12 charged in Queens with $95 million Medicare fraud
Federal authorities in New York City charged 12 people — including several doctors — with scheming to submit more than $95 million in false Medicare claims. The 12 were charged Wednesday with participating in Medicare fraud and money-laundering offenses in Brooklyn and Queens. In addition to three medical doctors, they include a chiropractor and a doctor of osteopathy. As part of the scheme, prosecutors said three Brooklyn health clinics paid kickbacks to Medicare beneficiaries and used the beneficiaries’ names to bill Medicare for $71 million worth of services that were never provided. Read More: Wall Street Journal
Queens woman suffers miscarriage during deportation attempt by ICE; Feds reverse decision
The case of a Queens woman who suffered a miscarriage last month as she was about to be deported to Ecuador is being held up as a symbol of gaps in President Obama’s new immigration policy. Julia Casares, 36, was in the process of being expelled under new policies meant to target violent criminals and fresh arrivals while giving a temporary pass to longtime undocumented residents who pose no threat and have strong ties to the U.S. Read More: Daily News
Prosecutor in Sean Bell trial calls for firing of NYPD detective who shot man to death on wedding day
An NYPD trial ended Wednesday with a prosecutor calling for the firing of an undercover detective whose gunfire sparked the 50-shot barrage that killed a bridegroom on his wedding day.Nancy Slater lambasted Detective Gescard Isnora for a series of overreactions after leaving a Queens strip club and following Sean Bell and two friends under the mistaken impression they were going to get a gun. Read More: Daily News
Brooklyn man confesses to brutally slashing teenage girlfriend’s throat
A man confessed to murdering a 16-year-old girl in Brownsville, claiming he meant to slash her face and accidentally slashed her throat, killing her. Rashad Salaam, 22, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with murder in savage slaying of Kyanna Thomas. Thomas, of Rosedale, Queens, was visiting her aunt’s home in Bedford Stuyvesant when she snuck out a bedroom window to attend a party, said police. She was found with her throat slashed on MacDougal Street and Saratoga Avenue at 3 a.m. on September 25. She was able to call 911 for help before she died. Read More: Daily News
Worker Dies While Using Lawn Mower for Warmth
As the cold, heavy snow pelted a disbelieving city last Saturday, a landscaping crew — thoroughly chilled after hours spent working outside a church in the Bronx — loaded their equipment into two trucks and headed back to Queens, ready to call it an early day. In the back of one, surrounded by the tools of the trade, Jorge Perez and his cousin struggled to get warm. One of them fired up a lawn mower, hoping the engine might double as a hearth. The improvised attempt for warmth would turn out to be fatal. Mr. Perez, 21, would soon be found dead inside the truck, with his cousin critically injured; detectives in the 103rd Precinct in Queens believe that the culprit was carbon monoxide poisoning, the police said. Read More: Daily News
