surgery, she had a distinctive eight-inch scar in the center of her chest. In April 2012, Pineda, 51, came to Dr. Davie’s office on Park Avenue in Manhattan for a consultation and filled out forms indicating her medical history. On May 10, 2012, Dr. Davie performed the liposuction procedure on Pineda at his office at 133A West End Avenue in the Manhattan Beach section of Brooklyn. The indictment charges that Dr. Davie knew that Pineda was a former heart transplant patient yet still performed the operation on her. The District Attorney’s Office’s investigation determined that Dr. Davie was reckless and negligent to perform elective surgery on heart transplant patients. In addition, the anti-rejection drugs that Ms. Pineda was taking suppressed her immune system, putting her at risk for infection. After the procedure, Pineda went into cardiac arrest and collapsed in Dr. Davie’s office. Paramedics tried to revive her as she was rushed to Coney Island Hospital, where she died.

District Attorney Hynes said, “Any medical professional would clearly know if a patient has previously had heart transplant surgery because of the obvious scar on the chest. And doctors are well aware of the fact that they are discouraged from performing liposuction and similar procedures on patients with heart disease. To further hide his illegal activity, Dr. Davie falsified forms, concealing his knowledge of Ms. Pineda’s medical history. It is shameful that a medical professional would disregard his patient’s safety, putting her in serious danger. He will be held accountable for his actions.”

The DA also claimes that Davie falsified a copy of Pineda’s medical history forms, altering it to omit a mention of the heart transplant or that she had ever been hospitalized before the surgery. However, investigators say they found a copy of the paperwork from the consultation in Pineda’s purse the day she died, and on it she had disclosed the heart transplant and anti-rejection medications.

Davie had a long history of risking patient safety, according to prosecutors. They say the State Department of Health in 2011 had already restricted his practice to cosmetic medicine only, due to past negligence. He had been charged by the Bureau of Professional Medical Conduct with negligence, mischaracterizing cosmetic treatments, and filing false reports. In December 2012, after Pineda’s death, he surrendered his license to practice medicine.

Davie is charged with manslaughter in the second degree, criminally negligent homicide and several other charges. He faces up to 34 years in prison.

The case will be one of the central storylines of the upcoming CBS miniseries, Brooklyn D.A., which has already drawn fire from other contenders for the office in this year’s election.

Baslan

Authorities busted a Midwood couple Tuesday, claiming the duo was scheming to sexually abuse three children – one as young as two months old –  at a Jersey City hotel.

Bebars Baslan, 35, and Kirsten Henry, 25, were nabbed at the hotel where they had arranged to meet an accomplice who would deliver an 8-year-old girl, a 1-year-old boy and a 2-month-old boy. But the accomplice was actually an FBI agent who recorded Baslan detailing plans to drug the children, molest them, and take sexually explicit photos.

The couple live on Ocean Parkway, near Avenue L.

According to reports, Baslan and Henry also planned to use references Henry had wracked up babysitting children and working in schools to get better access to children – until they could have their own child to molest.

Prosecutors say the two planned to open a baby-sitting service so they would have access to “many” children, and they discussed using Dramamine to dope the kids with a confidential source they thought would help them secure the kids to sexually exploit them.

Baslan: “Then, you know, just it knocks them out a little bit.”
Confidentail Source: “What do you mean?”
Baslan: “You know, Dramamine, the allergy medicine. It knocks you out, when you’re a kid.”

Prosecutors say they have audio recordings in which Baslan says Henry is “dying for this,” referring to a plan to have her sexually abuse “an 18-month-old child.”

Baslan: “She is dying for me to have a baby with her for us to whatever.”
Confidential Source: “The two of you together, to have your own kid and raise it in a sexual, like upbringing kind of thing?”
Baslan: “Right.”

The couple had a backpack containing a digital camera and laptop computer at the time of the arrest. If convicted, they face 30 years to life in prison. They pleaded not guilty to charges of sexual abuse on Wednesday.

The BP Station at 3010 Ocean Avenue, before the days of odd/even gas-rationing, blocks-long lines and police protection. Source: Google Maps

A 22-year-old man was caught pretending to be a police officer in order to cut a Sheepshead Bay gas line reserved for officers and first responders.

