FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com APRIL 7, 2016 • The Queens Courier 3 Acid attack on LIC nonprofit director was part of an embezzlement cover-up, DA says By Angela Mat ua [email protected]/@AngelaMatua An acid attack that left an executive director of a Long Island City nonprofit with severe burns to her face and body was part of an elaborate cover-up in which employees embezzled thousands of dollars from the organization. Kim Williams, 47, of the Bronx; Pia Louallen, 41, of the Bronx; and Jerry Mohammed, 32, of Rensselaer County all conspired to harm the executive director of Hospital Audiences Inc., Rev. D. Alexandra Dyer, after Williams stole $750,000 from the nonprofit, according to District Attorney Richard A. Brown. Williams, who was an accountant at Hospital Audiences Inc., a nonprofit that provides access to art, music and dance to youth and the elderly, embezzled $600,000 between 2012 and 2015. She gave Louallen an additional $150,000 between 2013 and 2015, according to Brown. The nonprofit has since changed its name to Healing Arts Initiative and is located on 33rd Street and Skillman Avenue. Williams and Mohammed planned to conceal her theft by assaulting Dyer. On August 19, 2015, Mohammad approached Dyer as she was walking to her car after work and threw a caustic substance, severely burning her face and body. She was hospitalized and had to undergo several surgeries as a result of the attack, Brown said. Williams was arrested Monday night in New Jersey by New Jersey State Troopers at a rest stop. All three defendants will be arraigned on a 65-count indictment. Williams is charged with firstdegree assault, fourth-degree conspiracy, fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, second-degree grand larceny, identity theft and firstdegree falsifying business records. Louallen is charged with seconddegree grand larceny and fourthdegree conspiracy. Mohammed is charged with firstdegree assault, fourth-degree conspiracy and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon. If convicted, Louallen faces up to 15 years in prison, Williams faces up to 25 years in prison, and Mohammed faces up to 25 years to life in prison. “This case is troubling on so many different levels. In an atmosphere of such giving, it is disheartening to see an individual allegedly use her position of fiduciary trust to siphon off tens of thousands of dollars in funds for the personal use of herself and another,” Brown said. “More disturbing, perhaps, is the same individual allegedly conspiring with another individual to intentionally seriously injure an innocent victim as part of a cover-up.” Reported College Point jail plan draws ire of public officials By Robert Pozarycki [email protected]/@robbpoz Land near the NYPD Academy in College Point could be developed into a new prison under a plan that the city is exploring to systematically shut down Rikers Island’s correctional facilities, according to a report published on March 31. Citing sources within City Hall, DNAinfo reported on Thursday that various officials are “quietly” considering four possible sites in the outer boroughs to develop two jails — each housing as many as 2,000 inmates — to potentially replace Rikers Island. Not surprisingly, the news drew the ire of local officials who vowed that they would never support a jail in the neighborhood. When contacted by QNS, Community Board 7 Land Use Committee Chairperson Chuck Apelian seemed to suggest City Hall’s concerns were true in that a new jail in College Point wouldn’t be accepted by anyone in the neighborhood. “It’s my opinion that the community board and the neighborhood would never support a jail in College Point,” he said. City Councilman Paul Vallone was also adamantly opposed to any prisons in College Point. “Any attempt by the city to target College Point for a proposed jail site will be met by fierce and complete opposition,” he said in a statement to QNS. “We have taken the steps to turn College Point around by working with the residents, small businesses, the corporate park and the cultural, civic and sports associations to bring a new renaissance to the neighborhood. The days of broken promises and dumping grounds are over for College Point.” Assemblyman Michael Simanowitz and state Senator Tony Avella also issued statements saying they, too, would oppose a College Point jail. “It’s outrageous that the city would even think about burdening the College Point community yet again with another large-scale development, let alone proposing that it be a jail that would house 2,000 criminals,” Avella said. “I’m appalled that while we’re protecting the mayor’s back in Albany, he’s going behind our back to hurt our community.” “College Point Corporate Park has become a convenient dumping ground for large-scale development and relocations, a burden borne by our residents,” Simanowitz said. “Moreover, this plan blatantly ignores public safety and quality-of-life issues.” Along with the site adjacent to the College Point academy, the report identified land in the Bronx next to the Vernon C. Bain Center, a jail housing 800 prisoners on a moored barge, as another potential prison site. Two unidentified properties in Brooklyn are also on the radar. A source close to the Mayor’s Office did not confirm or deny the report, but indicated that the office was trying to determine the basis of the DNA Info report. “It’s possible” the reporter “saw something where the city was exploring ways to move kids off Rikers, which is something we have to make the best efforts to do under the Nunez settlement,” the source said, referring to a federal court mandate for reforming Rikers Island. Any plan to construct a jail in a neighborhood would fall under the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Process (ULURP), which allows for public hearings on such proposals. A source cited in the DNAinfo report said City Hall officials are “terrified” of such a process considering the likelihood that the vast majority of residents would vehemently oppose new jails in their neighborhoods.
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