The work of a Virginia-based DNA testing company could wind up putting New Yorkers behind bars, but its plans for genetic testing in the Empire State are being kept from the public—and even the state’s own forensic science commission.
A 40-year-old woman was found stabbed to death at her Bronx apartment Sunday with her children still inside the residence, authorities said.
Johanna Pagan-Alomar, 45, was initially charged with assault, harassment, and obstructing government administration for allegedly accosting NYPD Officer Theresa Lustica.
Victor Mateo, 63, was busted in Hazleton, Pennsylvania and expected to be charged with the murder of his Noelia Mateo, who suffered terminal injuries in the Oct. 3 attack on Ellsworth Avenue.
The Bronx-based bookstore Boogie Down Books is partnering with Friends of Island Academy to promote the “Books to Jails” initiative: an effort get books into the hands of young people locked up at Horizon Juvenile Center in Mott Haven.
A Bronx 17-year-old is the youngest person to die from a mysterious respiratory disease apparently caused by vaping, officials said.
Randy Santos, 24, accused of bludgeoning four sleeping victims to death using a piece of heavy construction metal, lived in a vacant, three-story home at 691 East 183rd St. in the Bronx.
Rafael Hollis, 29, faces charges of murder, manslaughter, criminal possession of a weapon and acting in a manner injurious to a child after allegedly killing James Cubille.
Rafael Hollis, 29, allegedly killed James Cubille, 25, with a bullet to the chest, police said.
Police are searching for a man who ran over his ex-wife with a car before slashing her to death with a machete Thursday, authorities said.
Enilies Calix, 19, was attacked by her 23-year-old boyfriend as the couple argued around 1 p.m. Wednesday in the HELP USA Bronx Morris community shelter on East 171st Street in Claremont, according to the NYPD.
The officer’s last words, as captured by a body camera, were: “He’s reaching for it! He’s reaching for it!” according to the NYPD. During the struggle, Mulkeen fired his service weapon at a suspect five times, and five NYPD officers standing nearby fired 10 additional shots.
Officer Brian Mulkeen was struck by bullets in his head, chest, and legs—all fired from his own gun as he wrestled a fleeing man, police said.
Authorities found the victim unconscious in the park with bullet wounds to his head, leg, and back shortly after midnight, according to the NYPD.
Neighborhood activists are fighting the city’s plan to build an affordable housing complex in the Bronx after local news outlets revealed campaign donations made by the complex’s developer to key borough officials, who later signed off on the project.
Shaquille Yorke, 25, is charged with murder, manslaughter and weapon possession in the killing of Kevin Barton, records show.
Police are investigating the fatal drug overdoses of three people in the Bronx and two others in Yonkers, all of which may be linked to the same batch of tainted cocaine, officials said.
Kevin Barton was found with multiple gunshot wounds to his chest outside a building on 162nd Street and Melrose Avenue in Morrisania, according to the NYPD.
A $30 million affordable and supportive housing development in Bedford Park has been completed, state officials said last week, creating 82 new apartments for low-income households, families at risk of homelessness, and adults with disabilities.
Troy George, 54, is charged with murder in the death of the 29-year-old beating victim, who suffered massive head trauma, authorities said.
Kenneth Smith, 51, was taken into custody at his Belmont residence Tuesday for allegedly killing Margarita Franco on April 2, 2017, as she spoke on her cell phone outside a Williamsbridge deli, according to police.
Michael McGrath, commanding officer of the NYPD Cadet Corps, was killed Monday morning when his motorcycle collided with a truck in Pelham Bay, authorities said.
Charles Votaw, 37, is charged with assault, concealment of a human corpse, and tampering with evidence in the death of the man, who was found inside a locked apartment at 2323 Creston Avenue, his body slashed and his ankles bound to his wrists with duct tape, officials said.
Authorities responding to reports of a foul odor Friday found a dead man tied up in a Bronx apartment, his body slashed and his ankles bound to his wrists with duct tape, officials said
Police responding to a report of a shooting in front of the Millbrook Houses found Tyshawn Green bleeding from a stab wound to his back in the 20o block of Saint Anns Avenue, according to the NYPD.
Eight months after the de Blasio administration missed a deadline for launching a 24-hour cash bail window in the Bronx Criminal Courthouse, the long-awaited payment center is finally open, Bronx Justice News has learned.
Authorities learned of the corpse from a caller who saw it being carried along the water near the Eastern Boulevard Bridge in Hunts Point.
Bronx District Atttorney Darcel Clark made an impassioned plea to New York State Senators Monday to provide $15 million in new few funding to her office—money she says is necessary if Bronx prosecutors are to properly carry out discovery reforms slated to take effect Jan. 1.
A calculating robber ripped off a mother and her 7-year-old daughter as they carried groceries into their Bronx apartment building last month, police said.
The NYPD on Thursday arrested Gregory Williams, 35, at his Bronx home for the Aug. 4 murder of Dwayne Buchanan, also of the Bronx, police said.
Three alleged gang members have been charged with murder, racketeering, and firearms offenses for their involvement in the slaying of a Bronx man, federal officials said.
New York City’s Planning Commission on Tuesday voted in favor of a plan that would replace the sprawling detention facilities on Rikers Island with new jails in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan.
A Bronx man was charged with sex trafficking Tuesday for allegedly plying a woman with heroin, assaulting her, and using the drug to keep her chemically dependent after he forced her into the sex trade, authorities said.
