Man Faces Up To 25 Years For Robbery

An Ozone Park man has been convicted after a jury trial of robbing two individuals - one of whom was a Chinese Food deliveryman - at two different locations in July of last year.
District Attorney Richard A. Brown identified the defendant as Ezequiel Felipe, 21, of 109-57 103rd Avenue in Ozone Park. The defendant was found guilty of robbery in the first and second degrees by a jury of seven women and five men who deliberated for three hours following a one and one-half week trial before Supreme Court Justice Arthur J. Cooperman.  
The defendant will be sentenced on September 14, 2006 and faces up to 25 years in prison.
Brown said, “The defendant has now been found guilty of robbing two individuals within a week of each other.  This defendant is a menace to society and must be removed from our streets. This conviction ensures that he will be severely punished for his actions.”
According to trial testimony, on July 11, 2005, at about 8:30 p.m., the defendant followed the complainant, Xiang Zheng, 27, into an elevator inside of 88-25 148th Street where Zheng was making a delivery.  When the elevator reached the fifth floor, Zheng stepped off the elevator and was punched in the face by co-defendant, Gordon Watson.  Watson then held him down in a choke hold while the defendant reached into his pockets and removed his cell phone and approximately $300 in cash. The two then fled.
Watson, 21, of 130-12 244th Street in Hollis, pleaded guilty to robbery in the second degree on January 18, before Queens Supreme Court Justice Joseph A. Grosso who sentenced him on February 9 to a term of three years and six months in prison.
In the second incident, on July 16, 2005, at about 2:10 p.m. on the subway platform at Parsons Boulevard and Archer Avenue, Felipe approached Kevin Hopkins, 17, and demanded his cell phone.
When the victim refused, two additional unapprehended males approached Hopkins. One allegedly pointed to Felipe and ordered Hopkins to give the defendant his cell phone while he lifted his shirt and pointed to a handgun inside his waistband. Hopkins handed over his cell phone to the defendant and the three males fled.