Milan Nus told an officer, who was guarding the BP station at 3010 Ocean Avenue between Avenue Z and Voorhies Avenue, that he was a federal agent. He flashed a badge in an attempt to fool the officer.

The officer started asking questions and quickly realized that Nus was lying. Nus’ behavior and speech tipped off the attending officer, according to CBS Local.

Nus was arrested and charged with the felony crime of impersonating a public official.

Thanks to Thomas C. for the tip on this story.

Voorhies Avenue and Batchelder Street, near the home where Gonzalez was found dead. (Source: Google Maps)

The boyfriend of Elena Gonzalez, the 44-year-old woman found dead at a friend’s home at 2704 Batchelder Street this past Monday, has been charged with assault.

According to a News 12 report, Gonzalez and her boyfriend, 51-year-old Ury Sualsky, got in a fight on Saturday night which left her with trauma to her face. Retreating to her friend’s house to sleep, she was found unresponsive in the morning.

The full cause of death will not be known until the medical examiner completes a full toxicology report.

Vitaly Borker, the owner of a Manhattan Beach-based online eye-wear retailer accused of harassing and threatening customers, was sentenced to four years in federal prison yesterday.

Borker, 35, was arrested in December 2010 after a New York Times article caught him boasting of his success in attracting traffic and sales to his site, DecorMyEyes.com, by terrorizing customers with threats of violence and even rape. Authorities busted Borker days later, and a raid on his Beaumont Street home-office found a trove of counterfeit goods, guns and child pornography.

His actions even spurred Google to change its system for page ranking, so that cyber-bullies like Borker do not benefit from negative online reviews.

In May of 2011, Borker pleaded guilty to two counts of sending threatening communications, one count of mail fraud and one count of wire fraud. The mail fraud and wire fraud charges are because Borker was allegedly selling knock-offs of designer eyewear.

“Vitaly Borker was an Internet shopper’s worst nightmare,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement. “Borker operated behind the veil of the Internet and aliases to first defraud his victims and then, if they complained, terrorize them with threats, intimidation, and harassment.”

The sentencing comes short of the five to six-and-a-half year sentence that prosecutors were shooting for, but much more than the 18 months his attorney expected.

Borker will also pay more than $96,000 in fines and restitution. His attorney said he will appeal the sentencing.

For several months after Borker’s arrest, he was released on a $1 million bond and was confined to his home. The judge banned him from using the internet, and even phone usage was monitored. To ensure compliance, the judge tasked a security guard to stay with him the entire time, at a cost to Borker of $1,000 a day.

According to CBS News, Borker was in tears during the sentencing and said, ‘I had a big mouth. I just couldn’t control it and it ruined my life.’

The New York Times reports that, though Borker pleaded guilty, a slew of hearings had delayed sentencing:

Though he pleaded guilty, Mr. Borker’s case went on for more than 18 contentious months, punctuated by a number of hearings. The latest, in July, centered on whether Mr. Borker had uttered the worst of the statements in the government’s indictment, something he denied.

A handful of Mr. Borker’s victims were summoned to testify about calls and e-mails they had received, which turned out to include a threat to slice off the legs of one customer. Federal District Judge Richard J. Sullivan said, at the end of one day of testimony, that he found the victims credible and so disturbing that he revoked Mr. Borker’s bail, which had allowed him to live at home under restrictions.

… His lawyer, Dominic F. Amorosa, argued that Mr. Borker deserved leniency because he is mentally ill — a doctor hired by the defense said he has “a bipolar mood disorder characterized by impulsive and manic mood symptoms” — and was frequently under the influence of marijuana and alcohol.

Mr. Amorosa also contended that only a tiny fraction of Mr. Borker’s customers were threatened and that his business was otherwise a thriving enterprise. DecorMyEyes had thousands of repeat customers, he said, and millions of dollars in revenue.

“He threatened, horribly, 25 people,” Mr. Amorosa said, suggesting that was a small number, given the scale of the company.

Once Borker is released from prison, he will face three years of probation, during which he will not be permitted to use a computer.

Police caught an apparently drunk man after he allegedly slugged a cab driver on Sheepshead Bay Road this morning, taking him into custody for the assault.

