8 MARCH 7, 2019 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Rego Park woman guilty of visa fraud Taste the World
BY JENNA BAGCAL
JBAGCAL@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@JENNA_BAGCAL
Get your palates ready, Forest
Hills. The annual Taste
of the World food festival
is back for its eighth year at Our
Lady Queen of Martyrs Church.
On Sunday, March 10, dozens
of local restaurants and vendors
from Forest Hills will showcase
the area’s local cuisine. The event
will take place at McLaughlin
Hall at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs,
located at 110-06 Queens
Blvd., from 2:30 to 5 p.m.
Last year, the international
food festival saw its biggest turnout
to date, with a record number
of 38 participating restaurants
and bakeries and nearly 200
attendees.
This year’s food festival and
church fundraising event will
feature raffl e prizes from Foodtown,
Panera Bread, Austin’s Ale
House, The Wine Room of Forest
Hills, Nick’s Bistro and Young
Chefs Academy of Forest Hills.
Tickets for a separate raffl e/
sweepstakes will also be sold for
$60 each or three for $100. First
prize wins $1,500 in cash, second
place wins a Jet Blue card and
third place is $200 cash.
Here is a list of some confi rmed
vendors for the much-anticipated
event: Jack & Nellie’s (108-25
Ascan Ave.); Rove (72-27 Austin
St.); Tuscan Hills (110-60 Queens
Blvd.); Portofi no (109-32 Ascan
Ave.); Matiz (110-72 Queens Blvd.);
La Dolce Italia Bakery (104-05
Metropolitan Ave.); La Vigna
(100-11 Metropolitan Ave.); Rimtin
(104-02 Metropolitan Ave.) ;
Cipollina Gourmet Italian Market
(116-09 Queens Blvd.); Keuka
Kafe (112-04 Queens Blvd.); La
Boulangerie (109-01 72nd Road);
Agra Palace (116-33 Queens Blvd.);
The Bund (100-30 Queens Blvd.);
Violet’s Vietnamese Shoppe
(72-36 Austin St.); Guantanamera
(110-80 Queens Blvd.); Alba
Pizzeria and Restaurant (137-65
Queens Blvd.); OBA Mediterranean
Gyro and Grill (70-35
Austin St.)
Those interested in purchasing
tickets can stop by or call the
church rectory during business
hours at 718-268-6251. Pre-event
price is $25 a ticket or $30 on the
day of the event.
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
EDAVENPORT@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
A Rego Park woman admitted
to her role in a running a
visa fraud scheme out of a purported
performing arts organization,
prosecutors announced on Monday.
Stella Boyadjian, 48, pleaded
guilty to conspiracy to bring
aliens unlawfully into the United
States, visa fraud, and aggravated
identity theft.
Boyadjian faces a maximum of 10
years in prison, and an additional
mandatory consecutive sentence
of two years’ imprisonment for aggravated
identity theft.
According to court documents,
Boyadjian operated a nonprofit organization
called Big Apple Music
Awards Foundation Inc. (BAMA),
based in Rego Park. Charges say that
between January 2013 and December
2014, Boyadjian and her co-conspirators
ran the visa fraud scheme out of
the nonprofit to bring in foreign nationals
to the United States illegally,
soliciting them for fees up to $10,000
and prepared and filed fraudulent
P-3 visa applications.
The conspirators would fraudulently
claim to the United States Citizenship
and Immigration Services
(USCIS) that the foreign nationals
were members of traditional Armenian
performance groups, which
would qualify them for P-3 visas
as “culturally unique” artists
or entertainers.
Boyadjian and the conspirators
purchased fraudulent documentation
to support the P-3 applications,
including fake dance certificates
and staged photo sessions where the
foreign nationals wore Armenian
Photo via Getty images
dance costumes to make it appear
as though they were traditional
Armenian musicians, singers and
performers.
Once they were in the United
States, those who fraudulently obtained
P-3 visas paid additional fees
to the conspirators to obtain extensions
of their stays in the country.
During their Feb.
28 luncheon, the
Kiwanis Club
of Glendale hosted the
Peer Mediation Group
from Ridgewood’s I.S. 77.
According to Glendale
Kiwanis Past President
Kerrie Hansen, the
group of students “is
passionate about making
their school a better
place” through a focus
on peer-to-peer confl ict
resolutions before
problems escalate. In
recognition of those efforts,
the club presented
the group with a $1,000
donation to the program.
The group members and
moderator are pictured
with Glendale Kiwanis
President Tony Sauro.
Photo courtesy of Kerrie
Hansen
in Forest Hills
this Sunday
Glendale Kiwanis meets peer mediators
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