A shoplifter wielding a hypodermic needle ripped off a Rite Aid store in the Bronx—after threatening a a clerk with his makeshift weapon, authorities said.
A 25-year-old man was brutally pistol-whipped and shot in his arm during a robbery caught on surveillance video in the Bronx, police said.
A new, state-of-the-art surveillance system is now active in the Northeast Bronx, with ten cameras recording large swaths of the area 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, authorities said.
Authorities in the Bronx discovered more than $10 million worth of cocaine near the popular Hunts Point food markets, officials said.
Authorities are searching for the shooter and another man, who was riding beside the gunman when he opened fire shortly after 12:30 a.m. Wednesday on University Avenue in Fordham Manor.
In 2018, Bronx residents also had the highest rate of overdose death compared with all other boroughs. The rate increased by 9 percent from 31.4 per 100,000 residents in 2017 to 34.1 per 100,000 residents in 2018, according to the data compiled by New York City’s Department of Health.
A man was slain Sunday outside his family’s baptism party—shot in his back after emerging from the Church of the Holy Nativity on Bainbridge Avenue, officials said.
The gunshot victims, both in their early 40s, suffered serious wounds but are expected to recover.
A stray bullet struck Robert Griggs about 8 p.m. on July 24 as he played dominoes with friends in Concourse Village, authorities said.
The pastor, whose real name is not known to police, fled the area after the girl told her parents about the unwanted kisses on her face and mouth.
Detectives are investigating the stabbing of a Bronx livery driver during a wild street fight in University Heights.
Charlie McCall was found unconscious and unresponsive by her mother, according to officials. She was pronounced dead by doctors at Bronx Lebanon Hospital.
Nestor Ventura suffered multiple gunshot wounds on Commonwealth Avenue shortly before 4 a.m, according to police.
Research shows more than 26 percent of Bronx residents experience food insecurity—defined as being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food.
One or more shooters opened fire and struck Jamarr Vestal, 31, who was found wounded on Hall Place near E. 165th St., a block from Horseshoe Playground, about 12:30 a.m., according to the NYPD.
Natasha Mar, of Brooklyn, was waiting at an MTA bus stop at Jerome and Bainbridge Avenues when Francisco Rosario, a suspected drunk driver, jumped the curb while traveling at about 70 miles per hour, according to the NYPD.
Kevin Dillard, 21, and Arnelle Branch, 17, were fatally wounded outside a Parkside Houses building in Allerton, according to the NYPD.
The victims, ages 17 and 21, were shot in their torso and neck, respectively, around 1:45 p.m. Sunday outside a Parkside Houses building in Allerton, according to the NYPD.
The attack happened Thursday night when three men jumped the teen near E. 163rd St. and Kelly St., according to the NYPD.
The 34-year-old victim was standing near Lafayette and Soundview avenues when the attacker knocked him off his feet about 8 p.m. Then he stabbed him repeatedly as as a group of frightened pedestrians ran from the the area, police said.
olice are searching for a tech-savvy trio who used Snapchat to lure unsuspecting victims to locations in the Bronx, where they robbed them at knifepoint, officials said.
Black men in America are two-and-a-half times more likely to be killed by law enforcement over their lifetime than white men, according to a new Rutgers-Newark study.
Mohammed Touray, 18, handed the pistol to cousin Omar Touray, 21, about 2:45 p.m. Tuesday, having left a bullet in its chamber, according to the NYPD.
Jurors also convicted Jamil Fields, 56, of first-degree assault and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon for the July 2017 attack, which left a man with gunshot wounds to his head, arm, and torso.
A still unidentified gunman shot Edwin Monroig as he walked down East Tremont Avenue in Westchester Square about 9:50 p.m. on July 28, according to the NYPD.
By Sasha Gonzales sgonzales@bronxjusticenews.com A man was fatally shot in his back in Morris Heights Saturday, police said. The 32-year-old victim was found unconscious across […]
A new affordable health care program took effect in the Bronx this week, with New York City now footing bills for medical services to uninsured borough residents—regardless of their citizenship status.
A Bronx woman used online obituaries to help her carry out a string of home burglaries—crimes committed while the occupants were out attending funerals, prosecutors said.
Police released surveillance footage of the shooter, who wounded the 34-year-old victim in the back of his head as he walked down East Tremont Avenue in Westchester Square, officials said.
The Bronx District Attorney’s Office will vacate gravity knife convictions for those found guilty under a recently repealed state law, Bronx Justice News has learned.
As of Monday afternoon, the family of Juan Rodriguez had used their GoFundMe page to raise more than $37,000–over half of their $60,000 goal.
The 55-year-old inmate, who is locked up at the Manhattan Detention Complex, said in court papers filed in the Bronx last week that he’s due to be released soon and must “change my name as my present name is very well known.”
The father whose twin babies died after he said he forgot them inside his sweltering car in the Bronx was released on $100,000 bail Saturday.
Juan Rodriguez, 39, also faces manslaughter charges in the deaths of Mariza Rodriguez and his sister Phoenix. Rodriguez, a social worker, told investigators he left the infants in the backseat of his Honda Accord while he went to his job at James J. Peters VA Medical Center in Kingsbridge.
Keyshawn Williams, 21, of 600 East 137th Street and Manuel Colon, 31, of 637 East 138 Street were acting on a personal beef when they allegedly exchanged gunfire in front of 600 East 137th Street on June 5.
