Sam Esposito, the former president of the Ozone Park Residents Block Association, has been arrested for allegedly ripping off out-of-state license plates from multiple cars, according to authorities.
Police from the 102nd Precinct arrested Esposito on Saturday, July 20, following a reported incident earlier in the week on Sunday, July 14, New York Court records show.
The complainant, Prakash Raghunauth, is one of the owners of the family-owned auto repair shop Ramesh and Son, located at 86-09 101st Ave. in Ozone Park. The repair shop has been criticized for having cars parked on the street outside, taking up parking spaces.
Raghunath said he reported the incident to the police after obtaining video footage from two nearby businesses of Esposito stealing the plates. The video appears to show Esposito ripping off license plates from the front of his shop and in front of a nearby gas station on Rockaway Boulevard this month.
Video footage obtained by QNS from the auto shop owner shows what appears to be Esposito in a silver van pulling up to cars parked near the shop and ripping off their license plates on multiple occasions.
Raghunauth says this is not the first time he has encountered Esposito, and he does not feel safe.
“He’s always been yelling at us about the cars in the street for years,” Raghunauth said, sharing concerns over targeted harassment due to his Indian heritage.
Esposito has a long history of trying to get parked vehicles that are in derelict condition or unregistered off the streets of Ozone Park. He has been outspoken on the issue at both civic group meetings and on social media.
The OZPK civic leader, who admitted to QNS that he ripped off the plates, said he was only doing his civic duty and will continue to have cars towed from the area, regardless of any setbacks. He took the plates since vehicles without them are more likely to be towed.
Overall, he said he is not worried about the situation.
“People aren’t going to bully me to stop doing the work that I do,” Esposito said, adding earlier that thousands of illegal, derelict and unregistered cars are in Ozone Park alone.
One anonymous post on the OZPK Residents Block Association page in April brought attention to vehicles in front of Ramesh and Son, asking what can be done about the repair shop taking parking spaces on 101st Avenue. A majority of commenters on the post shared a similar level of concern, pointing to other locations experiencing related conditions.
Images shared in the post also showed cars on the sidewalk and blocking a fire hydrant. The same could be seen when QNS passed by the areas earlier this week. However, Raghunauth said he has not received any complaints from neighbors other than Esposito about the parking.
Regarding Esposito, this is not the first time his civic actions have been questioned by members of the public.
Earlier this year, Council Member Joann Ariola, representing Ozone Park in District 32, blasted Esposito for an alleged history of harassment towards her staffers.
In a statement, the Queens Councilwoman condemned Esposito’s actions, reminding him that he is not above the law.
“We cannot have wannabe vigilantes on our streets, trying to take the law into their own hands,” said Ariola. “We live in a city and a society with laws, and those laws need to be followed by everyone. If something illegal is happening, you tell the police and they will deal with it, but you don’t create your own crimes to have legally parked cars removed from the street because you don’t like them being there.”
The Ozone Park civic leader was also busted as part of a social security scam in 2014, where some retired members of the NYPD and FDNY collected disability benefits on a fraudulent basis. Some were caught lying about their involvement at Ground Zero following the terrorist attacks on 9/11.
Esposito pleaded guilty to criminal facilitation in 2018 as part of a plea deal.
Esposito is facing a possible misdemeanor for petit larceny and faces punishment in the form of a fine or probation if found guilty. He is expected to appear in Queens Criminal Court on Friday, Aug. 9.
