12 THE QUEENS COURIER • AUGUST 17, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
police beat COMPILED BY EMILY DAVENPORT, ANTHONY GIUDICE AND SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
104th Precinct
Maspeth & Middle Village
Teens vandalize headstones
in Cypress Hills Cemetery in
Glendale with derogatory
and racial slurs
Cops are searching for a trio of teens
who vandalized more than 40 headstones
with off ensive terms against African-
Americans, Chinese and Arabic people,
and the NYPD at Cypress Hills Cemetery
in Glendale early Tuesday morning.
According to the police, the three suspects
— described as males, approximately
16 to 19 years of age, possibly white
or Hispanic with light complexions —
entered the burial grounds straddling the
Brooklyn/Queens border at 12:14 a.m. on
Tuesday, Aug. 15.
Once inside the cemetery, law enforcement
agents stated, the teens knocked
over and spray painted derogatory words
on more than 40 headstones.
When offi cers from the 104th Precinct
responded to the situation, they found
that the individuals used pink and bluish/
purple spray paint to write hateful messages
and racial slurs including “N*****,”
“I hate sand n*****s,” “F**K NYPD,”
“Ching Chong,” “F**k Jackie Chan,” and
other words and scrawlings, including
possible tags.
Th e trio also entered the memorial
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Abbey mausoleum and broke the marble
stones on the front of approximately 15
vaults, and spray painted more derogatory
words, authorities said.
Th e teens can be seen on the video
moving around a trash can and tossing a
plastic crate as they try to gain entrance
to a door. At one point, it looks as if one
of the suspects injures his leg. Th roughout
the incident the individuals are taking
pictures on their cellphones.
Th e NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force
is investigating the incident as a possible
hate crime.
QNS has reached out to Cypress Hills
Cemetery and is awaiting comment.
Anyone with information in regards to
this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s
Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS
(8477) or for Spanish, 888-57-PISTA
(74782). Th e public can also submit their
tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers
website at or by texting their tips to
274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.
All calls and messages are kept confi -
dential.
106th Precinct
Howard Beach, Ozone Park,
Richmond Hill
Fight at Richmond Hill
house party leaves two men
injured with stab wounds
A teenager was arrested on Saturday,
Aug. 12, for pulling a knife on two men
and stabbing them at a Richmond Hill
house party, according to police.
Law enforcement sources said fi ght
broke out at a home on 115th Street
between Liberty and 106th avenues and
involved three men: 17-year-old Michael
Jaikaran and two 22-year-old males.
Th e three got into an altercation at
about 10:20 p.m. on Aug. 12 when
Jaikaran pulled out a knife and stabbed
the victims in the torso, police said.
According to PIX 11, the argument
started on Instagram where the brawl was
coordinated with one of the men and his
girlfriend’s cousin. Jaikaran was charged
with second-degree assault.
Th e victims were taken to Jamaica
Hospital in stable condition and the
investigation is ongoing.
114th Precinct
Astoria & Long Island City
Robber who broke a woman’s
bones inside an Astoria
apartment building is at large
Police are investigating a robbery that
left a woman beaten in an Astoria apartment
building.
According to police, at 7:30 a.m on
Tuesday, Aug. 15, an unknown man followed
a 35-year-old female into a residential
building located within the vicinity of
31st Drive and 21st Street. Th e suspect
entered the elevator with the woman and
exited on the fi ft h fl oor with her.
Once they were off the elevator, the
suspect put the victim in a chokehold
and repeatedly punched her in the face.
Th e assailant then fl ed the scene in an
unknown direction with the victim’s
credit card.
The victim was transported to
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital to be
treated for several bone fractures.
Th e suspect is described as a black male
with a dark complexion, aged 25 to 30
years old, and weighing 160 pounds. He
was last seen wearing brown boots, blue
jeans and a black shirt.
Anyone with information in regards to
this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s
Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS
or for Spanish 888-57-PISTA (74782).
Th e public can also submit their tips by
logging onto the Crime Stoppers Website
or texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES)
then enter TIP577.
Robbery ringleader sentenced for
recruiting teens to cellphone store heists
in Flushing and Howard Beach
A Brooklyn man has been sentenced
aft er orchestrating nearly a dozen cellphone
store robberies spanning the
course of a year, including two in
Flushing and Howard Beach.
Arthur Sam, otherwise known as “16,”
was sentenced on Aug. 11 to 10 years
in prison. Th e sentence also included a
term of three years of supervised release
and $304,179 in restitution.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s
Offi ce for the Eastern District of New
York, the 37-year-old defendant used
teenage minors, among others, to commit
robberies at 11 cellphone stores in
Queens and Brooklyn between April
and December 2015.
Th e group attempted to rob a Flushing
Verizon store at 191-30 Northern Blvd.
on June 3, 2015 — an incident which
culminated with a car chase and crash
that left fi ve people hurt — and robbed
a Howard Beach AT&T store at 157-14
Cross Bay Blvd. on Dec. 8, 2015.
In each instance, Sam’s co-conspirators
restrained and threatened store
employees and customers by pretending
to have a fi rearm or displaying an imitation
weapon, while Sam would watch
from inside his BMW sedan parked
nearby. During some incidents, prosecutors
said, Sam maintained contact
with his crew via cellphone so he could
monitor the situation.
Sam and his recruited co-conspirators
stole cell phones and other store
merchandise with a total value of over
$300,000 during the robberies, prosecutors
said. Th e stolen items were then
sold to an intermediary, who sent them
overseas.
Four other members of Sam’s crew
who previously pleaded guilty remain to
be sentenced.
“Numerous victims were made to fear
for their lives as the cellphone stores
where they worked were held up by
these perpetrators, who simulated fi rearms
or displayed imitation pistols,”
NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill
said. “I want to thank the members of
the NYPD and its partners who worked
to make the arrests and secure the guilty
pleas in order to bring today’s sentencing.”