The baby’s mother, Emily Ramirez, 23, left little Amelia Belle Perez in the bathtub of their Vyse Avenue apartment in the Murphy Houses about 6:30 p.m. on July 3, according to authorities.
Mark Willis, 52, suffered a stab wound to his chest before cops found him lying unconscious on Bronx Boulevard about 6 a.m. He was pronounced dead a short time later at Montefiore Medical Center.
Councilman Keith Powers on Monday called for the limiting or removal of deposit surcharges imposed on prisoners’ families in New York City.
The 161st Street Pharmacy in Melrose received enough pain pills to supply every Bronx resident with multiple doses—part of a wave of powerful painkillers that led to a surge in overdose deaths, new data shows.
Documents obtained by Bronx Justice News show money transfer companies are earning millions in surcharge fees from families of incarcerated New Yorkers, their profits boosted by a workaround of state laws meant to limit exorbitant fees.
A 45-year-old woman was found dead on the floor of a South Bronx homeless shelter Thursday morning, and detectives are investigating her death as suspicious, police said.
Ahvier Medina surrendered to the NYPD with his lawyer Tuesday after authorities released his surveillance photo in connection with the July 14 death of Mohammad Zafrullah, 65, according to an NYPD official.
The NYPD is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the attacker, whose likeness was captured in a police sketch distributed to the public Wednesday.
Terrance Caudle, 30, is a person of interest in the June 30 killing of O’Brian Maxwell, also 30, who was found dead in the stairwell of his apartment building on White Plains Road, according to the NYPD.
Mohammad Zafrullah, 65, exited his cab and ran after a customer who didn’t pay him in Soundview, but he failed to put the vehicle in park, according to the NYPD.
The July 2 assault happened on an eastbound BX36 bus as it traversed East 180th Street near 3rd Avenue about 11 p.m., according to the NYPD.
Cindi Olivo, 33, was found dead with multiple stab wounds in her Bronx apartment Friday, after a 911 caller reported a foul odor coming from inside, police said.
Authorities found Monreux Mercado unresponsive about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday inside a Webster Avenue apartment after someone called 911, authorities said.
An argument broke out between the two women, during which the attacker allegedly removed the 54-year-old victim’s contractor helmet and slammed it into her face while making anti-Hispanic statements, police said
The Department of Health expects to approve licenses for Parabon— a Virginia-based company that markets forensic genealogical testing and consultant work to law enforcement—as well as a separate lab that handles most of Parabon’s DNA samples, once all required documentation is reviewed, state officials said.
Bronx Councilwoman Inez Barron last month introduced a resolution that would limit the playing of profane and explicit songs on popular New York City hip-hop stations between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.—the hours when children are likeliest to tune in.
NYPD officers saw the motorist driving recklessly on Hunts Point Avenue near Bruckner Boulevard shortly before 1 a.m. Sunday, police said. When they tried to pull the car over, the driver fled and struck two vehicles, including a police car, authorities said.
A 44-year-old man was found shot to death in the bedroom of his University Heights apartment Friday, police said.
The 27-year-old was more than nine months pregnant when arrested, and due to give birth any time. After a stay in jail, officers brought her to Montefiore and chained her to her hospital bed, using metal handcuffs and leg shackles.
Jose Bermudez pleaded guilty to second-degree robbery in 2013 and received a sentence of 3½ years imprisonment. The state Appellate Division’s First Department reversed that conviction on June 25.
A Bronx-born Navy veteran sentenced to 25 years in a Kuwait prison after his conviction on marijuana-related charges saw his sentence reduced to four years this week by a Kuwaiti appellate court, according to family and friends of the prisoner.
Authorities found Kiro Carter unconscious inside an Audi on Anderson Avenue in Highbridge, with life-threatening injuries to his head and torso, according to the NYPD.
More than 200 gallons of the likely carcinogenic weed killer glysophate was sprayed inside New York City parks last year—including 23 gallons used in 20 Bronx green spaces frequented by children, according to new data obtained by Bronx Justice News.
The Bronx experienced a near record low number of homicides through the first six months of the year—part of a dramatic decrease in murder totals citywide, NYPD data shows.
A formerly homeless Bronx woman was illegally stripped of her Section 8 housing subsidy—and now faces eviction—after the city refused to accept documents showing she still qualifies for the voucher, a new lawsuit claims.
Police on Sunday arrested a man they believe stabbed a 5-year old boy in his back as the child walked through West Farms with his mother, authorities said.
Alberto DeJesus, 22, was cut down by multiple bullets in the Avenue St. John building around 1:30 a.m. Sunday, police said.
Police are searching for the gunman who killed a 33-year-old man outside the Webster Houses in Morrisania Friday, after they took another suspect linked to the shooting into custody, authorities said.
Borough-wide, nearly 29 percent of residents lack a high school diploma—more than any other borough, according to the report. The Bronx also has the highest unemployment rate in the city at 11.6 percent, researchers found.
Kevin Preiss, 53, was found with a fatal gunshot wound after turning a gun on himself on his front porch in Nassau County, officials said.
People who paid or incurred burial costs for a crime victim may now be eligible for up to $6,000 total from the state’s Office of Victim Services for expenses including funeral services, burial plot, the deceased’s burial clothes, clergy fees, transportation costs for the deceased, obituaries, and church fees for religious services and flowers.
