Three Cambria Heights men have been criminally charged in connection to a terrifying home invasion in Douglaston during the early morning hours of Saturday, Aug. 17, in which they allegedly held eight people, including three children, hostage during a robbery.
Brandon Dash, 39, and his brother Ryan Dash, 34, of 218th Street, and Jone Smith, 47, also known as Conrad Harrington, of Cambria Heights, were arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on Sunday evening on a 24-count complaint charging them with kidnapping, burglary, assault, endangering the welfare of a child and other related crimes.
According to the charges, between 2:15 and 3:18 a.m. on Saturday, the three defendants entered a bedroom of a home on 247th Street in Douglaston and awakened the owners at gunpoint. The homeowners were sleeping in the room with their one-year-old child. The masked men allegedly physically restrained the occupants of the home and demanded to know the location of any cash in the house. One of the men allegedly brandished a handgun, while the other two carried hammers.
One woman and an infant escaped the house, and a 911 call was placed to the NYPD. The defendants allegedly took in excess of $10,000 in cash from the homeowners while police from the 111th Precinct in Bayside and the 109th Precinct in Flushing responded to the scene and set up a perimeter in the area between Marathon Parkway, Cullman Avenue and the Grand Central Parkway. The Emergency Service Unit provided support, and while the NYPD aviation unit was grounded due to low visibility, drones were deployed, according to NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry.
Responding officers determined that three defendants, as well as four adult hostages and two children, remained inside the house.
The drones showed the three defendants as they tried to escape through the kitchen window, and police moved in, arresting the three men after an extensive manhunt in the vicinity of the house.
Two of the hostages were taken to a local hospital for treatment of minor injuries after one was punched in the face and another was hit with a hammer, police said. The remaining hostages were freed, and the stolen money was recovered after the arrests, according to the charges.
“As alleged, these three defendants held a family of eight people, including children, as hostages while displaying a gun and two hammers,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. “These victims showed incredible courage during a home invasion in which a mother escaped with her youngest child and called 911.”
The three defendants were arraigned before Queens Criminal Court Judge Maria Gonzalez, who ordered the Dash brothers and Smith remanded into custody without parole with their next court appearance scheduled for Aug. 22. If convicted, the defendants face a maximum of 25 years in prison.
“These defendants not only threatened the family but also destroyed the family’s sense of safety in their own home,” Katz said.
