An acid attack that left an executive director of a Long Island City nonprofit with severe burns to her face and body was part of an elaborate cover-up in which employees embezzled thousands of dollars from the organization.
Kim Williams, 47, of the Bronx; Pia Louallen, 41, of the Bronx; and Jerry Mohammed, 32, of Rensselaer County all conspired to harm the executive director of Hospital Audiences Inc., Rev. D. Alexandra Dyer, after Williams stole $750,000 from the nonprofit, according to District Attorney Richard A. Brown.
Williams, who was an accountant at Hospital Audiences Inc., a nonprofit that provides access to art, music and dance to youth and the elderly, embezzled $600,000 between 2012 and 2015. She gave Louallen an additional $150,000 between 2013 and 2015, according to Brown.
The nonprofit has since changed its name to Healing Arts Initiative and is located on 33rd Street and Skillman Avenue.
Williams and Mohammed planned to conceal her theft by assaulting Dyer. On August 19, 2015, Mohammad approached Dyer as she was walking to her car after work and threw a caustic substance, severely burning her face and body.
She was hospitalized and had to undergo several surgeries as a result of the attack, Brown said.
Williams was arrested Monday night in New Jersey by New Jersey State Troopers at a rest stop. All three defendants will be arraigned on a 65-count indictment.
Williams is charged with first-degree assault, fourth-degree conspiracy, fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, second-degree grand larceny, identity theft and first-degree falsifying business records.
Louallen is charged with second-degree grand larceny and fourth-degree conspiracy.
Mohammed is charged with first-degree assault, fourth-degree conspiracy and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
If convicted, Louallen faces up to 15 years in prison, Williams faces up to 25 years in prison, and Mohammed faces up to 25 years to life in prison.
“This case is troubling on so many different levels. In an atmosphere of such giving, it is disheartening to see an individual allegedly use her position of fiduciary trust to siphon off tens of thousands of dollars in funds for the personal use of herself and another,” Brown said. “More disturbing, perhaps, is the same individual allegedly conspiring with another individual to intentionally seriously injure an innocent victim as part of a cover-up.”