A Bronx man was indicted Tuesday for allegedly slashing the throats of his 12-year-old son and 18-year-old stepdaughter inside the family’s Kingsbridge apartment, prosecutors said.
The DOI probe, now officially underway, marks the first time a government agency has investigated the troubled courthouse on East 161st Street, which opened three years behind schedule, ran $100 million over budget, and spurred a host of lawsuits involving more than 30 parties, from architects and engineers to construction contractors and state agencies.
A bicycle-riding gunman wounded three people in Concourse Village Sunday—the latest in a string of shootings perpetrated by attackers who used bikes or motorcycles to help carry out their crimes.
The Bronx’s opioid scourge hit home for the district attorney’s office last week when a DA paralegal accidentally dropped more than three dozen baggies of heroin and crack cocaine in the lobby of office headquarters on East 161st Street, according to court records and authorities.
President Donald Trump on Saturday said he was delaying a series of planned ICE raids expected to target illegal immigrant families—enforcement operations that sent fear across Latinx communities nationwide, including the Bronx.
Bronx immigrant families and advocates were gearing up for a series of reported ICE raids expected to begin in cities across America Sunday morning.
Raheem Simon, 29, fatally shot Jared Jones, 23, in front of 928 Intervale Avenue, as he stood outside a party, prosecutors said.
Temar Bishop, 23, who police charged with assault with a weapon as a hate crime—along with rape, predatory sex assault, attempted murder, and other crimes—is accused of punching, kicking, and raping the 20-year-old victim on the roof of his apartment building on Alexander Avenue in Mott Haven on June 1, records show.
By Kevin Deutsch kdeutsch@bronxjusticenews.com The Bronx District Attorney’s Office last year had the lowest percentage of violent felony convictions among city prosecutors, securing sentences for […]
The killer carried out the attack on his 60-year old uncle inside a home on East 220th Street shortly after 8:30 a.m., according to the NYPD.
Linda Manigault, 34, and daughter Heaven Ross were found suffocated inside their Belmont apartment Saturday around 1:30 p.m., according to the NYPD.
Guzman, an aspiring police detective who participated in the NYPD Explorers program, was dragged out of a local bodega by his killers, who set upon him with knives and a machete in June 2018.
The room Acosta is being held it at the Kuwaiti men’s prison appears to be filled with filth, rotting food, and soiled blankets and clothes, its walls lined with dirty newspapers. A moldy sink, in-floor toilet, and tiles appear in several photos, capturing what appears to be a washing and bathroom.
Nicodemus Acosta, 30, a Computer System Support Specialist with Alaska-based Vista Defense Technologies, had been working in Kuwait for almost four years when the national police arrested him in August on charges of drug use and distribution, after allegedly seizing about 1.75 pounds of marijuana authorities said belonged to him.
Claudius English sex trafficked multiple minor victims out of his Bronx apartment, using the Internet to find, recruit, and lure children there, prosecutors said. Inside, he photographed them in sexually suggestive poses before sending off the photographs to his “clients.”
By Kevin Deutsch kdeutsch@bronxjusticenews.com A new program meant to help defendants return home quickly after an arrest is drawing criticism from public defense groups in […]
The 24-year-old victim was found outside St. Mary’s Park in Mott Haven shortly after 9 p.m., with two severe stab wounds to his torso, police said.
The state Dormitory Authority spent more than $400 million in taxpayer dollars to construct the Bronx Hall of Justice, but says it doesn’t know how much of that amount went toward building the property’s civic plaza—a sprawling, unused space that remains closed eleven years after its slated opening date.
Bronx authorities have charged 22 members of a Sinaloa-connected heroin trafficking ring that flooded the South Bronx with opioids, prosecutors said Wednesday.
A reported campaign contribution records showed was returned by District Attorney Darcel Darcel Clark to Bronx Supreme Court Justice Mary Ann Brigantti was the result of a clerical error made by the treasurer working on both their re-election campaigns, the official said Wednesday.
By Sasha Gonzales sgonzales@bronxjusticenews.com A Grammy-winning drummer was killed during a domestic dispute in the stairwell of his Bronx apartment building Sunday afternoon, police said. […]
By Sasha Gonzales sgonzales@bronxjusticenews.com Police are searching for an attacker who stabbed a 19-year-old man in Melrose last Sunday. The culprit and his victim got […]
Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark returned a campaign donation made to her election committee by State Supreme Court Justice Mary Ann Brigantti, who hears civil cases in the borough, Bronx Justice News has learned.
By Kevin Deutsch kdeutsch@bronxjusticenews.com A Bronx judge has the legal authority to decide whether a man’s DNA can be expunged from a DNA database maintained […]
Homicides are down significantly in the Bronx this year, falling 38 percent compared with the same five-month period last year, new NYPD data shows.
The NYPD recorded six phone-snatching incidents this month, with each of the female victims targeted by a man riding a mountain bike in the Bronx, authorities said. In one case, a woman’s purse was stolen as she ate at an outdoor restaurant table, according to the NYPD.
Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark on Thursday said her office needs millions of dollars in additional funding to enact criminal justice reform laws slated to take effect next year.
A coalition of reform advocates on Thursday called on Governor Andrew Cuomo to sign legislation that would decriminalize possession of gravity knives—a crime for which hundreds of Bronx residents are arrested each year.
