Nearly 11 months since his appointment, Chief James Secreto, commanding officer of Patrol Borough Queens South, commended the men and women of the NYPD for “one great collar after another.”
“Behind these crimes are victims,” he said. “You guys go a long way in helping the victims.”
At the first meeting of the New Year, the Jamaica Rotary honored Police Officers Jason Zummo and Aaron Lohman of the 113th Precinct for arresting Jamaica resident Clement Hunter, who had 513 pounds of marijuana in the car he was driving.
After Hunter, 30, ran through a red light at the intersection of Farmers Boulevard and Merrick Boulevard early Sunday, December 19, Zummo blared his siren. Hunter did not stop and failed to signal his next turn going the wrong way down 178th Place, a one-way street.
He then turned off his headlights and barreled down the street at about 70 miles per hour in a 30 mile per hour zone for three blocks before he exited the vehicle and fled on foot. The officers apprehended Hunter, who resisted arrest and struggled to avoid being handcuffed.
After a search, police found 10 plastic bags of marijuana in the back of Hunter’s Dodge Caravan. Melissa Correa, the legal owner of the vehicle and employee of National Car Rental, told the officer that the car was a rental and that Hunter’s name was not on the rental agreement.
Despite reports of 50 counts, the DA said that Hunter was arraigned on only one felony count of drug possession that same day. Judge Joseph A. Zayas set bail at $50,000.
Hunter was also charged with unauthorized use of a vehicle in the third degree, resisting arrest, unlawful fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle in the third degree and reckless driving, among others.
In the 103rd Precinct, Officers John Iadevaio and John W. Sanna were honored by Deputy Inspector Charles McEvoy “for a year’s worth of good work, though one incident stands out.”
Working in conjunction with the 113th Precinct, Iadevaio and Sanna tracked down perps who were stealing water meters. In fact, they tracked one to a home for sale; the unoccupied house was left flooded. The arrests were made on December 2 – two by the 103rd Precinct, two by the 113th – and a week later 95 more meters were recovered; an additional 88 were then discovered as well.
McEvoy noted that burglaries were down 18 percent last year in the precinct.
Captain Martin Briffa, Executive Officer of the 102nd Precinct, said that Officers Derick Singh and Edward Herdina made an arrest of a man stealing power tools from commercial vans. Singh had been patrolling Jamaica Avenue when he noticed suspicious activity around a Ford Econoline van. After a follow up, he and Herdina determined the van had been used in a burglary the night before. The tools that were stolen were being resold. The suspect had allegedly been operating an illegal pawn shop. Some of the items were very expensive, and had identifiers on them. Briffa confirmed that seven people positively identified their belongings and got them back. “We had seven very happy individuals,” he said.
Captain Thomas Pascale, commanding officer of the 106th Precinct, said that cars were being stolen within the command during the daylight hours. On December 10, Officers Filip Glowa and Victor Sadarangani saw a tow truck with two vehicles at the Aqueduct train station on the North Conduit. When questioned, the two suspects produced what looked to be legitimate documents on the vehicles. But in the trunk of one car they found the owner’s cell phone bill – when contacted, he said he was at the 113th Precinct reporting his car stolen.
The grand larceny autos also involved the 90th Precinct and a tow truck from the 114th.
Jamaica Rotary president Joe Iaboni congratulated all the officers “for keeping our community safe.”
