12 The Courier SUN • MARCH 3, 2016 FOR Breaking news visit www.qns.com police beat COMPILED BY ANGELA MATUA, ERICA SIUDZINSKI AND ROBERT POZARYCKI Wet Basement? Call artie Basement Water Proofing Specialist Serving Queens for 35 Years For more information contact Artie DiBiase Mason Contractor 718.767.0072 Licensed #08097 and Insured 102nd Precinct Kew Gardens, Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Woodhaven Suspect swindled renters out of cash deposits in Woodhaven Detectives are looking for the crook who duped four prospective tenants out of deposits for a Woodhaven apartment that wasn’t available for rent. According to authorities, the suspect advertised an apartment for rent on 90th Street off 89th Avenue on Craigslist and met with the four victims between Jan. 22 and Jan. 31. The location, police said, was the residence of a 55-year-old woman who left her apartment while the suspect and an unidentified individual were painting it at 5 a.m. on the morning of Jan. 21. When she returned home, she discovered that a flat-screen television and $800 in cash had been removed. The next day, police said, the suspect met with the first victim, a 30-year-old male, at 4 p.m. at the 90th Street location. The victim provided the suspect with an undisclosed security deposit. Approximately three hours later, authorities said, the suspect met with another victim, a 21-year-old man, and took his security deposit for the apartment. He similarly swindled cash from two other victims, a 52-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman, on Jan. 23 and Jan. 31, respectively. Police described the suspect as a 33-year-old Hispanic male standing 5 foot 8 inches tall, weighing 165 pounds with brown hair, brown eyes and a light complexion. Anyone with information regarding the suspect’s whereabouts is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS (for Spanish speakers, dial 888-57- PISTA), visit their website or send a text message to 274637 (CRIMES), then enter TIP577. All calls and messages are kept confidential. Woodhaven mom steals $65K from disabled daughter for personal use This mother hit the piggy bank all the way to a courtroom. A 31-year-old Woodhaven woman has been charged with stealing over $65,000 from her disabled 12-yearold daughter’s medical malpractice lawsuit settlement for plastic surgery and vacations, according to Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown. According to the charges, a settlement was reached in a 2007 medical malpractice lawsuit on behalf of Megan Mele’s daughter, who was born in 2004 with a brachial plexus injury to her right arm. The injury immobilized her arm from the shoulder down to her hand. Law enforcement sources said an account was established at Cross County Federal Savings Bank in March 2007 with more than $50,000 for her future medical expenses, care and benefit. The settlement stipulated that the girl would receive payments from the account starting after her 18th birthday in 2022. Eight years later, in March 2015, Mele petitioned the judge handling the case to approve a withdrawal of $47,000 from the account. The petition was denied, but only a week later Mele submitted a forged court order for a fund withdrawal, purportedly to pay for her daughter’s surgery at a San Diego children’s hospital. The court issued a $47,000 check in Mele’s name. An investigation revealed no record of Mele’s daughter as a patient at the San Diego hospital, and that instead Mele had used a portion of the withdrawn funds for a personal vacation to Disneyland in California. Mele continued to submit forged court orders to the bank on three occasions between June and August of 2015, requesting a total of $19,500. Checks were issued in the defendant’s name on each occasion. Mele attempted to withdraw the remaining funds of merely $633.74 in September 2015, but the bank denied her request. Mele allegedly spent the nearly $65,000 in stolen funds on tummy tuck liposuction, restaurant bills, airline tickets and purchases on Amazon. com and at local retail. “Instead of safeguarding the money for her daughter’s future needs, the defendant is alleged to have only thought of herself,” Brown said, adding that Mele “used the child’s account as if it were her personal piggy bank.” Mele faces charges of second-degree larceny and second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument. If convicted, she could spend up to 15 years in prison. 106th Precinct Howard Beach, Ozone Park, Richmond Hill Man killed in Richmond Hill hit-and-run on Sunday morning A man was struck and killed by a car on Feb. 28 after he tried to retrieve personal items from the back seat of his vehicle in Richmond Hill, police said. Officers from the 106th Precinct found the 48-year-old victim unconscious and unresponsive in the middle of 111th Street between 107th an 109th avenues at about 4:40 a.m., it was reported. The victim was identified as Besik Shengelia of Gravesend, Brooklyn. Paramedics rushed the victim to Jamaica Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. There are no arrests and an investigation by NYPD’s Collision Investigation Squad is ongoing. Schiff moving from 106th Precinct to 105th Precinct There’s a changing of the guard at both the 105th and 106th Precinct. Deputy Inspector Jeffrey Schiff, who served as commanding officer of the Ozone Park-based 106th Precinct since 2013, is moving on to lead the neighboring 105th Precinct based in Queens Village. He’ll be replacing Inspector Michael Coyle, who was transferred to the Brooklyn South Detective Squad to serve as its commander. Taking the helm at the 106th Precinct will be Captain James Fey, who most recently led the Operation IMPACT crime-fighting zone at the 103rd Precinct in Jamaica. Fey will be introduced to the community at the 106th Precinct Community Council meeting on Wednesday, March 9, at the precinct’s Ozone Park stationhouse. Schiff will likely introduce himself to the 105th Precinct Community Council at its next meeting on Wednesday, March 30, in Queens Village.
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