Five months after the de Blasio administration missed a deadline to open a 24-hour bail window in the Bronx courthouse, city corrections officials say they expect to have one up and running this summer.
Erin Hall, 42, of 1950 Andrews Avenue, fatally shot Felix De La Cruz,who challenged Hall with taunts of “do it, do it,” before Hall shot him in the head on April 15, 2015, according to eyewitness testimony at Hall’s trial.
At least one shooter opened fire near 100 Carver Loop around 6:30 p.m., before a suspect fled in a black Nissan, according to police. No arrests had been made as of late Monday.
Montey White, 27, was subdued by officers and arrested on charges that include weapon possession, menacing a police officer, and obstructing governmental administration.
The FBI has refused a request from New York state’s DNA subcommittee to provide detailed information about a software glitch causing problems with the bureau’s CODIS system, spurring criticism from state officials.
Research shows more than 26 percent of Bronx residents experience food insecurity—defined as being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food. Among them are more than 20 percent of all Bronx children, nearly 17 percent of working adults, and almost 24 percent of seniors, according to federal data.
The 68-year-old female victim, who is in a coma, was not aware of the abuse, authorities said. It was reported by another patient in the room, who saw the man touching and kissing the unconscious woman about 3 p.m. Monday at Lincoln Hospital
One bill would reinstate a free New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision bus program—begun in 1973 but discontinued in 2011—that shuttles families twice a month from New York City, Albany, Buffalo, New York, Rochester, and Syracuse to New York State prisons.
The NYPD Transit Bureau’s three Bronx districts accounted for at least 345 straphanger arrests during the period covered by the data. Citywide, police made 992 arrests for fare evasion, including 142 in which a specific borough was not recorded, the data shows.
In 2018, the average dispatch time of 5.6 minutes in the Bronx exceeded the citywide average by nearly 2 minutes, about three times the difference in 2014, the Independent Budget Office found.
Cory Mitchell suffered a gunshot wound to the head outside a building on East 224th Street in Wakefield shortly after 1:30 am., according to the NYPD.
In response to a Freedom of Information Law Request by Bronx Justice News, the state Dormitory Authority on Wednesday said it was still searching its records to determine how much taxpayer money it spent to construct the Bronx Hall of Justice—including its still-shuttered civic plaza.
New legislation would require the NYPD to publish case clearance rates for individual precincts—a change that would dramatically increase the amount of information available to Bronx residents.
The accused traffickers allegedly sold coke in bulk to distributors, who in turn sold the drug in $10 and $20 packets—sometimes in crack form—on Valentine Avenue between the Grand Concourse and East 187th Street, prosecutors said.
New York taxpayers were bilked out of millions of dollars as part of a massive overbilling scheme involving the Bronx Hall of Justice—one of a host of missteps that led to over $100 million in cost overruns and years of litigation involving the project, Bronx Justice News has learned.
When former New York Attorney General and City Councilman G. Oliver Koppell first called for an investigation into the Bronx Hall of Justice in 2007, his pleas fell on deaf ears. Now, with a Department of Investigation probe looming, he says it’s about time the city get to the bottom of what went wrong.
After more than a decade of taxpayer waste and mismanagement at the Bronx Hall of Justice, Councilman Ritchie Torres’ announcement of an official investigative referral doubled as a stinging rebuke—not just of the government bureaucracies responsible for building and maintaining the troubled courthouse, but also of the oversight system that allowed its myriad problems to go unchecked.
Responding to a Bronx Justice News investigation, City Councilman Richie Torres on Friday said he would make a referral to the Department of Investigation that triggers a probe into the Bronx Hall of Justice—a property plagued by years of government waste and delays.
The state Dormitory Authority this week declined to make public the amount of taxpayer funds spent to construct the troubled Bronx Hall of Justice, including expenditures on the building’s still-shuttered civic plaza and rooftop rock garden, following a Bronx Justice News investigation.
Christian Rodriguez, 25, was arraigned before Bronx Supreme Court Justice George Villegas, who ordered him held without bail. Previously, he’d been charged only with multiple counts of assault in the case.
Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark told an audience Tuesday her prosecutors have struggled to adopt her policy of seeking lower bail amounts—in part because of the tough-on-crime ethos that pervaded her office under longtime DA Robert Johnson.
A group of Morris Park business owners sued Mayor Bill de Blasio Monday over his Vision Zero corridor plan Monday, seeking an injunction that would halt traffic changes they say threaten their livelihoods.
The shooting happened about 11:30 a.m. Saturday as he stood outside an apartment building on Belmont Avenue near Tremont Park, police said. He was rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he remains in critical condition.
The Bronx District Attorney’s Office will investigate the local casework of NYPD Detective Joseph Franco, who is accused of framing at least three defendants on drug charges in Manhattan.
The Legal Aid Society on Thursday called on Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark to review every case her office prosecuted involving NYPD Detective Joseph Franco, who is accused of framing at least three defendants on drug charges.
Quiles, 29, was acquitted of attempted murder at his trial last month, but convicted on the lesser charge of weapon possession—a verdict that shocked Jaheem’s still-reeling family.
An appeals court threw out Reginald Goldman’s manslaughter conviction Tuesday, ruling that his lawyer was improperly denied an opportunity to review the search warrant authorities used to extract Goldman’s DNA.
