Nakwon Foxworth (Source: MySpace)
Prosecutors charged Nakwon Foxworth, the suspect who shot and wounded four police officers on April 8, with seven counts of attempted murder this morning.
Foxworth, 33, opened fire on several members of the NYPD’s Emergency Service Unit in the early Sunday morning shooutout, striking four of them before taking a bullet to the belly. Police responded to the scene after the suspect allegedly brandished a gun during an argument with movers in front of his building at 3301 Nostrand Avenue, then took his pregnant girlfriend and their infant child hostage.
After police arrived on the scene, Foxworth’s girlfriend escaped with the infant. As the officers entered the apartment, Foxworth began shooting.
The four officers — Captain Al Pizzano, Detective Kenneth Ayala, Detective Michael Keenan and Officer Matthew Granahan – sustained non-life threatening wounds and have been released from the hospital.
Kings County District Attorney Charles Hynes unveiled the charges today, and Foxworth was arraigned from Kings County Hospital, where he is being treated for the gun shot wound to his torso.
He is charged with:
- seven counts of attempted murder in the first degree
- attempted aggravated murder
- attempted murder in the second degree
- attempted assault in the first degree
- attempted assault in the second degree
- attempted aggravated assault upon a police officer
- assault in the first degree
- assault in the second degree
- criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree
- criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree
- menacing in the second degree
- unlawful imprisonment in the first degree
- endangering the welfare of a child
If convicted, Foxworth faces a maximum sentence of 40 years to life. He was previously released from prison in 2010 after a 10-year stint for attempted murder and selling drugs behind bars.
Petr Murmylyuk, a.k.a. Dmitry Tokar, is having a bad day. Murmylyuk has been slapped with a slew of federal charges in two different states.
First came a federal indictment in Newark, New Jersey, in which the 31-year-old is identified as the alleged leader of a $1 million securities fraud scheme that involved hacking into the online trading account of unsuspecting individuals, and forcing them to engage in losing trades that benefited a network of phony accounts he and his cohorts set up.
Then, in Manhattan, the expansion of an earlier federal indictment in which Murmylyuk is charged with stealing the identities of more than 300 unemployed people, then collecting phony tax returns in their names.
Both cases involve preying on internet users and employing a network of Eastern European student visa-holders he helped recruit.
Read details about the schemes, and the charges Petr Murmylyuk, a.k.a. Dmitry Tokar faces.
The Brooklyn District Attorney has not yet filed charges related to yesterday’s multi-agency rescue of 23 dogs living in squalor in a Sheepshead Bay couple’s two homes, though the city did issue a slew of health- and safety-related violations.
The DA’s office is still investigating the case, and the dogs are in the custody of Animal Care & Control.
“The dogs need to be evaluated to see what condition they’re in, and that can take up to two weeks,” said a spokesperson for the DA.
The city first needs to determine the severity of the treatment before it can raise animal cruelty charges, the spokesperson said.
Sheepshead Bites broke the story yesterday of the rescue of 23 dogs from a Bedford Avenue couple. The duo kept 13 dogs in their primary residence at 4215 Bedford Avenue and 10 dogs in a second home at 2713 Avenue Y that had no heat or running water.
An on-scene investigator mistakenly told us that the couple was facing 20 counts of animal cruelty. We have corrected the original report to reflect the latest update.
According to the Tri-State Shetland Sheepdog Rescue organization, which the DA noted was involved in bringing the case to their attention, the dogs were malnourished, anemic, flea-ridden and unvaccinated.
Apparently, the city agrees. The Department of Health gave the couple violations for owning dogs without rabies vaccine certificates.
At the Avenue Y address, the Department of Buildings has issued violations and ordered the couple to clean and make repairs within 30 days or face a vacate order. They also cited the couple for an illegal apartment in the Bedford Avenue home.
The FDNY issued violations for blocking exits at the Avenue Y house.
A Brighton Beach landlord was apparently rolling in legal money, but was still taking in more than $145,000 in government benefits according to authorities.
Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes announced charges this morning against eight individuals across the borough for defrauding the government of more than $500,000 in welfare an other benefits.
Among the worst alleged offenders is 55-year-old Mohammed Irshad Chaudrhry, who Hynes’ office said fraudulently collected $146,887.41 in Medicaid benefits between 2004 and November 2011.
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Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes will sign free copies of his book, "Incident at Howard Beach: The Case for Murder"
The public is cordially invited to attend a complimentary* book signing featuring six-term Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Howard Beach incident and the re-release of his book, “Incident at Howard Beach.”
