Attorney General James Commends The State Assembly On Passage Of The Double Jeopardy Bill

  Attorney General Letitia James commends Speaker Carl Heastie and the New York State Assembly for passing important legislation to close New York’s “double jeopardy” loophole. In response to its passage, Attorney General James released the following statement:  

“The law against double jeopardy, as currently written, contains a gaping loophole which could be exploited to deny justice altogether. The legislation that has now passed both legislative chambers, would close that loophole. It ensures that in the event that a person receives a presidential pardon based on a close relationship or self-interest, New York would preserve its authority to pursue legal action against that individual for crimes committed under state law. This legislation is a commonsense, good government measure that will ensure a reasonable check on the presidential pardon power for not only this President, but all future presidents. I thank Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins as well as the bill’s sponsors for working with my office on this critical legislation to ensure that no one is above the law.”  

Assembly Bill A6653 adds another exception to the state’s “double jeopardy” law by establishing a narrow set of criteria that would prevent the pardon power from being used for a president’s self-interest and self-dealing. To date, the state legislature has established twelve exceptions to the “double jeopardy” law. The legislation passed the State Senate on May 8th. 

Attorney General James Leads Coalition Of 23 Cities And States Suing Trump Administration To Stop Health Care Discrimination

HHS Final Rule Would Expand Ability of Businesses and Individuals to Refuse to Provide Necessary Health Care on the Basis of Their Own “Religious, Moral, Ethical, or Other” Beliefs 

  Attorney General Letitia James, leading a coalition of 23 states, cities, and municipalities, filed a lawsuit today against a Final Rule issued by the Trump Administration’s Department of Health and Human Services, which seeks to expand the ability of businesses and individuals to refuse to provide necessary health care on the basis of businesses' or employees’ “religious beliefs or moral convictions.” The federal lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York, seeks to enjoin the Final Rule and prevent it from going into effect. The suit follows upon a comment letter filed by the New York Attorney General and a coalition of states in March 2018, when the rule was first proposed, urging that the rule be withdrawn. 

“Once again, the Trump Administration is putting politics over the health and safety of Americans,” said Attorney General Letitia James. “The federal government is giving health care providers free license to openly discriminate and refuse care to patients – a gross misinterpretation of religious freedom that will have devastating consequences on communities throughout the country. When the health of our residents is at stake, and the safety of vulnerable populations hang in the balance, we cannot rest until this ‘health care refusal’ rule is stopped.” 

The lawsuit alleges that the Final Rule, which will take effect in July 2019, would undermine the delivery of health care by giving a wide range of health care institutions and individuals a right to refuse care, based on the provider’s own personal views. The Rule drastically expands the number of providers eligible to make such refusals, ranging from ambulance drivers to emergency room doctors to receptionists to customer service representatives at insurance companies. The Rule makes this right absolute and categorical, and no matter what reasonable steps a health provider or employer makes to accommodate the views of an objecting individual, if that individual rejects a proposed accommodation, a provider or employer is left with no recourse. 

Under the Rule, a hospital could not inquire, prior to hiring a nurse, if (s)he objected to administering a measles vaccination—even if this was a core duty of the job in the middle of an outbreak of the disease. Or an emergency room doctor could refuse to assist a woman who arrived with a ruptured ectopic pregnancy, even if the woman’s life was in jeopardy.  

The Rule would also allow businesses, including employers, to object to providing insurance coverage for procedures they consider objectionable, and allow individual health care personnel to object to informing patients about their medical options or referring them to providers of those options. The devastating consequences of the Rule would fall particularly hard on marginalized patients, including LGBTQ patients, who already confront discrimination in obtaining health care.  

The lawsuit further alleges that the risk of noncompliance is the termination of billions of dollars in federal health care funding. If HHS determines, in its sole discretion, that states or cities have failed to comply with the Final Rule – through their own actions or the actions of thousands of sub-contractors relied upon to deliver health services – the federal government could terminate funding to those states and cities, to the price tag of hundreds of billions of dollars. States and cities rely upon those funds for countless programs to promote the public health of their residents, including Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, HIV/AIDS and STD prevention and education, and substance abuse and mental health treatment.  

