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In The News
Rockland County Court Judge and Wife Sue Pomona Village Mayor and Cop Over False Arrest Claims
Rockland County Times
Let the Judge be judged. A sitting Rockland County Court and Acting Supreme Court Judge and his wife are suing the Village of Pomona, its Board of Trustees and a Ramapo Police Officer over what is claimed to be a politically motivated arrest.
Victims protest, demand reforms at HRA
After a trio of 7 On Your Side Investigates reports detailing how some of New York City’s so-called “peace officers” are accused of aggressive and sometimes violent arrests, alleged victims and their supporters are calling on the city to investigate.
Most HRA police summonses tossed out
ABC Channel 7
7 On Your Side Investigates has uncovered more disturbing claims against the welfare agency police after similar reports over the past few months, and further examination has uncovered a surprising trend regarding the allegations against those given summonses.
More claims of physical abuse by welfare agency police
Eyewitness News
Victor Rivera went to the offices of Human Resources Administration in Lower Manhattan to apply for food stamps. He ended up leaving in an ambulance, bloodied and bruised.
Sexual Assault Victim Speaks Out Regarding $5M Law Suit Against City of New York
ABC Channel 7
Laura Zilioli says she feels as if she’s being victimized again, this time by the city who says she has no claim to damages after being sexually assaulted by a city uniformed peace officer.
Perverted peace officer’s victim slams him during sentencing
New York Post
A Manhattan woman who was handcuffed and sexually assaulted by a deviant peace officer inside a government building blasted him in court as he was sentenced to five years in prison.
Artist calls guard who arrested and sexually assaulted her ‘a coward’ as he is sentenced
New York Daily News
Manhattan artist Laura Zilioli denounced city uniformed guard John Lugo as “a coward” who has robbed her of her peace of mind as he was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison and 10 years of supervised release.
NYC HRA Cop Sentenced to 5 Years for Violent Sex Assault But City Says it Isn’t Responsible: Victim’s Attorney Rubin Law Group & Robert P. Kelly Law P.C.
MarketWatch.com
NEW YORK, July 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — John Lugo, a former Sergeant and supervisor in the NYC Human Resources Administration (HRA) Police Department, was sentenced in Manhattan today to five years in state prison after pleading guilty to the violent sexual assault of Laura Zilioli last year.
Today’s Verdict: January 31, 2018
Bronxnet
On this brand new edition of Todays Verdict, Michael Rubin discusses tips for handling inquiry from the police and what to do in the event of a new arrest.
Victim of alleged sexual assault by peace office sues NYC for $5M
New York Post
A Manhattan woman is suing the city for $5 million, saying her sexual assault at the hands of a government worker — while she was handcuffed and locked inside a government office — has left her in constant fear.
Woman claiming she was sexually assaulted at social services office sues city for $5M
New York Daily News
A Manhattan women who claims she was sexually assaulted by a peace office at a social services office has filed a $5 million lawsuit against the city.
Peace Officer is charged with sexually assaulting detained women
New York Post
A peace officer for the city’s Department of Social Services has been indicted on charges he sexually assaulted a woman he arrested for trespassing at an agency building.
Bronx lawyer who represented Fat Joe, found not-guilty of felony charges in 2013 drunken driving crash on Major Deegan Expressway
Daily News
A Bronx defense lawyer who went on trial himself for a drunken driving episode that ended with a woman badly hurt was found not guilty of felony charges on Tuesday.
Police Behaving Badly Cost City a staggering $35M
New York Daily News
Controversial cop tactics – including excessive force and false arrests – are costing taxpayers a bundle.
The city shelled out $35.2 million last year in settlements over charges of improper police action, up 40% over the previous year, a report out Thursday from city Controller William Thompson shows.
Football Player Accused of Hazing
Eyewitness News
FARMINGDALE (WABC) — Police are investigating an alleged hazing incident on Long Island.
