🌱 Former NYPD Officer Scammed Renters + Access-A-Ride Scam

Happy Saturday, Queens! Here's what's going on in Queens today.

First, today's weather:

Sun giving way to clouds. High: 48 Low: 43.

Here are the top stories in Queens today:

1. Burbran Pierre, a recently retired NYPD police officer, has been charged with grand larceny and scheme to defraud for allegedly conning nearly a dozen would-be renters out of thousands of dollars. Pierre is accused of running a scam offering to rent his own rented basement apartment unit on 95th Street in Ozone Park between Dec. 2020 through May 2021, while he was actively working on the force. District Attorney Melinda Katz said, "the defendant recently retired and relocated to another state, but he has been extradited and now faces very serious charges here in Queens County." (Press Release Desk)
2. Three NYC employees were busted in separate incidents on Thursday, including an off-duty NYPD officer in Queens. Officer Maurice Lemelin, 33, was busted just after 5 p.m. for allegedly selling steroid drugs. Lemelin, who was arrested in the confines of the 106th Precinct, which covers south-central Queens including Ozone Park and Howard Beach, was charged with criminal sale of a controlled substance and criminal possession of a controlled substance. The case is under investigation by the department’s Internal Affairs Bureau. (New York Post)
3. More New York City schools were forced to close down this week amid mounting COVID-19 outbreaks, including multiple schools in Queens. Highlighting the monumental failure of the city to adequately track the spread of COVID-19 in schools, a report by the parents’ group PRESSNYC found that of the 6,193 cases identified among public school students in the two months since schools opened, only 838, or 13 percent, were discovered by in-school testing, which is done once weekly for just 10 percent of students. The seven-day average of daily new cases in the city now stands at 1,209 and is steadily rising amid a nationwide surge as winter approaches. (WSWS)
4. An Access-A-Ride driver has been charged with an e-hail app scam for faking trips and raking in nearly $70,000. James Laverty, 72, has been charged with grand larceny and other crimes for allegedly bilking the MTA out of nearly $70,000 by submitting bogus claims for rides requested using a mobile phone app between Sep. 2020 and March 2021. Laverty, of Freeport, Long Island, was arraigned yesterday before Queens Criminal Court Judge Scott Dunn on a three-count complaint and has been charged with grand larceny in the second degree, identity theft in the first degree, and falsifying business records in the first degree. (Press Release Desk)
5. Permits have been filed for a seven-story mixed-use building at 35-10 Union Street in Flushing, located between Northern Boulevard and 35th Avenue. The proposed 73-foot-tall development will yield 40,258 square feet, with 31,373 square feet designated for residential space, and 8,885 square feet for community facility space. The building will have 45 residences, a cellar, 23 open parking spaces, and 23 enclosed parking spaces. An estimated completion date has not been announced. (New York YIMBY)

Today in Queens:

• Virtual Writing Workshop for Adults - Broadway Branch Library (11:00 AM)
• Free Outdoor Concerts with Maria Neckam - Culture Lab LIC (2:00 PM)
• Free Outdoor Concerts with Giftshop - Culture Lab LIC (3:30 PM)
• Free Outdoor Concert with SickWalt - Culture Lab LIC (5:00 PM)
• Free Indoor Comedy with Nice One! Comedy - Culture Lab LIC (6:30 PM)

Queens Patch Notebook

• Queens Museum: "🏳️‍⚧Lorena Borjas was a TransLatina activist and the founder of Colectivo Intercultural TRANSgrediendo, a social organization which works on the empowerment of human rights, access and comprehensive health care of Trans and Gender Non Binary (TransGNB) people, strengthening the social and cultural expression of diverse gender identities in New York City in order to guarantee our well-being and the right to a life free of all types of violence. Lorena was known as the mother of the transgender Latinx community in Queens, helping those facing issues ranging from healthcare to immigration to human trafficking." (Facebook)
• Queens Borough President Donovan Richards: "Gobble Gobble, it's turkey season! This week, our team proudly partnered with Hungry Monk Rescue Truck and La Jornada to deliver turkeys for our #Queens families this holiday season. Thank you to Macerich and their Queens Center Mall (90-15 Queens Blvd, Elmhurst, NY) for generously donating the turkeys." (Facebook)
• Queens, New York: "Today the Museum of the Moving Image opened an exhibition on the Grinch Who Stole Christmas. Info: https://bit.ly/30JbkcI" (Facebook)

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That's it for today! See you all Monday morning for another update. If you're enjoying these newsletters, consider inviting some of your friends and neighbors to follow along. You can send them this link to subscribe.

— Miranda Fraraccio

About me: Miranda Fraraccio is a born and raised Rhode Islander. She works as a freelance copywriter for content creation agency Lightning Media Partners and as an assistant producer for a live-lit storytelling show in Chicago. She holds a degree in Writing & Rhetoric and Communication Studies from The University of Rhode Island. In her free time, you can find her traveling, hiking, or photographing her neighborhood as a street photographer.