BRONX TEEN FOUND GUILTY OF MANSLAUGHTER, ASSAULT IN STABBING OF STUDENTS IN HIGH SCHOOL CLASSROOM

Defendant Killed 15-Year-Old Matthew McCree, Critically Wounded Ariane Laboy

 Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that a Bronx teen has been found guilty of the fatal stabbing of a 15-year-old boy and the attack on another student in a classroom at the Urban Assembly School for Wildlife Conservation. 

 District Attorney Clark said, “In a matter of seconds, the defendant took out his knife and stabbed two students in front of a crowded classroom, killing 15-year-old Matthew McCree and critically wounding Ariane Laboy, then 16. The incident has forever traumatized the young students and school faculty who watched in horror the violence that unfolded that morning. It is truly a tragedy; a young life was taken, and so many other lives—including the defendant’s— are irreparably damaged.” 

 District Attorney Clark said the defendant, Abel Cedeno, 19, of 2409 Beaumont Avenue, was found guilty of first-degree Manslaughter, first-degree Assault and fourth-degree Criminal Possession of a Weapon by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Michael A. Gross after a bench trial that lasted about two weeks. The defendant faces up to 5-25 years in prison on each of the Manslaughter and Assault charges and will be sentenced on September 10, 2019.

 According to trial testimony, on September 27, 2017, the defendant and the victims, Matthew McCree, 15, and Ariane Laboy, 16, were in their U.S. History class with other students and teachers when a dispute began between the defendant and the victims. Cedeno, who was in the doorway of the classroom, about to leave, became upset after a paper ball or pencil was thrown in his direction. He angrily asked who had thrown it. McCree, who was sitting in the row with Laboy, said he had thrown it, apologized and said the object was not meant to hit the defendant.

 According to trial testimony, Cedeno then challenged McCree to fight, and the victim got up and walked towards him. Cedeno, who was armed with a switchblade, stabbed the unarmed McCree in the chest, plunging it into his heart about two and a half to three inches deep. After McCree clutched his chest, Laboy, who was close friends with McCree, approached Cedeno to defend his friend. The defendant stabbed Laboy, who was unarmed, five times, including twice in the chest. The victims were taken to St. Barnabas Hospital where McCree was pronounced dead on arrival. Laboy was treated for his wounds and was left with life-altering injuries.

 Laboy and McCree did not know and did not socialize with the defendant prior to the incident

 District Attorney Clark thanked NYPD Detectives Sean O’Donnell of the 48th Precinct Squad and Anthony Velez of the Bronx Homicide Squad for their hard work on the investigation.

BRONX WOMAN AND BROOKLYN MAN INDICTED IN DEATH OF LAWRENCE LEATHERS

Defendants Allegedly Choked And Hit Victim 

 Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that a man and a woman have been indicted for Manslaughter and Criminally Negligent Homicide in the death of a Bronx man. 

  District Attorney Clark said, “The defendants allegedly acted together and caused the death of the 37-year-old victim, Lawrence Leathers. They allegedly put him in a chokehold for an extensive amount of time, and assaulted him. We will pursue justice for the victim and his loved ones.” 

  District Attorney Clark said the defendants, Lisa Harris, 41, of 438 East 141st Street, and Sterling Aguilar, 29, of 1216 East 34th Street, Brooklyn, were arraigned today on second-degree Manslaughter and Criminally Negligent Homicide before Bronx Supreme Court Justice George Villegas. Bail was continued at $5,000 bond/$3,000 cash. The defendants are due back in court on October 3, 2019.

 According to the investigation, on June 2, 2019, the defendants, who are friends, and the victim were at the Mott Haven apartment Leathers shared with Harris, with whom he was in a relationship. A fight allegedly began between Leathers and Harris, and Aguilar allegedly put Leathers in a chokehold for about 30 minutes while Harris sat on the victim’s chest and allegedly punched him multiple times in the face. An autopsy revealed that the victim’s cause of death was homicidal asphyxia with compression to the neck.

 District Attorney Clark thanked NYPD Detectives Sandy Polanco of the 40th Precinct Squad and Christine Reyes from Bronx Homicide for their assistance in the investigation. 

An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.

As ICE began to round up a few people for deportation Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez planned to have groups of people inform undocumented immigrants of their rights. 

One such group was called to meet at the Parkchester train station at 3 PM Sunday to distribute flyers advising everyone of what was required of ICE agents looking to pick up people for deportation, and what not to do if they felt they were being targeted. 

About thirty volunteers assembled outside the Parkchester subway station where a staffer placed them into groups of four or five to circulate through the Parkchester community handing out flyers on what to do, and what not to do if confronted by any ICE agents. 