The lawsuit argues that this drastic expansion of refusal rights, and the draconian threat of termination of federal funds, violates the federal Administrative Procedures Act and the Spending Clause and separation of powers principles in the U.S. Constitution.  

In addition to New York, the lawsuit was filed by the City of New York, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin, the City of Chicago, and Cook County, Illinois.  

BRONX MAN SENTENCED TO 23 YEARS TO LIFE IN PRISON FOR FATAL 2015 SHOOTING

Jury Found Defendant Guilty of Second-Degree Murder 

  Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that a Bronx man has been sentenced to 23 years to life in prison for fatally shooting a man in 2015. 

 District Attorney Clark said, “The defendant –who did not know the victim– shot and killed him just because a few words were exchanged. The defendant will now spend many years behind bars for this senseless violence. ” 

 District Attorney Clark said the defendant, Erin Hall, 42, of 1950 Andrews Avenue was sentenced today to 23 years to life in prison for second-degree Murder and 15 years in prison for second-degree Criminal Possession of a Weapon, to run concurrently, and five years post-release supervision by Bronx Supreme Court Justice James McCarty. A jury found the defendant guilty on March 5, 2019. 

 According to the investigation, on the night of April 15, 2015, at 2260 Washington Avenue, the victim, Felix de la Cruz Jr., 23, was standing in front of the location with a group of friends when the defendant approached and exchanged words with him. Hall, who is a member of the Bloods’ Sex, Money, Murder set, walked away and returned with a gun drawn. After exchanging words again, Hall fired a shot at de la Cruz and missed. He then moved closer and shot de la Cruz in the back of his head. The victim died of his wound the following day.

  District Attorney Clark also thanked NYPD Detective Joseph Bermudez of the 48th Precinct, and Detective Daniel Fox of the NYPD Auto Crime Division.

South Bronx Unite - All Out for CB1 Vote on New Jail in Mott Haven | Thurs, May 23, 6pm | 234 East 149th Street

Community Board 1 to Vote on Proposed New Jail Thursday, May 23rd, 6:00 pm 234 East 149th Street, Bronx  On Wed, May 15, the CB1 Land Use Subcommittee voted unanimously AGAINST the proposed new jail in Mott Haven. This Thurs, May 23rd, will be the vote of the full board. Join us and add your voice. Upwards of 3,500 people have already signed the petition against the new jail in the South Bronx, and community boards in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens have already voted NO to the mayor's $11 billion jail plan.   No New Jails - Not in the South Bronx, Not Anywhere.

* Full background available at nojaildeblasio.com

BP DIAZ CALLS FOR ‘FAIR FARES’ EXPANSION TO ACCESS-A-RIDE PROGRAM

  Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. is calling for the “fair fares” transit discount program to include Access-A-Ride users in the city’s FY 2020 budget.

In a letter to City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, Borough President Diaz notes that the “fair fares” program is designed to provide eligible low-income New Yorkers with reduced transit fares, and that such benefits should be expanded to include Access-A-Ride customers.

“A reliable and affordable mode of transportation is key for employment, and by not providing low-income community members with disabilities an affordable option to get to their workplace, New York City is not giving them every opportunity they deserve to rise above poverty,” wrote Borough President Diaz in the letter.

Borough President Diaz notes in the letter that Access-A-Ride, which services disabled New Yorkers, currently has approximately 150,000 users who take approximately 625,000 total trips per month, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 

The full letter can be viewed at https://on.nyc.gov/2HHchW8.

Speaker Corey Johnson and Sanitation Committee Chair Antonio Reynoso Demand $4.2 Million for Extra Litter Basket Collection in Fiscal Year 2020 Budget

  New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson and Sanitation & Solid Waste Management Committee Chair Antonio Reynoso gathered at Maria Hernandez Park in Brooklyn on Saturday to demand Mayor Bill de Blasio restore $4.2 million in funding for extra litter basket collection in the Fiscal Year 2020 Budget.

New Yorkers deserve a cleaner city. That’s why the New York City Council fought to fund 14,000 additional trash pick-ups per week by the Sanitation Department in the last fiscal budget. The results have been outstanding. Nearly 96 percent of streets are rated acceptably clean this fiscal year, up from about 95 percent the previous year, according to the Department of Sanitation’s (DSN) testimony from the Council’s preliminary budget hearings.

