YEAR IN REVIEW
Top crime stories of the year
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | DEC. 27-JAN. 2, 2020 15
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
Little Neck home invaders
rape woman twice while
stealing thousands in cash
Two men robbed and raped
a 34-year-old woman and terrorized
her family during a home
invasion in Little Neck, police
reported. The violent encounter
took place at about 9:31 p.m.
on May 4 in the vicinity of 251st
Street and 57th Avenue.
According to law enforcement
sources, the 34-year-old
woman was leaving the residence
when the two men — one
of whom brandished a firearm
— approached and forced her
back into the home. Security
camera footage that the NYPD
released on May 6 shows one
armed suspect chasing the victim
inside the house and two
other perpetrators walking in.
Brooklyn resident Brandon
Daniels, 24, was arrested on May
14 in connection to this incident.
He was charged with attempted
rape, robbery, assault, burglary,
sexual abuse and acting in a
manner injurious to a child.
Sources say that Daniels turned
himself in to police custody and
was arraigned in Queens Criminal
Court. Authorities indicated
that he was linked to the crime
through genetic evidence.
Fake credit card ring
operators in Flushing had
$600,000 in cash and 480
pounds of pot in home
A federal raid of a Flushing
home uncovered much more
than the makings of a counterfeit
credit card mill. Authorities
seized 480 pounds of marijuana
and $600,000 in cash from the
residence on 22nd Avenue during
the Jan. 24 raid, according
to Queens District Attorney
Richard A. Brown said. Three
people at the home were taken
into custody: Jian Zhi Chen, 29,
Yue Mei Sun, 55, and Qiao Xiao,
26.
While searching the entire
residence, prosecutors said, law
enforcement agents found a total
of $600,000 cash and nearly
$3,000 in counterfeit money.
They also found a stash of 480
pounds of marijuana, packed
into vacuum-sealed, one-pound
bags, and various credit cardmaking
tools including a credit
card reader/writer, a credit
card stamper, an embosser and
foil cartridges used to add color
to the bogus credit cards.
With street sale estimates for
marijuana in New York ranging
between $275 and $338 an ounce,
the total amount of marijuana
seized from the Flushing home
figures to exceed $2 million. Law
enforcement agents have not yet
disclosed an approximate street
value of the pot.
Finally, Brown noted, officers
located and seized 445 THC
cartridges, containing the highproducing
ingredient found
in marijuana, and a vacuum
sealer.
Fight at Queens Mall causes
shutdowns and heavy cop
presence
There was a heavy police
presence at Queens Center Mall
following a fight between teenagers
turned that spiraled out
of control and wreaked havoc
inside.
A report from the Citizen
App stated that a fight broke
out at the mall, located at 90-15
Queens Blvd., at around 1:30
p.m. on Nov. 22, resulting in
teenagers throwing things and
“causing mayhem.” Officers
were on scene at the mall afterwards
taking crowd control
measures. An NYPD Aviation
unit helicopter was seen above
the mall, but flew away after a
short period of time.
Police could not confirm
what started the fight or if anyone
was seriously injured. A
shopper told the Queens Courier
that adults were being allowed
into the mall shortly after the
fight was broken up, while teenagers
were denied entry. The
shopper also said that stores on
the first floor were closed.
Maspeth teen returns home
after running away to
London
A 16-year-old girl from Maspeth
who ran away to London
was found safe in “good condition”
by the London Police
Department this summer. Victoria
Grabowski was last seen
around 10 a.m. Aug. 24 at her
residence in Maspeth. Her uncle
Arkadiusz Grabowski told
the TimesLedger that her parents
discovered texts showing
that she had been talking to an
older man in Britain, and left
on Saturday from JFK to fly to
London.
The NYPD worked with London
detectives to locate the girl
and communicate with her family.
Arkadiusz said that British
police were able to track down
Victoria with the man who she
met up with using information
connected to his rental car. They
ended up locating her 125 miles
from London. Arkadiusz said
that it was the swift reaction of
the 104th Precinct that ended
up getting Interpol involved in
time to locate Victoria.
The man who lured the
Grabowski to London was taken
into custody shortly afterward.
Queens pharmacist and
three managers cuffed for in
Medicaid fraud scheme
A city pharmacist from
Queens and three of her pharmacy
managers were arrested
for their alleged roles in a multimillion
dollar Medicaid scheme
that involved HIV drugs and
kickbacks.
According to charges, the
defendants, led by Irina Pichkhadze,
allegedly paid or directed
employees to pay cash
kickbacks to Medicaid recipients
in return for each patient’s
agreement to fill their HIV prescriptions,
which were filled at
Pichkhadze’s First Choice Pharmacy,
located at 245 East 124th
St. in Manhattan. The pharmacy
then allegedly billed and
received hundreds of thousands
of dollars from Medicaid for
refills that First Choice Pharmacy
either did not dispense
to patients, a scheme known as
“auto-refilling.”
Charges say that between
Jan. 1, 2013, and Dec. 31, 2016,
Pichkhadze’s First Choice
Pharmacy allegedly didn’t
purchase sufficient quantities
of medication from licensed
New York state drug wholesalers
to justify the quantities of
medication it claimed, through
its billing records, to have dispensed
to patients. Due to the
false records allegedly filed by
the Medicaid- and Medicaidfunded
managed care organizations
(MCOs) paid First
Choice Pharmacy and the defendants
over $10.2 million dollars
that they allegedly were
not entitled to.
The 480 pounds of weed and credit card production paraphernalia seized from the Jan. 24 raid in
Flushing. Courtesy of Queens District Attorney’s offi ce
Victoria Grabowski, a 16-yearold
Maspeth resident who ran
away to London, was found safe
in “good condition.” NYPD
The scene outside Queens Center Mall in November.
Photo by Robert Pozarycki
/QNS.COM