One recognizable person in the group was political gadfly Michael Beltzer. He rode to the station by bicycle with his daughter. We spoke about politics for a while, then I moved on to ask others where they were from. I was told various locations such as Westchester County, and Long Island, and that people saw this event being posted on Facebook. 

The event was scheduled to end at 5:30 PM, but something seemed to be missing. When I spoke to the staffer she said the delivery of the flyers had not arrived. Time started to ebb away, and one by one the volunteers started to drift away. Mr. Beltzer left sometime after 4 PM, and I decided to stay a little longer to see what would happen. Once I could see this hastily called event was not going to happen, I left shortly after 4:30PM

Above - The Parkchester rally organizer checks to see where the flyers are to be given out, as the flyers were not on hand for the rally.

Below - As time went on people talked among themselves, but started to leave as time went by without having the flyers to give out.

MAYOR DE BLASIO ANNOUNCES CITY JAIL ADMISSIONS CUT IN HALF SINCE TAKING OFFICE

The average daily population in City jails is at its lowest rate since the late 1970s

  Mayor de Blasio and the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice Director Elizabeth Glazer announced today that for the first time in decades, the number of city jail admissions fell below 40,000—a roughly 50 percent drop since the beginning of the Administration.

Along with the continued reduction in the average daily population in the city’s jail system to approximately 7,400 – about a 35 percent drop since the Mayor took office – the historic drop in jail admissions represents another concrete sign that the City’s plan to close the jails on Rikers Island by 2026 is well on track.

The total number of jail admissions between July 2018 and June 2019 fell to 39,420. This halving of admissions over five years follows a 20% drop over the past year alone, after Fiscal Year 2018 ended with approximately 49,500 admissions. The term “admissions” is not meant to indicate the number of individuals jailed; a person could enter the jail system more than once and each time count towards the total admissions.

“The safest big city in America is ending the era of mass incarceration,” said Mayor de Blasio. “For decades, we’ve been told we can only arrest and imprison our way to a safer city. Under my Administration, New York City has proven that’s not true. Instead, we can keep fathers at home and kids in school and get even safer.”

“These reductions result from a paradigm shift in our approach to public safety, with New York City at the leading edge of what works,” said Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice Director Elizabeth Glazer. “New Yorkers are committing fewer crimes, police are arresting less often, and our courts are releasing more people, resulting in a dramatic decrease in the numbers entering the jail system—all while New York City remains the safest big city in the United States.”

Since the Mayor took office, the City has invested tens of millions of dollars in pretrial services and alternatives to detention. Supervised Release, a diversion program used by judges, has alone served more than 13,600 people since launching citywide in 2016, ensuring that they stay in their communities rather than going to jail.

During the last legislative session, Albany legislators passed historic bail reform into law, which will further reduce the jail population. The Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice has convened a taskforce of criminal justice partners that includes the district attorneys' offices, public defenders, city agencies, representatives from the court system, and advocates.  The task force is helping to identify and coordinate operational and resource needs to implement the new reforms, which take effect January 1, 2020.

BAAD launches Courageous Conversations 2019 an Arts/Talk Series for LGBTQ people and allies

Award-winning Cartoonists/Artivists Ivan Velez, Jr. & Jennifer Camper kick off BAAD!’s 2019 series Courageous Conversations: Strategies for Living and Loving in America

BAAD! - The Bronx Academy of Arts & Dance reignites its newest series called Courageous Conversations: Strategies for Living and Loving in America, a free mix of topical talks and resilience workshops led by leading thinkers and doers from the arts, media and politics, followed by a facilitated/open community forum for queer people and allies on how to navigate and thrive in the current political climate. The series kick-off will be on Tuesday, July 23. 2019 at 7pm at BAAD! 2474 Westchester Avenue in the Westchester Square section of the Bronx, and features the award-winning cartoonists, Jennifer Camper and Ivan Velez, Jr.  These two powerhouses have fostered change through their art, activism and professional practice. The event is free and open to the public. Call 718-918-2110 or visit website: www.BAADBronx.org for info and additional directions. Courageous Conversations is supported by The Rubin Foundation and the NYC Dept of Cultural Affairs.

For the past 20 years, BAAD! has held consistent space for the Bronx’s LGBTQ community presenting live performance, community forums and social/civic engagement. BAAD! has also stepped into a leadership role linking LGBTQ community organizing efforts to performances when the art and activism share a theme. The Courageous Conversations series convenes LGBTQ people and allies to develop strategies to navigate social and political challenges to achieve success, wellness and thriveability. 