Now Mayor de Blasio wants to reverse this citywide improvement, and the Administration did not include this funding in the Fiscal Year 2020 budget.

“No one wants to go back to the days when overflowing trash baskets on every corner was the norm. We need those baskets emptied more often, not less. Cutting this funding won’t balance the city’s budget, it will hurt the city’s quality of life. Services like this are critical for our communities,” said Speaker Corey Johnson.

“Our committee is constantly fielding complaints from New Yorkers that there is too much trash on the streets. The solution is simple: More litter basket collection. Yet Mayor de Blasio says the city can’t afford to empty them as often as they do. The City Council knows the city can’t afford not to. We will fight to have this $4.2 million restored to the budget,” said Council Member Antonio Reynoso, Chair of the Council’s Committee on Sanitation and Solid Waste Management.

Lowest street cleaning rating per scorecard monthly ratings by Borough and Community Board – 2019 (Average as of April of the current fiscal year)

1. Community Board 3 in Brooklyn at 88.1 percent
   (CMs Levin, Ampry-Samuel, Cumbo)
2. Community Board 12 in Brooklyn at 88.8 percent
   (CMs Eugene, Lander, Menchaca, Yeger)
3. Community Board 1 in Brooklyn at 89.4 percent
   (CMs Levin, Reynoso)
4. Community Board 3  in the Bronx at 90
   percent (CMs Salamanca, Gibson)
5. Community Board  9 in Brooklyn at 91.7
   percent (CMs Cumbo, Eugene, Ampry-Samuel)
6. Community Board 1 in the Bronx at 91.9 percent
   (CMs Salamanca, Ayala)
7. Community Board 16 in Brooklyn at 91.8 percent
   (CMs Barron, Samuel, Espinal)
8. Community Board 12 in Manhattan at 92 percent
   (CMs Rodriguez, Levine)
9. Community Board 4 in the Bronx at 92.1 percent
   (CMs Gibson, Ayala, Salamanca, Torres)
10. Community Board 5 in Brooklyn at 92.3 percent
    (CM Espinal, Barron)

SUPERVISING PHARMACIST AND PHARMACY TECHNICIAN ARRESTED IN DIVERSION OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN OXYCODONE PILLS FROM QUEENS PHARMACY

  Bridget G. Brennan, New York City’s Special Narcotics Prosecutor, Ray Donovan, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) New York Division and Acting Queens District Attorney Jack Ryan announced today the arrests of a supervising pharmacist and a pharmacy technician, who allegedly abused their positions at a Richmond Hill, Queens pharmacy by knowingly filling forged prescriptions for opioid painkillers and illegally selling additional pills in exchange for cash.

As a result of an investigation by the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s (SNP) Prescription Drug Investigation Unit (PDIU) and DEA Diversion Group D-22, supervising pharmacist VICTOR LAPERLA and pharmacy technician BIANCA MARTINEZ were arrested this morning on charges contained in a 35-count indictment, including Conspiracy, Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance, Criminal Sale of a Prescription for a Controlled Substance and Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument. The Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York assisted in the investigation. The defendants are scheduled for arraignment today before Judge Ann E. Scherzer in Manhattan Supreme Court, Part 93, 100 Centre Street.

In carrying out the alleged scheme, LAPERLA and MARTINEZ conspired to fill hundreds of illegitimate prescriptions for oxycodone 30 mg at the pharmacy where they worked, Dale Pharmacy & Surgical, Inc., and sold additional oxycodone pills in unlabeled bottles for which no official prescription had been presented. An unindicted coconspirator and others made cash payments for the pills for the purposes of reselling them on the black market. MARTINEZ assisted LAPERLA and brokered illicit transactions. Charges in the indictment stem from 15 such transactions between LAPERLA, MARTINEZ and the unindicted coconspirator between April 21, 2015 and February 7, 2018. Each of the forged prescriptions was written for 180 pills of oxycodone 30 mg for a total of 2,700 pills.

