By The TimesLedger
BAYSIDE – Four girls were arrested June 12 for allegedly assaulting another girl at Benjamin N. Cardozo High School, the Queens district attorney’s office said last week.
Angela Protofanou, 18, Michelle Arnowitz, 17, and Alisa and Angela Krsikapa, both 16, were charged with misdemeanor assault in an alleged attack on another girl at the school, according to the district attorney’s criminal complaint.
The complaint says Arnowitz and the Krsikapas “restrained the (victim) by holding and scratching her, and pulling her hair, while the defendant Angela Protofanou punched (her) in the face.”
The defendants were released on their own recognizance after their arraignment in front of Queens Criminal Court Judge Steven Paynter, a district attorney’s spokeswoman said. They are due back in court June 27.
Department of Education spokeswoman Margie Feinberg said two of the girls allegedly involved in the assault in the school parking lot had been suspended for at least a week. One of the other girls was not to be allowed to attend graduation ceremonies and the other was not a Cardozo student, Feinberg said.
KEW GARDENS — A Manhattan man was convicted Tuesday in State Supreme Court of robbing nine women over a three-week stretch in 2000 and 2001, the Queens District Attorney’s office said.
Darryl Gray, of 55 LaSalle St. faces up to 200 years in prison for the attacks in Flushing, Forest Hills, Sunnyside and Woodside, the district attorney’s office said. Gray stalked his victims on their way home from work as they walked from the subway to their apartments, the DA’s office said.
The jury of nine men and three women deliberated for nine hours over three days before finding Gray guilty on multiple counts of first-degree robbery, the district attorney’s office said.
Gray was arrested just two months after his release from prison, having served 14 years for robbery and sexual assault, the district attorney’s office said.
FLUSHING — A 43-year-old woman found anti-Semitic remarks written on the front door of her home near 137th Street Sunday, police said.
The woman reported the graffiti about 10 a.m. Sunday, and the incident was being investigated as a possible hate crime, police said.
No arrest was made and the investigation was continuing.
FRESH MEADOWS — Several swastikas were found on the wall of a parking garage in Fresh Meadows Tuesday, police said.
The graffiti was discovered Tuesday morning in the garage at 196-42 67th Ave. The incident was being investigated as a possible bias attack, police said.
No arrests were made and the investigation was continuing.
BRONX – Three Queens school custodians have pleaded guilty in Bronx Supreme Court to fixing bids on window-cleaning contracts in exchange for kickbacks from contractors, the Special Commissioner of Investigation for New York City schools announced last Thursday.
Ronald Alexander, a Laurelton resident and custodian at Richmond Hill High School, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of offering a false instrument for filing in the second degree, Special Commissioner Richard Condon said in a news release.
Alexander paid $3,000 in restitution to the city and was set to resign from his position by July 17, Condon said.
A former custodian at Grover Cleveland High School in Ridgewood, Patrick Graffeo, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of receiving a reward for official misconduct in the second degree, Condon said.
Graffeo, a Bayside and Long Island resident, was sentenced to pay the city $15,000 in restitution, Condon said. Graffeo has retired from his position.
Rockaway Park and Westchester resident Donald Gardner, a custodian at PS 62 in Richmond Hill, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of combination in restraint of trade and was sentenced to pay $10,000 in restitution to the city and resign within 30 days.
A total of 19 public school custodians and a window-cleaning contractor were charged in February in alleged schemes to rig cleaning contracts from 1996 to 2001, Condon said.
The custodians allegedly received kickbacks ranging from $1,000 – $4,000.
The Queens custodians who pleaded guilty along with four others in the city are permanently banned from working for the Department of Education, Condon said.
ARVERNE — A Manhattan man was arrested Saturday after he started a fight with a city Sanitation worker whose truck was blocking traffic, police said.
Charles Thomas, 34, of 301 W. 121st St., was stopped behind the truck near Beach 61st Street and Larkin Avenue in Arverne about 4:30 a.m. Saturday, police said. Thomas began yelling at the Sanitation worker, and a fight ensued.
Thomas was charged with assault, harassment and obstructing government administration, police said.
ARVERNE — A 21-year-old man was shot in the left leg by an unknown gunman Monday night, police said.
The victim, whose name was not released, was wounded near 439 Beach 54th St. in Arverne, about 10 p.m. Monday, police said. He was taken to St. John’s Hospital in stable condition.
There were no arrests and the investigation was continuing, police said.
QUEENS VILLAGE — An 18-year-old man was in stable condition after he was shot in the chest Friday evening, police said.
The victim, who was not identified, was shot in front of 227-42 113th Dr. just after 5 p.m. Friday, police said.
He was taken to North Shore Hospital in Long Island.
No arrests were made, and the investigation was continuing.
HOLLIS — A 22-month-old boy missing for four days after being left in a baby-sitter’s care was found last Thursday in Jamaica, police said.
Thornton Brown was reported missing by his mother, Candice Covington, 19, about 2 a.m. June 19, police said. She said she last saw the boy June 15 when he left her Hollis home with his baby-sitter, 18-year-old Casey Klotz. Covington told police she had waited to call them because Klotz often took the boy for a few days at a time.
The baby was found on Guy R. Brewer Boulevard in Jamaica about 7 p.m., police said.
No arrests were made and the investigation was continuing.
REGO PARK — A Rego Park man was arrested on charges of driving with a suspended license after he struck two pedestrians June 18, police said.
Armen Babayez, 24, of 61-55 98th St., was backing up at the intersection of 64th Avenue and 108th Street in Rego Park when he struck a 48-year-old woman about 1 p.m., police said. Babayez continued driving and hit a 92-year-old man, police said.
The woman was taken to New York Hospital Queens in Flushing in stable condition, and the man was listed in critical condition at Elmhurst Hospital Center, police said.
Babayez was arrested at the scene and charged with driving with a suspended license.
ELMHURST — A 33-year-old man was pronounced dead Monday night after police discovered him unconscious.
Police responded to a call at 75-16 41st Ave. about 6:20 p.m. Monday, and found the man unconscious on the sidewalk, according to police reports. The man, whose name had not been released, was taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center, where he was pronounced dead at 9:30 p.m. The cause of death was unknown, and the investigation was continuing, police said.
HOWARD BEACH — A man passed a note to a teller at a North Fork Bank in Howard Beach last week, making off with an unknown amount of money, police said.
The man, who has not been identified and is thought to be in his 30s, entered the bank at 155-14 Cross Bay Blvd., about 10:30 a.m. June 18, police said.
There were no arrests, and the investigation was continuing.