The first event of the 2019 series features Bronx-born Boricua cartoonist, Ivan Velez, Jr., who used cartooning to help create social change. His comic book series, Tales of the Closet, created in 1987, was first used as a popular educational tool and was one of the first interventions for LGBTQ youth. Velez later joined Milestone to create multicultural superheroes. He wrote comics for Marvel and DC and has shown his work in museums and galleries from the Bronx to Taipei. His work has been included in several award-winning anthologies including Gay Comix and Qu33r, and he has edited graphic novels for Dutton Books which received recognition from the American Library Association. Among his many grants is a Creative Capital grant in 2015 to support his publishing imprint Planet Bronx. Velez hosts art workshops and is a popular teaching artist for the New York Public Library and the Bronx Museum of the Arts. 

Jennifer Camper is a cartoonist and graphic artist whose art examines life from a perspective that is irreverent, female, queer, and mongrel (Lebanese American). Her work often explores gender, race, class, and politics, as well as sexuality, mermaids, and robots. She’s a cartoon editor, a teacher, and the creator of the biennial Queers & Comics Conference, an international and inter-generational gathering of queer cartoonists. Her books include Rude Girls and Dangerous Women, a collection of her cartoons, and subGURLZ, a graphic novella following the adventures of three women living in abandoned subway tunnels. She also edited two Juicy Mother comics anthologies. Her cartoons and illustrations have appeared in numerous publications and have been exhibited internationally.

Courageous Conversations continues through November 2019 and will include a diverse cross section of artists and thinkers including author Darnell Moore, artist Lola Flash, comic Devi Peacock.

Crowned “a funky and welcoming performance space” by The New York Times, BAAD! is a performance and workshop space that presents cutting-edge works in dance and all creative disciplines empowering to women, Latinos and people of color and the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) community. BAAD! is home to Arthur Aviles Typical Theatre (AATT), the Bronx Dance Coalition and the AATT Academy, and was founded by dancer/choreographer Arthur Aviles and writer/activist Charles Rice-Gonzalez in 1998 in Hunts Point. BAAD! moved to Westchester Square in October 2013 to a gothic revivalist building on the grounds of St. Peter’s Church.

BAAD!/AATT receive support from The Ford Foundation, The SHS Foundation, The NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, The Howard Gilman Foundation, The Lincoln Center Cultural Innovation Fund supported by The Rockefeller Foundation and administered by Lincoln Center, The Mertz Gilmore Foundation, The Emma A. Sheafer Charitable Trust, The Rubin Foundation, The Jerome Foundation, The Dance/NYC Dance Advancement Fund supported by the Ford Foundation, The Harkness Foundation for Dance, The New York State Regional Economic Development Corporation, the New York State Council on the Arts, and Councilmember Mark Gjonaj, and private donations.

Temple Hatikva Summer Service

  As the temperature rises our desire to face the outside world descends. What could possibly make anyone want to venture out in this heat? Wait, I know! ICE CREAM!

It is that time, again! The famous Temple Hatikva Ice Cream Social Shabbat! Come and gather with us as we share a double scoop of Torah with a double scoop of your favorite frozen treat. All Services  are  Free Of Charge .

Temple Hatikva is a Reform / Conservative synagogue serving all those of the Jewish faith. We invite you to join us for our traditional, yet modern services.We serve all those of the Jewish faith  and invite you to join us for our traditional yet modern services and adult education. If you have no synagogue background, we promise that you will have a meaningful experience. And, if you have attended other services, we're sure that you'll love our way of doing things!

Temple Hatikva's Service will be on Friday  July 19 starting  at  7:30pm. We  are located at  990 Pelham Parkway  South ,Bx NY 10461.

“R. Kelly” Charged with Racketeering, Including Predicate Acts of Coercing and Transporting Minor Girls to Engage in Sex

Charged Conduct Occurred Over the Course of Two Decades in New York, Connecticut, Illinois and California

  A five-count superseding indictment was unsealed Friday in federal court in Brooklyn charging R&B singer Robert Sylvester Kelly, also known as “R. Kelly,” with  racketeering predicated on criminal conduct including sexual exploitation of children, kidnapping, forced labor and Mann Act violations involving the coercion and transportation of women and girls in interstate commerce to engage in illegal sexual activity.  Kelly is also charged with four counts of violating the Mann Act related to his interstate transportation of a victim to New York to engage in illegal sexual activity, and his exposure of her to an infectious venereal disease without her knowledge.  Also today, Kelly was charged in a separate federal indictment unsealed in the Northern District of Illinois with federal child pornography and obstruction charges. 

Kelly appeared Friday afternoon for a removal hearing at the federal courthouse in Chicago, Illinois.  On a later date, Kelly will be arraigned on this superseding indictment in Brooklyn.  This case is assigned to the United States District Judge Ann M. Donnelly.       

Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Angel M. Melendez, Special Agent-in-Charge, United States Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, New York Field Office (HSI), and James P. O’Neill, Commissioner, New York City Police Department (NYPD), announced the charges.

“As alleged, R. Kelly, together with employees and members of his entourage, engaged in a racketeering enterprise that preyed upon women and girls who attended his concerts so that the victims could be available to engage in illegal sexual activity with him at a moment’s notice,” stated United States Attorney Donoghue.  “Today that comes to an end.  This indictment makes clear that fame and power will not shield anyone from prosecution, particularly predators who victimize vulnerable members of our communities for their own sexual gratification.”

“R. Kelly’s Enterprise was not only engaged in music; as alleged, for two decades the enterprise at the direction of R. Kelly preyed upon young women and teenagers whose dreams of meeting a superstar, soon turned into a nightmare of rape, child pornography and forced labor. The musician turned predator allegedly used his stardom to coax some victims into nefarious sex acts while certain members of his enterprise calculatingly facilitated the aberrant conduct.  Today’s indictment charging racketeering is a clear indication of the extent of his criminal activity, which involves coercion and kidnapping. This investigation was built with the foresight of special agents and detectives assigned to the joint HSI and NYPD Public Safety Task Force, along with prosecutors of the Eastern District of New York.  R. Kelly believed he could fly, but it will be justice to see his oppressive wings clipped,” stated HSI Special Agent-in-Charge Melendez.

“The NYPD is committed to ensuring that child predators are taken off our streets and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. I thank our skilled NYPD detectives and our law enforcement partners for their unified work to provide justice for the victims of these despicable crimes.  Those who engage in these reprehensible offenses against our most vulnerable will be pursued relentlessly, and held accountable for the pain and suffering they cause,” stated NYPD Commissioner O’Neill.

According to the superseding indictment and other court filings, Kelly and individuals who served as his managers, bodyguards, drivers, personal assistants and runners, as well as members of his entourage, comprised a racketeering enterprise (the Enterprise) that operated for over two decades in New York, Illinois, Connecticut, California and elsewhere.  Kelly, as leader of the Enterprise, used his fame to recruit women and girls to engage in illegal sexual activity with him and others.  The superseding indictment alleges that Kelly identified these girls and women and then directed members of the Enterprise to escort them backstage or to events following his musical performances.  Kelly also exchanged contact information with girls and women so that he and other members of the Enterprise could arrange travel and lodging for them to visit Kelly and engage in the charged illegal sexual conduct.   

Kelly issued rules that many of his sexual partners were required to follow, including that the women and girls were to call him “Daddy”; they were not permitted to leave their rooms to eat or visit the bathroom without receiving his permission; they were required to wear baggy clothing when not accompanying Kelly to an event; and they were directed to keep their heads down and not look at other men.  Kelly also isolated the women and girls from their friends and family, and made them dependent on him for their financial well-being.

The charges in the superseding indictment are allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

If convicted, Kelly faces a sentence of up to 20 years’ imprisonment for the Racketeering and two Mann Act Coercion and Enticement counts respectively, and up to 10 years’ imprisonment for each of the Mann Act Transportation counts.  

If you believe you are a victim of criminal activity perpetrated by Robert Kelly, please contact HSI at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE (1-866-347-2423) or by logging on to https://www.ice.gov/webform/hsi-tip-form.  This service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  All information will be kept strictly confidential.

The Defendant:

Robert Sylvester Kelly (also known as “R. Kelly”)

Age: 52

Residence: Chicago, Illinois

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 19-CR-286 (AMD)

July 13th Rally at 2800 Bruckner Boulevard

  While attendance was down from previous rally's held at 2800  Bruckner Boulevard organizer Egidio Sementelli said that this would be the third site the owners of 2800 Bruckner Boulevard want as a drug counseling. He said of the two other sites one on Long Island and the other in Connecticut. 

Mr. Sementelli questioned why Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has not joined in the fight against this proposed drug rehabilitation site, but praised State Senator Alessandra Biaggi for recently joining the opposition of the site. He mentioned a newspaper article about him and Senator Biaggi, which it said the senator has joined in the opposition of the planned use of the site. However at this rally Senator Biaggi was not in attendance, nor was anyone from her office. Only local Assemblyman Michael Benedetto had a representative at the rally. 

The new Chair of Community Board 10 where 2800 Bruckner Boulevard was in attendance, and he said that the community board will continue its opposition to the planned use of the site by the owners. The next rally at this site is scheduled for Saturday August 10th 

New Community Board 10 Chair Joseph Russo reiterates the community boards opposition to the owners proposed use of the building.