A South Ozone Park man was criminally charged for targeting four Queens spas in armed robberies in just over a week.
Shahab Usman, 40, of 118th Street, was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on Dec. 6 on two separate complaints charging him with rape, assault, multiple robbery counts and weapons charges for a crime spree that left a spa customer paralyzed from a gunshot wound, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced Thursday.
According to the charges, on the night of Saturday, Dec. 2, Usman entered a spa located at 113-19 Liberty Ave. at 8:39 p.m., and pulled out a firearm, beat a 57-year-old female employee, and stole $700 in cash and personal property. On the night of Monday, Dec. 4, Usman entered a spa located at 113-19 Jamaica Ave., where he allegedly raped a 45-year-old female employee at gunpoint. He then brandished the gun and stole cash from her and other employees before fleeing.
Later that same night, at 8:39 p.m., Usman entered another spa, located at 123-21 Jamaica Ave., where he displayed a firearm and held it to the head of a 45-year-old female employee while attempting to rape her. During the attack a single gunshot was fired, striking a 52-year-old man who was a customer in an adjacent room. EMS responded to the crime scene and rushed the victim to NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens in Jamaica in critical condition with a gunshot wound to his abdomen. The victim remains paralyzed from the waist down, according to the charges.
Usman’s crime spree began on the night of Sunday, Nov. 26, when he and an unknown partner entered Jamaica Massage Spa located at 185-09 Jamaica Ave. at around 11:10 p.m., when he pulled out a handgun and demanded cash and valuables from a 43-year-old man, a 45-year-old woman and a 49-year-old woman, the charges allege. All three victims’ phones were stolen along with approximately $5,000.
No injuries were reported in this incident, according to the NYPD. Usman’s accomplice that night remains at large.
During his arraignment before Queens Criminal Court Judge Jessica Earle-Gargan, Usman was also charged with attempted sexual abuse and menacing. If convicted, Usman faces 25 years in prison on multiple counts.
“We will be prosecuting the man we believe to be the violent predator responsible for a string of robberies, assaults and sex crimes,” Katz said. “The NYPD’s investigation of these crimes fortunately led to the defendant’s arrest and we can now work to hold him accountable in court.”
