16 SEPTEMBER 5, 2019 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
All Faiths Cemetery in AG fraud lawsuit
BY CHRISTINE CHUNG
THE CITY
SPECIAL TO RIDGEWOOD TIMES
This story was originally published
on Sept. 3, 2019 by THE CITY.
Digging deep into the operations
of a Queens graveyard, state
Attorney General Letitia James
sued leaders of Lutheran All Faiths
Cemetery Tuesday for alleged mismanagement
she says let its longtime boss
to retire with a pot of gold.
Among the more than 540,000
people laid to rest in the 225-acre
expanse, which some reports say has
seen better days: Fred and Mary
Trump, the parents of President Donald
Trump, as well as his late brother
Fred Trump Jr.
The civil complaint filed in Manhattan
state Supreme Court stems
from routine audit of assets by the
New York State Division of Cemeteries,
which revealed that Daniel Austin
Sr. received a $900,000 lump sum
shortly before retiring as Lutheran
All Faiths’ president in 2014 and becoming
board chair.
His successor as president of the
Middle Village cemetery was his son,
Daniel Austin Jr., also a defendant in
the attorney general’s lawsuit.
The complaint describes “extraordinary
misconduct” by the duo.
James accuses Austin Sr. of extracting
“enormous financial benefits”
from the cemetery to enrich himself
and his son — “enabled by the complacency”
of the six other defendants,
all current or former paid board
members.
Among their actions, James alleges,
was making mortgage loans to
The Lutheran All Faiths Cemetery in Middle Village, Queens, on Sep. 3,
2019. Photo: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
relatives using restricted trust funds
belonging to the cemetery, collecting
unwarranted fees and ignoring auditors’
recommendations.
“The defendants funded their
overspending with regular unlawful
incursions into a segregated trust
fund that is expressly protected under
New York law for the care and
maintenance of individual burial
plots,” the complaint reads.
The board members, charged
with financial management of the
cemetery, hired treasurers whom
the lawsuit alleges could not identify
“basic elements of the cemetery’s balance
sheet.” The board also allowed
past chairman Daniel Austin Jr. to
resign in August 2018 with full pension
benefits after removing him for
stealing more than $60,000 from the
burial ground’s operating funds, according
to court documents.
The board let Austin Sr. repay
the embezzled sum on his son’s
behalf without interest, according
to the complaint. At the time of his
retirement in 2014 after 24 years as
president, the senior Austin earned
$325,000 annually, according to the
attorney general.
Austin Sr., a former NYPD detective
raised in Glendale, said on Tuesday
evening he did not want to comment
on the suit “because I just found out
myself five minutes ago.”
Perpetual Care and Disrepair
The cemetery’s website describes
it as a “picturesque” final resting
place with grave plots that are accessible
to people of different faiths
and income brackets. It also touts the
“many improvements and upgrades”
made under the leadership of Daniel
Austin Sr.
But for years, families of those
buried at the cemetery bordering
Metropolitan Avenue have bemoaned
the grounds, which they describe as
in a state of utter disrepair — toppled
gravestones, overgrown grass being
colonized by weeds, roads riddled
with potholes.
In an interview with the Queens
Daily Eagle last year, Austin Sr. attributed
frayed conditions to families’
failure to pay for upkeep.
This money is stored in a restricted
fund dedicated to perpetual care —
the same fund the board tapped to
“support their overspending,” the
attorney general’s filing contends. In
2017, the cemetery’s auditor reported
that the board had drained $1 million
in these sealed funds to offset general
operating costs.
James is seeking to remove all
three defendants still serving on the
board, restore any assets that were
lost or stolen, seal off any future payments
to the defendants, and recover
salaries previously paid to them. She
also wants to permanently bar the
defendants from ever working in a
fiduciary role at another non-profit
organization in New York.
“This is totally shocking and disappointing,
if true,” said Councilmember
Bob Holden (D-Middle Village).
“I suspected there was some change
happening when the cemetery fell
into disrepair, but I never imagined
something like this. They used to
work with the community and I know
my neighbors will be saddened by
this.”
This story was originally published
by THE CITY, an independent, nonprofit
news organization dedicated to
hard-hitting reporting that serves the
people of New York.
R’wood’s top cop involved in wild Brooklyn pursuit
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
EDAVENPORT@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
A Brooklyn man was arrested
Tuesday morning aft er leading
cops on a police chase that left
fi ve offi cers — including Ridgewood’s
top cop — injured.
According to the NYPD, at 8:45
a.m. on Sept. 3, the New York City
Sheriff ’s Offi ce performed a traffi c
stop for a gray Honda Accord, driven
by 25-year-old Justin Valentine, on
Jamaica Avenue. Valentine did not
stop for the offi cers, instead speeding
up and fl eeing the scene down
Jamaica Avenue.
As Valentine approached the
intersection of Jamaica Avenue and
Chestnut Street, the car collided into
an unmarked police car. Inside the
car was 104th Precinct commanding
offi cer Captain Victoria Perry, who
suff ered minor injuries as a result.
She was taken to an area hospital for
treatment.
Following the crash, Valentine
fl ed the scene on foot southbound on
Chestnut Street, with offi cers from
the sheriff ’s offi ce and the NYPD going
aft er him. A 19-year-old woman,
who was sitting in the passenger’s
seat of the car, was taken into custody
without incident.
Valentine fl ed to the roof of a building
at 51 Logan Ave., where police
ultimately arrested him without
incident.
The NYPD confi rmed that fi ve offi
cers in total were injured as a result
of the incident. Reports indicate that
the car driven by Valentine had been
stolen from New York City Marshals,
who had seized it on Aug. 20.
Valentine was charged with reckless
endangerment, criminal contempt
of court, unauthorized use of
a motor vehicle, disorderly conduct,
obstructing governmental administration,
criminal mischief, trespassing,
reckless driving, unlicensed aggravated
driving, fl eeing an offi cer in
a motor vehicle and failure to obey a
traffi c device. Charges against the 19-
year-old woman are still pending.
Police at the scene of a police chase near the corner of Jamaica Avenue and
Chestnut street in Brooklyn on Sept. 3. Photo by Robert Stridiron
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