FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com MAY 30, 2013 • THE QUEENS COURIER 9 ‘How many victims?’ Mourn teen found dead after cyber bullying BY MAGGIE HAYES [email protected] A young girl took her own life after she was reportedly cyber-bullied. “This is a little girl, an angel who’s shouting for help,” said Glenda Molina, mother of Gabrielle Molina, 12. “She wants to have peace.” Media reports said Molina was bullied by her classmates at I.S. 109 and that on Wednesday, May 22, she hung herself in her bedroom. “We are deeply saddened by this death,” said Principal Karleen Adam- Comrie. Police have classifi ed the incident as a suicide in the ongoing investigation. Friends of the girl told the New York Daily News that Molina got into a fi stfi ght with another girl, which was videotaped and posted on YouTube, and that Molina had a history of cutting herself. Her mother told the paper other students called Molina derogatory names. “How many victims of bullying should come so that nobody gets bullied anymore?” Anastasia Katayeva wrote on a Facebook page dedicated both to Molina’s memory and to ending cyber-bullying. PHOTO COURTESY OF FACEBOOK Gabrielle Molina, 12, took her own life after allegedly being bullied by classmates. Others wrote that Molina’s bullies should be brought to justice and the world is a sadder place without her in it. Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott visited the Queens Village school after the incident. He also spoke with Molina’s parents. The school has set up a crisis team to offer counseling to students and staff. The Department of Education did not comment on grounds the incident is a police matter. Neighbors knew nothing of kidnap, ransom plot BY CRISTABELLE TUMOLA AND ANGY ALTAMIRANO Workers on the industrial block in Long Island City where a man was held captive for over a month said they had no idea what was going on. Last week, three men were arrested for kidnapping 52-year-old Pedro Portugal off a Jackson Heights street in broad daylight and holding him in a LIC warehouse for a month in a $3 million ransom attempt, the district attorney’s offi ce said. Christian Acuna, 35, of Corona, Dennis Alves, 32, of East Elmhurst, and Eduardo Moncayo, 38, of Lyndhurst, New Jersey, are awaiting arraignment on kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment charges. If convicted, each could face up to 25 years to life in prison. According to the charges, on April 18, Moncayo approached Portugal on Roosevelt Avenue and showed him what appeared to be an NYPD badge. Moncayo and another man then allegedly grabbed Portugal and forced him into a vehicle. Authorities have not apprehended the accomplice. The suspects drove Portugal to a Long Island City warehouse, where he was bound, beaten and burnt with acid by the suspects over a 32-day period. Authorities said Portugal did not recognize any of his captors. They told Portugal they knew he had property in the United States and ordered him to call his mother and brother in Ecuador to ask for $3 million in ransom money. Portugal’s ordeal came to an end on Monday, May 20 when police rescued him from inside the warehouse. “Nobody said anything,” said Flavio Camposano, a worker at Sign Zone, one of the businesses working out of the warehouse on 43rd Avenue, where Portugal was allegedly held captive. “Everything was regular.” According to Camposano, a man shouted asking for help through an open window on the third fl oor of the warehouse the day of Portugal’s rescue. At around 3 p.m., police swarmed the area. Local business owners at 88-06 Roosevelt Avenue, where Portugal was allegedly kidnapped, said he worked as an accountant on the second fl oor of the building. Sergio Ruiz, owner of a deli at 88-04 Roosevelt Avenue, has known Portugal for the past 13 years and said the surveillance camera from his store shows Portugal leaving the building calmly. Ruiz said a year ago, two men entered his shop and identifi ed themselves as cops while fl ashing a badge. After “inspecting” and presenting Ruiz with some papers, they asked him to pay a fee. Ruiz said he complied with the men’s request. According to Councilmember Daniel Dromm, criminals tend to target immigrants because they think they will not go to the police. 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