By Alexander Dworkowitz
A Flushing man was charged with a May 2000 kidnapping in Little Neck after the prosecutor who tried his alleged accomplice recognized him in a chance encounter in court, the Queens district attorney said.
Minjae Yim, 29, of 33-37 Parsons Blvd. in Flushing was arrested and charged with kidnapping, robbery and criminal impersonation and faces up to 25 years in prison for those crimes, said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
Assistant District Attorney Mitchell Weiss, who prosecuted and won a conviction of Kim’s suspected accomplice, Lee Young, for the May 2000 kidnapping, volunteered to work an extra shift on Sunday, Jan. 6. Having come across a photo of Yim during his earlier prosecution, Weiss recognized Yim, who was being arraigned for failing to pay a fine for public urination, the DA said.
Yim was then rearrested, and his potential penalty went from a $25 fine to 25 years in prison, Brown said.
Yim also faces an additional 25 years if found guilty of a March 2000 robbery of an Astoria check- cashing establishment, according to the district attorney.
“The defendant was caught as a result of his failure to pay a $25 summons,” said Brown.
According to the complaint, Yim and his accomplice, Lee Young, followed a woman in a late model BMW in Little Neck in the early morning of May 25, 2000. Impersonating police officers, the two flashed a red bubble light on their vehicle and pulled the woman over at 52nd Road and Little Neck Parkway at about 12:30 a.m., said the complaint.
It said the men asked for the woman’s license and registration while displaying phony police shields, told her she was driving a stolen vehicle, handcuffed her and placed her in the back seat of their car.
With one man driving the woman’s car and one man driving their own, they drove 10 minutes until they neared the intersection of 244th Street and the Grand Central Parkway, where they got out of their cars to talk, said the complaint.
The complaint said the victim overheard the men discussing plans to harm her, freed herself from the handcuffs and fled on foot. The defendants chased her and punched her, but she managed to escape, said the complaint.
Young was arrested on June 3, 2000, found guilty on Feb. 1, 2001 on charges relating to the May 2000 incident and sentenced to 25 years in prison, the DA said.
Weiss also has been assigned to the prosecution of Yim.
Reach reporter Alexander Dworkowitz by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300 Ext. 141.