Frederick Afoakwah, 21, picked up the weapon that Housing Bureau Officer Martinson Afariyeboahm had placed on a coffee table inside Afoakwah’s apartment on Mosholu Parkway near Jerome Avenue early Sunday.
Joao Goncalves was pouring concrete at the construction site on June 10, 2003 when he fell down an elevator shaft, plunging from the seventh floor onto a second-floor landing, suffering terminal injuries.
Responding to a Bronx Justice News investigation revealing millions in squandered tax dollars and lack of oversight at the courthouse, City Councilman Ritchie Torres, Chair of the Oversight and Investigations Committee, said he is weighing an official probe into the troubled building.
Luis Ortiz, 36, allegedly strolled into the Metro PCS store at Westchester and Longwood Avenues about 3:20 p.m. Sunday, pretending to be a perusing customer. After a few moments he flashed the needle, moved behind the store counter, and threatened a terrified female clerk, according to the NYPD.
The city’s Correction Department is struggling to manage a massive backlog of disciplinary cases, resulting in the statute of limitations expiring in about 1,500 use of force investigations, according to a new federal monitor report.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will no longer be able to arrest New Yorkers inside state courthouses without a warrant or judicial order—a policy shift aimed at preventing authorities from using courthouses as “hunting grounds,” immigrant rights advocates said.
The Legal Aid Society is suing a pair of “neglectful” Bronx landlords on behalf of 14 tenants, alleging the men violated a tenant harassment law and seeking a court order forcing them to make desperately needed repairs, court records show.
The victim was grabbed from behind by one attacker, then another set upon him before a third slashed him on his face with a blade—all while a fourth attacker stood watch, authorities said.
The unidentified robber strolled into the store at Westchester and Longwood Avenues about 3:20 p.m. Sunday, pretending to be a perusing customer. After a few moments he flashed the needle, moved behind the store counter, and threatened the female clerk, according to the NYPD.
Eleven years after the Bronx Hall of Justice opened its doors on East 161st St., the building’s sprawling “public courtyard” remains closed to the public. The unused space is costing taxpayers millions in maintenance and repair expenditures, and is unlikely to ever see public use unless an array of safety issues are addressed, a Bronx Justice News investigation found.
The law is best known for mandating that 16- and 17-year-old offenders no longer be automatically prosecuted as adults. But the legislation also allows any New Yorker who has remained crime-free for 10 years—and has two convictions or fewer on their record—to request certain state convictions be sealed.
Uber’s IPO filing Wednesday included a promise to publicly release data about alleged sexual assaults committed by Uber drivers — disclosures that could reveal the scope of driver misconduct incidents in the five boroughs.
Before his death, victim Vivian Connell had been on the verge of graduating from the College of New Rochelle with a degree in psychology. An honor roll student, he was also raising a little girl.
The New York City Council on Tuesday passed legislation to eliminate fees on all bail payments made by credit card — a change expected to ease the burden on Bronx families impacted by incarceration.
Dwayne Gentles, who served a one-year prison sentence for his 2015 conviction for animal cruelty, won his appeal on the grounds a Bronx trial judge issued overly broad jury instructions.
No candidate has mounted a challenge to incumbent Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark, who has collected campaign donations from a broad cross-section of contributors.
Activist Michael Picard, who was arrested outside the Bronx Hall of Justice, says a law criminalizing certain speech within 200 feet of a courthouse violates his constitutional rights.
The U.S. Marshals New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force, along with the NYPD and local police, tracked Keith Clarkson, 25, to a home in New Hartford Tuesday.
Inmates at five New York State prisons recently received tablet computers as part of a new program, and will be able to send and receive emails with those outside prison walls starting this month.
Bronx Supreme Court Justice Raymond Bruce ordered Weiner register as a a level 1 sex offender – the lowest designation in the state sex offender registry – during a risk level assessment hearing, records show.
Fabjan Alameti, 21, who records show spent years in the Bronx before moving to Montana last month, was charged Thursday with making false statements regarding domestic and international terrorism, as well as gun and drug possession, officials said.
Paramedics rushed Quamel Anderson, 28, to Lincoln Hospital where he was pronounced dead. A second victim, a 34 year-old man, walked into Lincoln Hospital with a gunshot wound to the leg, police said.
Executive Deputy Commissioner Michael Laidlaw’s departure was first reported by Bronx Justice News Tuesday, after Torres filed a sexual harassment lawsuit in Bronx Supreme Court seeking damages from the city as well as Laidlaw. Laidlaw’s exit from the agency, and the substantiated groping and harassment claims against him, had not previously been made public.
Prosecutors said Tyrone Felder and three other men – Kareem Martin, Takiem Ewing, and Tommy Smalls – carjacked and killed two Bronx livery drivers during a violent crime spree in August 2014.
When his younger brother got into a fistfight with the victim, Brandon Garcia stabbed him three times in the torso, the force of the stabbing causing the knife handle to break off from the blade and become stuck in his body, prosecutors said.
There were 107 documented reports of rape in the Bronx as of March 31 – the last date for which official statistics are available – representing a 27.4 percent increase from the 84 rapes reported during the same period last year, according to NYPD Compstat data. The total represents nearly a quarter of all rapes reported citywide.
Jacqueline Torres, a former special assistant in the DSS human resources department, claims that Michael Laidlaw, formerly the Executive Deputy Commissioner in DSS’ Office of Staff Resources, “committed unwelcome sexual conduct toward her by groping her and frequently and severely harassing her” before DSS fired him as a result.
