Queens electeds distribute kosher
food before the Jewish new year
3
QUEENS WEEKLY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2019
A man dressed in construction gear allegedly robbed and
raped a Howard Beach woman. Photo via Getty Images
BY ZACHARY GEWELB
A Brooklyn man faces
up to 25 years in prison
after allegedly raping and
robbing a Howard Beach
woman earlier this week,
prosecutors announced
Friday.
According to charges,
Joshua Henderson, 33, of
Chester Court in Brooklyn,
allegedly dressed up
in a construction worker’s
outfit Monday afternoon —
wearing a hard hat, yellow
reflective vest and work
boots — and knocked on the
victim’s door. The woman
answered and was told by
Henderson that there was
work being done on the roof
and he instructed her to
close the curtains.
The woman closed her
door as Henderson walked
further down the apartment
building’s hallway
and, moments later, she
spotted him in her bedroom.
Henderson allegedly
opened the fire escape
window, and removed a fan
from the window panel before
ordering the woman to
drop her phone and asking
her, “where’s the money,”
according to charges.
Henderson then allegedly
grabbed documents
from a safe in the woman’s
bedroom, pointed a black
object toward the woman
and threatened to shoot
her. He proceeded into the
victim’s adult son’s room
and allegedly threatened
him with a gun before tying
the mother and son up
and nabbing jewelry and
cash — among other items
— and issuing an ultimatum
to the woman.
According to prosecutors,
Henderson allegedly
told the woman “I can
choke you and kill you with
this pillow, you can have
sex with me or I will force
you to have sex with your
son.”
Henderson then forced
the woman’s son into a
nearby bathroom, locked
him inside and then allegedly
raped the woman,
prosecutors said. He then
left the scene and was allegedly
captured on surveillance
video leaving the
apartment building.
Henderson was arraigned
Thursday evening
before Queens Criminal
Court Judge Toni Cimino
on charges of first-degree
rape, first- and seconddegree
burglary and first-
and second-degree robbery.
“This was a horrible attack.
The victim was given
an impossible choice by the
defendant, who allegedly
threatened to shoot her and
then proceeded to sexually
assault her — as the woman’s
adult son was bound
and locked in a nearby
room. Everyone deserves
to not only feel safe and secure
in their home, but to
actually be safe,” said acting
District Attorney John
M. Ryan. “This defendant
is now in custody and will
be prosecuted to the fullest
extent of the law. If the
charges are proven true, he
deserves nothing less than
to be locked away from society
for an extremely long
time.”
Met Council’s Kosher Food Network of 30 pantries (and more than 100 pantries for holiday food distributions) is the largest
kosher food network in the country. Courtesy of Met Council
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
In preparation for Rosh
Hashanah, the Jewish new
year, more than 900 community
volunteers and 20
elected officials joined the
Met Council at 82 locations
throughout the city to distribute
fresh food packages
for more than 100,000 New
Yorkers in need of food.
Met Council has spent
the last few weeks distributing
food packages
in Brooklyn, Manhattan,
Queens and Staten Island.
The diverse list of groups
that Met Council provides
free food for includes Boro
Park JCC to COJO Flatbush,
from the Vaad Hakhol
of Crown Heights to the
JCC of Washington Heights
to Tomehei Shabbos of
Queens.
Queens elected officials
that participated in
the food distribution include:
Council members
Donovan Richards and
Barry Grodenchik; state
Senator Joseph Addabbo;
and state Assembly members
Nily Rozic, David Weprin
and Daniel Rosenthal.
“During these Yomim
Noraim (High Holidays)
there is no greater mitzvah
than tzedakah – helping our
fellow neighbors in need,”
said Met Council CEO David
Greenfield. “We at Met
Council are grateful to the
hundreds of volunteers,
donors, community and
elected leaders who came
together in the weeks before
Yom Tov to make sure
that everyone that needed
food in New York had fresh
quality kosher food. It’s a
real zechus (privilege) for
us at Met Council to operate
the largest free kosher
food distribution network
in the world.”
For the past four decades,
Met Council has
provided comprehensive
social services to aid, sustain
and empower more
than 225,000 poor and nearpoor
New Yorkers. The organization
works with any
Jewish organization that
is interested to make sure
that communities across
New York have food for the
holidays.
Met Council has 10 different
programs ranging
from affordable housing
at 21 locations across New
York to domestic and family
violence services to Holocaust
survivor services
to senior programming
to the largest free kosher
food distribution program
in the world. Additionally,
during the year, Met Council
provides food daily to
39 kosher food pantries in
New York, ensuring that no
one in the community goes
hungry.
The organization distributed
26,000 jars of honey
and hundreds of thousands
of pounds of fruits, vegetables,
eggs, fish and glatt
kosher chicken during the
largest free Yom Tov distribution
in the U.S.
“This year’s Rosh Hashanah
distributions were
our most successful yet
thanks to our Met Council
Food Czar Jessica Chait and
our active support from co-
Presidents Ben Tisch and
Joseph Allerhand and our
friends at UJA-Federation
of New York,” Greenfield
said. “We came up with new
and improved ways to serve
the community including
an expansion of our digital
food pantry system.”
Reach reporter Carlotta
Mohamed by e-mail at cmohamed@
schnepsmedia.
com or by phone at (718)
260–4526.
Bklyn man sentenced
in Howard Beach rape