The attorney for the victim says a senior football player at Farmingdale High School tried to assault a teammate with a broomstick last thursday in the locker room.
Liberated Woman – Battered Wife Not Guilty in Hubby Slay
New York Post
A battered Queens wife who fatally stabbed her husband during a violent argument was found not guilty of all charges yesterday, as a jury found she did not mean to kill the man who abused her for 20 years.
Killer Wife Can Walk, Jury Says
Daily News
Jurors took less than two hours yesterday to find a Queens woman who admitted fatally stabbing her husband innocent on all counts. After the verdict, a weeping Vanessa McCray, 43, hugged her lawyer, her mother and the mother of the man she stabbed in the heart in their St. Albans home on Oct. 20, 2000. “I’m just so happy that God gave me the opportunity to tell my story,” said McCray, who had told jurors she was a victim of abuse by husband Paul Bagnall. “The family standing by me, that was unity.
Mepham Victims File Suit Charge Central District Officials Knew About Past Hazing , But Didn’t Act
Liherald.com
Attorneys for the three victims in the Mepham High School football sex-abuse scandal are building a civil case against the Bellmore-Merrick Central District around two central themes.
District and Football Coaches Are Sued Over Camp Assaults
The New York Times
Lawyers for three Long Island high school students who were sexually assaulted during a school-sponsored football camp sued the school district and football coaches on Wednesday, saying that school officials had failed to supervise players and had ignored a history of hazing that led to the attacks.
HS Haze Suit Says Adults Dropped Ball
Daily News
Three Long Island high school football players who were sexually assaulted at a camp last summer accused school officials, coaches, the three attackers and their parents of negligence in a lawsuit filed yesterday. The suit, which followed a grand jury’s scathing criticism last week of Mepham High School officials and coaches, charged that adults should have protected the victims.
A Rite Gone Terribly Wrong
Hazing is often winked at as a benign initiation ritual, but it has a tendency to spiral out of control, as it did in the horrific events at Long Island’s Mepham High
Sports Illustrated
Hard by A lake in rural northeastern Pennsylvania lies a wooded enclave known as Camp Wayne for Girls. But last August, in the dog days before the beginning of a new school year, the grounds were brimming with testosterone. Sixty boys and five coaches from Long Island’s Mepham High football team had converged on the property for the Pirates’ annual preseason camp. They spent most of their time on a practice field across from a ring of green cabins, running through plays, determining who would be where on the 2003 depth chart.
Big Break For 3 in Grid Haze Getting Juvenile Trials
Daily News
A Pennsylvania judge ruled yesterday that three Long Island teens should be tried as juveniles for allegedly sexually assaulting their football teammates – a decision that enraged relatives of the victims. The Mepham High School suspects now face no more than a couple of years in juvenile detention if convicted of sodomizing three younger boys with a broomstick, golf balls and pine cones. “How dare [they] let this happen? It’s inexcusable,” screamed one victim’s aunt, who gave her name as Sue. “We’ve been failed by the justice system. This is totally unacceptable.
Football Coaches Fired in Alleged Hazing Aftermath
CNN
The Mepham High School football coaches had been under pressure to resign, following reports that three varsity players sodomized three junior teammates while the team was at a training camp in western Pennsylvania in August.
Jury Deadlock Forces Scores Mistrial
Daily News
With jurors hopelessly deadlocked, a judge declared a mistrial yesterday in the trial of two brothers accused of murdering a pair of employees at the upper East Side strip club Scores. Panel members said they were two votes shy of convicting Simon Dedaj, 35, of first-degree murder for the death of Scores bouncer Michael Greco and dancer Jonathan Segal in June 1996.
Jury Deadlocks in Scores Double Murder Case
The New York Times
After five days of deliberation, a jury said yesterday that it was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on the remaining murder charges against two brothers accused of killing a waiter and a bouncer in 1996 at Scores, a strip club on the Upper East Side.