Two men have been charged with murder in the fatal stabbing of Kareem Allen, 29, outside a Bronx nightclub Sunday, authorities said
The brawl broke out shortly before 4 a.m. in front of Oze Tavern on E. 138th St. and Third Ave. in Mott Haven, according to the NYPD.
NYPD officers responded to the building after faculty members learned the boy had pointed the weapon at a 12-year-old girl at school, authorities said. They seized the gun, as well as multiple BB magazines.
Latique Johnson, 39, the set’s founder, as well as Brandon Green, 36, and Donnell Murray, 39, were instrumental in the gang’s drug trafficking operations – the Blood Hound Brims sold crack, powder cocaine, and heroin across New York City – as well as acts of gun violence regularly carried out by set members to control Bloods’ territory and intimidate enemy gangs, officials said.
Herminio Robles has cost the City of New York a few dozen dollars in MetroCard swipes. But the criminal justice system has spent tens of thousands of dollars punishing him for it.
Tariq Hargrove, 22, pleaded guilty to assaulting Correction Officer Richy Herrera Castillo, leaving him with facial injuries so serious he needed a metal plate permanently implanted in his jaw.
Michael Quiles, the man accused in the April 2017 shooting that left 5-year-old Jaheem Hunter permanently injured, has been acquitted of attempted murder.
Police responding to a 911 call for an unconscious baby in Morris Heights Dec. 27 found Darwin Gonzalez-Santana unresponsive, authorities said.
Attorneys for Captain Naoki Yaguchi had argued the NYPD never warned him his cell phone data would not be kept private, and that prosecutors illegally obtained the records without a warrant.
Johanna Pagan-Alomar, 45, of the Bronx, is charged with assault, harassment, and obstructing government administration for allegedly accosting Officer Theresa Lustica from behind while Lustica’s partner was arresting Pagan’s friend, Andy Rodriguez, 35, for heroin possession on June 7.
Prosecutors say Marc Gomez, 36, repeatedly kicked the homeless 78-year old victim in her head, neck, and chest while wearing boots. A passenger filmed video of the attack, which went viral on social media and sparked criticism of straphangers who stood by watching instead of intervening.
A spate of shootings in the Bronx has wounded at least five victims during the past two days, including a 13-year-old and 16-year-old boy, authorities said.
Kevin Pettiway, 29, a Staten Island resident who formerly lived in the Bronx, shot Jayquan Smalls, 24, in his head and chest after they argued in the 1300 block of Webster Avenue in October 2017, authorities said.
Prosecutors said Frankie Esperanza, 34, sold guns to an undercover detective on eight different occasions. Among the inventory that allegedly changed hands: two semi-automatic assault rifles, a high-capacity magazine, and more than two hundred rounds of ammo.
The official city data, obtained exclusively by Bronx Justice News, shows 16 and 17-year-olds are leading lives less permeated by the kind of institutional violence they experienced at Rikers.
Christian Rodriguez, 24, is charged with multiple counts of assault and could face homicide charges depending on son Aiden’s autopsy results, prosecutors said.
District Attorney Darcel Clark said the need for a new system became abundantly clear following an assessment the DA’s office conducted on its technology and analytical tools last year with the help of the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance.
Michael Quiles, 29, allegedly fired at least four shots at a man during a feud over a drug deal – one of which penetrated Jaheem Hunter’s head. Aja Holmes said she looked up after Jaheem fell and clearly saw Quiles firing shots in the 1100 block of Washington Avenue in Morissania.
The announcement comes after Queens City Council Member Rory Lancman sent a letter to all five city DA’s last week urging them to “dismiss all criminal summonses for offenses that were effectively decriminalized by the Criminal Justice Reform Act of 2016.”
Lester Pearson, 43, was captured by U.S. Marshals in Jacksonville twenty years after he allegedly shot Officer Vincent Ling during a chaotic shootout between the men on East Gun Hill Road, officials said.
Gary Mallette, 51, also faces multiple charges stemming from a Feb. 25 domestic violence incident, including petit larceny and criminal contempt for disobeying the court, records show.
Victim Jose Ingles, 37, was double-parked in front of a deli at 706 Faile Street in May 2016 when Fredrick Jones, 29, of the East Bronx, shot him six times in his face, chest, and stomach, prosecutors said.
Gunfire and fights in the streets outside. Unlicensed security guards. A bouncer stabbing a clubgoer with a pen knife.The history of Spades Lounge spans just ten months, but the club has seen plenty of controversy since its May 1 opening.
Gary Mallette, 51, whose criminal history includes more than 50 arrests and several completed prison terms for robbery, allegedly posed as a NYCHA repairman to get into the elderly victim’s apartment – then ripped her clothes off and beat her. She suffered numerous broken ribs and other injuries from being punched, police said.
The “Jack Boyz” have carried out numerous shootings, robberies, and drug deals in and around the Bronx, retaliating against rival gangs “to promote the standing and reputation of the Jack Boyz, and to protect the gang’s narcotics business,” federal prosecutors said.
Jamal Brissett, aka “Trigger,” 30, of the Bronx, is charged with murdering Leshaun Gordon, 19, on June 30, 2009. He allegedly shot and killed the victim inside a car “in the course of a drug-trafficking crime and a robbery in the vicinity of Mickle Avenue and Chester Street,” officials said.