Between March of 2013 and May of 2018, LAPERLA and MARTINEZ allegedly filled over 855 oxycodone 30 mg prescriptions pills purportedly issued by two physicians. These prescriptions were all paid for in cash, as were approximately 90% of all oxycodone 30 mg prescriptions filled by the pharmacy during that timeframe. The two doctors reported to authorities that prescriptions in their names had been forged and the investigation revealed that their prescription pads had been stolen. The approximately 158,000 oxycodone 30 mg pills dispensed as a result of these fraudulent prescriptions would have carried a black market street value of between $2 million and $4 million.

On May 23, 2018, DEA agents and SNP investigators conducted a court authorized search of the pharmacy, located at 108-13 Jamaica Avenue, and recovered hard-copies of the forged prescriptions, as well as records and inventories, a DVR machine and LAPERLA’s cellphone. A court authorized search of LAPERLA’s residence at 6 Netto Lane, Plainview, Long Island, yielded approximately $186,500 cash from a safe and bedside table.

An examination of LAPERLA’s phone revealed that the pharmacist recorded the illegal cash payments and prescription counts in a “note” application. In 2017 alone, LAPERLA allegedly received approximately $303,900 in exchange for filling forged prescriptions and oxycodone 30 mg sales. The prescription count information LAPERLA entered into his notes corresponds with prescription records.

LAPERLA purported to act within the scope of the power and authority of a pharmacist when he recorded the forged prescriptions in a database maintained by the New York State Health Department’s Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement. A comparative review of BNE records and DEA controlled substance inventories for Dale Pharmacy & Surgical revealed a disparity in the numbers of oxycodone 30 mg pills ordered versus those dispensed. A significant quantity of oxycodone 30 mg pills were unaccounted for on a monthly basis, at least partially attributable to illegal sales of oxycodone 30 mg in unlabeled bottles.

Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan commended the work of her office’s Prescription Drug Investigation Unit and DEA Division Group D-22, and thanked the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and Acting Queens District Attorney Jack Ryan.

“Flooding the black market with millions of dollars’ worth of highly addictive substance is something we have come to expect of international drug cartels, but today’s indictment charges that a pharmacist, working in collaboration with an assistant, can inflict the same damage,” Special Narcotics Prosecutor Brennan said. “I thank our law enforcement partners for their commitment to performing a thorough investigation leading to the charges announced today.”

“When these two pharmacy employees came to work, they became drug dealers; diverting over one hundred thousand oxycodone pills into New York City streets,” stated Ray Donovan, DEA Special Agent in Charge. “Opioid addiction and overdoses have become an all-too-common issue, which has led to zero-tolerance for those who profit off the pain and suffering of victims and their families. I commend our partners at the New York City Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor and DEA Group D-22 for their diligence in this investigation and work in combatting drug abuse.”

Acting Queens District Attorney Jack Ryan said, “The scourge of this on-going opioid epidemic has affected all of us in innumerable ways. We must do everything possible to eradicate access and hold those accountable that would peddle this extremely addictive drug in our communities.”

	Indicted Defendants	Charges
1	Victor LaPerla; Plainview, NY; 12/18/1954	Conspiracy 2nd – 1 ct; Conspiracy 4th – 1 ct; Conspiracy 5th – 1 ct; CSCS 2nd – 1 ct; Criminal Sale of a Prescription for a Controlled Substance by a Practitioner or Pharmacist – 15 cts; Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument 2nd – 15 cts
2	Bianca Martinez; Brooklyn, NY; 2/20/1986	Conspiracy 2nd – 1 ct; Conspiracy 4th – 1 ct; Conspiracy 5th – 1 ct; CSCS 2nd – 1 ct; Criminal Sale of a Prescription for a Controlled Substance by a Practitioner or Pharmacist – 15 cts; Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument 2nd – 15 cts

The charges and allegations are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Comptroller Stringer Releases First Quarter 2019 Economic Update

New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer today released an economic update for the first quarter of 2019, showing that the city’s economy grew 3.0 percent in the first three months of the year. Unemployment remains at historically low levels, even as job growth in the city cooled off slightly. The city’s private sector added 18,000 jobs – an increase of 1.8 percent on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis. While real estate markets remain soft, leading economic indicators point to continued growth.

To read Comptroller Stringer’s Q1 2019 economic update, click here.