Scores-Slay Trial Ends in a Hung Jury
New York Post
Jurors deadlocked yesterday in the Scores strip club double-murder – unable to unravel a tangled “he-said, she-said” case where the “hes” and “shes” are mostly mobsters, thugs and strippers.
Scores Slay Jury Kos 5 Counts; Stuck on 8
Daily News
A jury yesterday acquitted both suspects in the Scores double-murder case of five charges but remained deadlocked on the remaining counts. Brothers Victor and Simon Dedaj are charged with killing waiter Jonathan Segal and bouncer Michael Greco after a late-night dispute at the upscale Manhattan strip club in June 1996.
Scores-Trial Jury Acquits Albanian Pair of Burglary
New York Post
“We’ll even take a hung jury and a new trial, anything but a guilty verdict for something he didn’t do.”GIRLFRIEND OF ONE DEFENDANT
2 Cleared on Some Counts In 1996 Slayings at Scores
The New York Times
jury acquitted two brothers of several charges yesterday in connection with two 1996 slayings at Scores, a strip club on the Upper East Side. But the jurors continued to debate more serious charges, signaling that they were wrestling with the credibility of the main prosecution witness, a Mafia turncoat.
Reporter’s Notebook; Witness in Club Slaying Shows Clout, of a Sort
The New York Times
Star prosecution witnesses in murder trials often have a skeleton or two in their closets — skeletons that are dragged out by defense lawyers trying to undermine their credibility.
Scores Case Revelation
Daily News
A mob turncoat testified yesterday that he may have unwittingly given an accused murderer the go-ahead to kill two employees at Scores. Convicted mobster Willie Marshall said in Manhattan Supreme Court that the June 1996 shootings may have been prompted by a conversation he had with one of the accused killers. On the night of the slayings, Marshall said that Victor Dedaj suggested, ” ‘How about I . . . kill those two guys?
Mob Turncoat Due To Testify
Daily News
A colorful gangster due to testify next month against John A. (Junior) Gotti will take the stand this week in the trial of two men accused of killing two employees of Scores, a glitzy topless nightclub. Willie Marshall, a self-described “two-bit leg-breaker” for the Gambino crime family, will come out of the federal witness protection program to testify against Victor and Simon Dedaj.
Scores Trial Begins With Tales of Mob & Murders
New York Post
Testimony started yesterday in the Scores murder trial – a case with enough mobsters, loan sharks and topless dancers to fill a Martin Scorsese flick.
No Charges in Fatal Roof Fall
Daily News
A Bronx man was set free yesterday after a grand jury refused to indict him in the death of a 14-year-old boy who ran off a rooftop while allegedly fleeing the man’s pit bull dog. A relieved Thomas Rivera, 43, choked back tears as he left Bronx Criminal Court after getting word that he would not be indicted on murder charges in the July 12 death of Emmanuel Rivera (no relation). “I’m haunted by this,” said a teary-eyed Rivera. “I wish I could give my life to bring him back, because I’ve lived my life but he was just a boy.
Pothead Will Likely Beat Charges For Possessing 10 Pounds Of Weed
An admitted pothead will likely dodge felony charges for possessing 10 pounds of marijuana after a Brooklyn judge ruled that cops seized the massive stash through an illegal search.
E. P. v. United States of America (Bronx V.A. Hospital)
New York Jury Verdict Reporter
Plaintiff Attorney: Michael F. Rubin
This case was settled for $500,000 prior to trial. Plaintiff was a 75-year-old retired chef at the time of his admission to Defendant – Bronx V.A. Hospital on 10/15/93 with a diagnosis of a mild stroke. This action concerned care and treatment he received while hospitalized from that date until 11/22/94.
Report Says Hazing Culture Led to Attacks On 3 Athletes
The New York Times
But for the victims’ families, the report came as a vindication, they said. They have criticized the coaches and school district for lax supervision, accusing Mepham officials of ignoring the long disciplinary record of one of the three attackers.
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