Marcus Bellamy, 35, killed Bernardo Almonte, 27, in August 2016 inside the West 174th Street apartment they shared. He pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter last month, thus avoiding a possible life sentence.
“Every young person who wants a job should be able to get one, period,” Torres told Bronx Justice News. “A job is a deterrent to violence and joining a gang.”
A camera in the sleeping 2-month-old’s room captured the intruder slinking past the baby’s crib shortly after 8 p.m. Friday. The burglar got into the apartment, located near Johnson Avenue and West 236th Street, through an unlocked fire escape window, police said.
Andrea Lounds filed the excessive force suit accusing NYPD Officer Lorraine Fuentes and other Bronx cops of “brutalizing” her teenage daughter on May 10, 2016 as the girl, identified in court papers as D.E., rode a city bus home from school in the Bronx around 1:45 p.m.
Pending state legislation would make New York the 13th state, in addition to Washington D.C., to allow undocumented immigrants to receive driver’s licenses.
A Bronx man armed with a loaded 9 millimeter pistol – and carrying fake identification documents – was arrested after he tried to push past TSA officers at a JFK Airport checkpoint, officials said.
Samuel Reyes, 49, used a piece of drawstring to commit suicide in November 2015 after NYPD officers from the 49th Precinct arrested him on suspicion he’d been involved in two armed robberies. His family filed a wrongful death suit in Manhattan federal court the following year, alleging it took officers at the station house nearly half an hour to notice Reyes hanging from a bar in one of the holding cells – located 25 to 30 feet, and within plain sight, of the front desk, records show.
A group of fourteen prosecutors from cities across the U.S., including the District Attorneys of Brooklyn and Albany, sent a letter to Gov. Cuomo and the state legislature Wednesday calling for an end to money bail in New York. Not among the signees: Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance, Staten Island DA Michael McMahon, and outgoing Queens DA Richard Brown.
Unable to speak, walk, or breathe on his own in the weeks after the June 2017 shooting – which happened on his fifth birthday – the little boy fought valiantly to stay alive, making what his family called a “miraculous” recovery. Authorities credited the quick thinking of his sister, Aja Holmes, and father, Charles Hunter, who cradled the bleeding child en route to the hospital, with saving his life.
Erin Hall, 42, faces a sentence of up to life in prison for the 2015 slaying of Felix De La Cruz, who challenged Hall with taunts of “do it, do it,” before Hall shot him in the head, according to eyewitness testimony.
Eight additional police officers will be sent to the 43rd Precinct following a sharp increase in rape totals in the Bronx, NYPD officials announced Monday.
Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark this weekend signaled her support for progressive, statewide criminal justice reform, exclusively telling Bronx Justice News that changes to the current system are “inevitable.”
When 16-year-old Edgar Garcia allegedly fired three shots across a busy Bronx street Feb. 22, the reputed gang member was partaking in a violent underworld conflict—one whose roots predate his birth, and has sparked dozens of violent assaults and shootings during the past decade.
A 16-year old gang member was taken into custody by NYPD detectives Friday, suspected of firing three shots on a Concourse street bustling with children and other bystanders, police said.
Alleged Trinitarios set leader Diego Suero was denied bail in Bronx Supreme Court today after prosecutors said they had photos, texts, and other evidence showing he’s the leader of the gang responsible for the murder of Lesandro “Junior” Guzman-Feliz.
Police have arrested the man they say fatally shot a 36-year-old woman in her head last year – nineteen years after her mother died the same way, officials said. Amere Bryant, 25, is accused of murdering Shaquana Button, of The Bronx, in front of a bodega on East 149th Street in Mott Haven on Jan. 15, 2018, according to the NYPD.
Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark has instructed her office to decline prosecutions of marijuana arrests when a defendant faces only a marijuana charge, according to a statement provided to the city council. In the fourth quarter of 2018 alone, around 90 percent of people arrested for marijuana possession in the Bronx were either Black or Hispanic, the DA said.
The FBI says a software update to its national DNA database caused incorrect genetic information to display at a handful of local crime labs, but that no offenders were misidentified as a result. Three crime labs in the United States told the FBI they were impacted by the CODIS software glitch, which caused incorrect genetic profile information to be displayed.
Reports of rape in the Bronx have surged during the first weeks of 2019, even as overall violent crime totals in the borough continue to fall, NYPD data shows. There were 64 documented reports of rape in the Bronx as of Feb. 17–the last date for which official statistics are available–representing a 64 percent increase from the 39 rapes reported during the same period last year, according to NYPD Compstat data.
State DNA scientists have discovered a software glitch in the FBI’s national DNA database—a problem officials say led to inaccurate genetic profile information being displayed at local crime labs, Bronx Justice News has learned.
Two men accused in a 2012 murder have spent nearly seven years on Rikers Island and other pre-trial detention facilities–their incarceration a striking example of the case backlog plaguing the Bronx judicial system. Craig Whitefield, 44, and Alonzo Johnson, 41, are accused of killing Jose Andujar and robbing Angel Mangual at the Edenwald Houses, the Bronx’s largest public housing project, in April 2012.
The NYPD plans to begin using Rapid DNA—a controversial technology that provides near-instantaneous test results on human genetic samples without the need for laboratories—as early as this year, Bronx Justice News has learned. The department is working closely with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to implement the plan, NYPD officials recently told a state subcommittee.
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