4 THE QUEENS COURIER • JULY 4, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Bayside man’s
cigarette scam
gets snuff ed
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
edavenport@qns.com
@QNS
A Bayside man faces felony tax
charges for allegedly shipping hundreds
of cartons of untaxed cigarettes
through the U.S. Postal Service to a
Long Island nail salon.
Jeong Min Park, 41, of 224th Street
was arrested for allegedly attempting
to evade the cigarette tax and possessing
more than 200 cartons of illegal
cigarettes.
“Attempts to sidestep cigarette taxes
put honest business owners at a competitive
disadvantage, tilting the balance
in favor of those willing to
break the law,” said state Executive
Deputy Commissioner of Taxation and
Finance Andrew Morris. “We’ll continue
to work with all levels of law
enforcement, including our partners
on the national and local levels, to
ensure these crimes don’t go unpunished.”
According to charges, Park allegedly
had the cigarettes shipped through
the U.S. Postal Service to a nail salon
located at 2 Rockaway Ave. in Valley
Stream. Investigators allegedly saw
Park loading the packages into a vehicle
and then drive away.
A mobile surveillance team followed
Park until he was pulled over by Nassau
County District Attorney investigators,
who had search warrant for his car. Th e
search allegedly uncovered 208 cartons
of the untaxed cigarettes.
“Th is is not only illegally selling of
cigarettes untaxed to make a larger
profi t, but they misrepresented the
goods on the manifest in order to
smuggle it into the U.S.,” said Angel M.
Melendez, Special Agent in Charge of
HSI-NY. “We continue to leverage our
partnerships with other law enforcement
agencies to investigate tax and
customs fraud cases.”
Bayside’s Uno’s Pizza reopens after Health Dept. closure
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com
@jenna_bagcal
Th e city’s Health Department gave
a popular pizza chain restaurant in
Bayside the thumbs up to reopen aft er
inspectors ordered it closed last week.
Uno Pizzeria & Grill at 39-02 Bell Blvd.
reopened its doors on Monday, July 1
aft er being closed since June 25. A source
at the restaurant told QNS that the city’s
Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
(DOHMH) had approved the reopening.
Th e closure occurred aft er the pizza
chain failed its latest restaurant inspection
and scored a 33 according to records from
the DOHMH.
A yellow DOMHM sign dated June
25 was displayed on Uno’s front door, as
was a printed paper statement from the
management claiming the restaurant was
closed due to “structural issues.”
Th e statement also off ered any guests
who photographed the sign a 10 percent
discount on their next order in July.
Th e restaurant’s off enses included evidence
Photos by Jenna Bagcal/QNS
Uno Pizzeria and Grill in Bayside reopened after being shut down by the Health Department last
week.
Flushing man gets 12 years for trying to kill his wife in 2017
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
edavenport@qns.com
@QNS
A Flushing man was sentenced for
trying to kill his wife by shooting her
in the head back in 2017, prosecutors
announced on June 26.
Guo Hui Jiang, 45, pleaded guilty to second
degree attempted murder on June 11.
He was sentenced to 12 years in prison,
followed by fi ve years’ post-release supervision.
“Th e defendant could have killed his
wife. She was shot in their home, the
place where this woman should have
felt safe from any harm,” said acting
District Attorney John M. Ryan. “Th is
was a needless act of gun violence and
the defendant justly deserves to spend a
lengthy term of incarceration as a result
of his actions.”
In pleading guilty, Jiang admitted that
on May 14, 2017, Jiang fi red a .22-caliber
revolver striking his wife, Xiaowei Liu,
aft er a verbal dispute at their home.
Liu sustained two bullet wounds,
bruising and swelling to her forehead.
Emergency personnel took Liu to a local
hospital, where she was treated for her
injuries.
of live mice and fi lth fl ies in food
and non-food areas. In November 2018,
records showed that the deep dish pizza
chain scored a 13, which is an A rating.
Restaurants that score between 14 and 27
earn a B rating while a score of 28 or more
is a C rating.
DOHMH found the following violations
at Uno at 39-02 Bell Blvd., with red
denoting a critical off ense. Asterisks (*)
are used to show violations that are public
health hazards.
Evidence of mice or live mice present
in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.*
Filth fl ies or food/refuse/sewage-associated
(FRSA) fl ies present in facility’s food
and/or non-food areas. Filth fl ies include
house fl ies, little house fl ies, blow fl ies,
bottle fl ies and fl esh fl ies. Food/refuse/
sewage-associated fl ies include fruit fl ies,
drain fl ies and Phorid fl ies.
Facility not vermin proof. Harborage
or conditions conducive to attracting vermin
to the premises and/or allowing vermin
to exist.
According to scoring and grading
guidelines, violations fall into one of three
categories. Th e most serious of these are
public health hazards, such as evidence of
mice, a violation that earns a minimum
of seven points. If these violations are not
immediately corrected before the end of
an inspection, the Health Department
reserves the right to shut down the establishment
until the issue is fi xed.
Critical violations, including the presence
of fi lth fl ies, triggers a minimum
of fi ve points. General violations like
not properly sanitizing cooking utensils
score at least two points. Inspectors assign
additional points from one to fi ve based
on the extent of each violation.
A disclaimer on the Health
Department’s website said that scores
from recent inspections may not be fi nal
and that restaurants are entitled to hearings
to challenge citations. If an establishment
is successful in fi ghting a citation,
its score and/or grade may be subject
to change.
Photo courtesy of the NYS Department of Taxation and Finance
Photo: Shutterstock
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