Click to enlarge
The DA’s book signing will be held at the Law Office of Baron Associates P.C., 2509 Avenue U (between Bedford Avenue and East 26th Street), January 17 from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m.
For those of you too young to remember, here is the book’s description, which paints an apt picture of the racial turmoil that enveloped our city more than 25 years ago:
In December of 1986, “Howard Beach” became a code all over the world for the worst in racial tensions. The story behind the Howard Beach incident, its investigation, and the subsequent trial is a story of hatred, brutality and deceit; of media outcry, political shuffling, and public manipulation: of a cast of characters ranging from petrified politicians and outraged black activists to the quiet citizens of an insular suburb. But it was up to one man to bring the case to trial and steer it to its fair conclusion: Special Prosecutor Charles J. “Joe” Hynes. Incident at Howard Beach is his story — a riveting and candid exposé of his fight to discern what really happened that night, his struggle to make a coherent case out of those events, and the battles and tactics he used during the trial a year later in state supreme court. From the on-site investigation through jury selection, behind-the-scenes deal-making and trial deliberation, here is everything that led to the convictions and helped to quiet a city in turmoil.
*According to a spokesperson from Baron Associates P.C., you are guaranteed a free book** as long as you RSVP. If you have not yet made your RSVP, and there are still extra books, those will be distributed as well.
** Because of demand, organizers have asked we change the above to first 100 RSVP’s received a free book. (Update: 8:15 p.m.)
To RSVP, call Baron Associates P.C. Office Manager Eugene Burko at (718) 934-6501 or email him at eugene.burko@baronassoc.com.
Source: Brooklyn DA's office
A phony stock broker working out of his Sheepshead Bay apartment was indicted on charges of conning clients out of more than $200,000, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes announced today.
Boris Shteyngart, 24, was running his securities scam from his home at 3311 Shore Parkway where he allegedly fooled four of his clients out of money by making them believe they were buying legitimate stocks. Among those he allegedly bilked out of money are a dentist from Missouri, who invested $142,000, and an 84-year-old Queens man who invested $10,000, the bulk of his life savings.
“Let this indictment serve as notice that my office is committed to working with FIRA [the Financial Industry Regulation Authority] and other authorities to protect the retirement savings and investments of hard working citizens from the unscrupulous and dishonest acts of men such as Boris Shteyngart,” said District Attorney Charles J. Hynes, at a press conference this morning.
Keep reading to see how Shteyngart allegedly conned clients out of thousands of dollars.
Courtesy of wallyg via Flickr
Seventeen men were indicted and a dozen medical supply companies were raided last week for their alleged involvement in a health care scam that netted more than $3 million for the conspirators. Most of those involved hailed from the Sheepshead Bay, Gravesend and Midwood neighborhoods.
According to SILive.com, federal authorities say the defendants submitted false invoices to insurances companies for medical equipment with “payments that were well in excess of the price they initially paid through their individual retail medical supply companies.” Paybacks were given in checks issues to the wholesale companies, and the checks were cashed at check-cashing stores and delivered to the defendants.
Each of the 17 defendants could face up to 20 years in prison.
“The type of health care fraud and money laundering scheme these individuals allegedly constructed and engaged in affects all Americans and directly impacts America’s health care system,” said James T. Hayes Jr., special agent in charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations, which conducted the investigation with the United States Attorney’s Office Eastern District of New York, the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service.
Keep reading for a list of those involved.
City Councilman Lew Fidler is in his final term, and recent fundraising victories are spurring politicos to speculate about his future.
According to NY Observer’s Azi Paybarah, Fidler packed a star-studded fundraiser last Thursday. The councilman is increasingly portrayed as the foe to Mayor Bloomberg and Democratic County Leader Vito Lopez. The growing distance between those unpopular public nuisances, his swelling war chest, and his impending departure from the council are creating a perfect storm for educated guessing.
The result? City Hall News toys with the idea of a run for Brooklyn district attorney, bolstered by his close association with current D.A. Hynes.
The Observer contacted Fidler, who responded by e-mail:
I don’t know Azi. I really don’t. I have a philosophy about these things. If you do your current job and do it well, opportuniites present themselves. I am not going to spend the next three and a half years running around the City trying to fit a round peg into a square hole. There are a lot of ways to serve. I do not intend to ride off into the sunset. I guess I am proud of my record, proud of the nice array of core support that I have as evidenced by the Club dinner, and maybe even especially proud of the diversity of that support.
Whatever his intention, the Observer’s Payharah intones, Fidler’s star is rising. What that means for his district, which includes parts of Sheepshead Bay, Marine Park and Gerritsen Beach, remains to be seen.