According to witnesses at the scene of his arrest, the man was jaywalking across Sheepshead Bay Road near the subway station at approximately 2:40 p.m., when a livery cab came too close for his comfort. After a verbal dispute, the man began kicking and banging on the car, and eventually punched the driver in the face.

Several people said the man appeared to be walking unsteadily, and was acting as if he had been drinking alcohol.

After the assault, he took off on foot up Sheepshead Bay Road to Avenue Z, making it as far as Homecrest Avenue, where several marked and unmarked cop cars descended on him and took him into custody. The cab driver was brought to the scene of the arrest and was seen rubbing his face, and was being examined by emergency responders.

However, his injuries – if any – seemed minor.

WNYC took it upon themselves to map all of the street stops – a.k.a. stop and frisks – using information from the police department showcasing where guns were recovered last year, since firearm control has been the primary justification for the controversial tactic. The map reveals that, in Sheepshead Bay, the NYPD has turned up no firearms in the areas in which NYPD has concentrated its use of stop-and-frisk tactics.

In Sheepshead Bay, police made 1,324 stops in the Sheepshead Bay-Nostrand Housing projects. Yet only two guns were found in the 61st Precinct’s command, and neither were in the vicinity of the projects.

Two guns were found, however; one at the Log Cabin at 2123 Avenue Z, and the other during a random sidewalk stop near the Kings Bay fields, at Voorhies Avenue and Bragg Street.

Public Advocate and mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio has been saying that stop-and-frisk needs reform because it fosters a distrust between citizens and police officials. Others note that it is a major waste of public resources.

Those sentiments have been echoed by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, also a mayoral candidate. Stringer points out that the city is on track to stop and frisk more than 700,000 people this year, of which 85 percent are black and Latino males. Yet only seven percent of stops lead to an arrest, and less than one percent for gun-related charges.

Further, legal advocacy groups like the New York Civil Liberties Union deem stop-and-frisk as “racial profiling.”

An NYCLU analysis revealed that New Yorkers (mostly black or Latino) have been subjected to police stops and street interrogations more than 4 million times since 2002, and that nearly nine out of 10 stopped-and-frisked New Yorkers were innocent.

Commissioner Raymond Kelly and Mayor Michael Bloomberg say that stop-and-frisk is meant to get illegal guns out of the streets and criminals behind bars.

“You hear all the time from people who don’t like stop-and-frisk. But you know what people really hate in New York City, and always have? Guns,” said Kelly.

Current data shows that out of 685,000 stops in 2011, about 770 guns were recovered. This means that only one tenth of one percent of all stops resulted in cops finding a gun.

Supporters of the stop-and-frisk procedures say that the police concentrate their hubs of activity where violent crimes are most often reported, and that it is crime, not gun recoveries, which determine where police officers go. Also, because police saturate certain areas, this becomes a deterrent for carrying a firearm.

Similar results to those found at the Sheepshead-Nostrand Houses were also found at the Marlboro Houses, as well as areas citywide in which the city focuses its stop-and-frisk efforts.

What do you think? Are current stop-and-frisk tactics effective?

Source: NYTimes.com

We just got wind of this story and, though we may be  a bit late, we wanted to report on the latest for Vitaly Borker, local internet thug.

Borker was busted for bashing customers who emailed him to complain about the counterfeit sunglasses on his DecorMyEyes.com website in May of last year. In response, he made vulgar and violent threats in emails, on forums, via phone and more.

“I was answering personally about 100 e-mails a day and lost control of what I was saying at times,” he said.

On June 8, he was charged for the child pornography found on his home computers at the time of the investigation.

During the cyber bully bust, police seized several hard drives from his Beaumont Street home in Manhattan Beach. Later, when the drives were scanned, police found photographs of various minors engaged in sexual acts.

He is charged with 60 counts of possessing images of a sexual performance by a child and two counts of possessing images of an obscene sexual performance by a child, according to the New York Daily News. If convicted, he will serve up to 1 1/3 to 4 years for each charge.

Additionally, he will serve at least three years in prison for the internet terrorizing of his customers.

Correction (3:35 p.m.): The original headline on this story mistakenly noted that Borker was convicted of possessing the child pornography. At this point in time he has only been charged. Sheepshead Bites sincerely regrets any confusion this may have caused.