By ROBERT TAUB
Outgoing New York City Police Department Commissioner William Bratton held a joint press conference with Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina Thursday to announce that crime in the city schools had plummeted by 35 percent the second quarter of 2016.
Bratton cited data from a police department study that also showed a ten percent decrease in school-related arrests and a 37 percent decrease in summonses issued by the School Safety Division.
“When we talk about the change culture in our schools, we don’t mean that we waved a magic wand,” Farina said. “We mean that we actually invested in professional development for teachers, and commitment time for students in the school day.” Farina dded that it was not all about statistics, but that she and the Department of Education have worked hard to figure out what they need to do differently.
Farina said that some students who were getting in trouble as freshmen and sophomores told her how they had reformed:
“All of them said they never got in trouble again because they learned to use their words more than any other specific part of their body,” she said.
Farina and Bratton also publicized a so-called Team Up! Tuesday Initiation, scheduled for October 25th, and billed as a partnership between their two city agencies that began last year.
“We can actually have us (parents and officers) talking to each other, and understand that we are all here for the same purpose, to make our students better citizens and more productive citizens,” Farina said.
On that day olice officers from more than 70 precincts join students and staff at more than 300 middle schools across every district, to perform joint activities, ranging from visual and performing arts to physical fitness and foreign language lessons.
The interactive event was designed as a “stepping stone” for students and officers jointly to confront such problems as peer pressure, gang recruitment, bullying and drug use.
The State Education Department now designates four New York City public schools as “persistently dangerous”, down from 27 in 2015.
Bratton attributed the improvement partly to the greater number of school safety agents in the schools –4,830 in 1800 city schools.
“That number keeps growing,” he added.
Bratton has played a part in school safety since his time as chief of the Transit Police in 1990, making this appearance somewhat of a valedictory.
“We will continue to work closely with the Department of Education and the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice to ensure our School Safety agents have the resources they need to properly support our schools and students,” Bratton said.
By LISA FLAUGH
The parents of an 11-year old girl who died of cardiac arrest testified at a city council hearing on Thursday that she might have survived if police officers were given compulsory training in CPR.
“Losing Briana has been a life sentence of depression,” said Michael Ojeda before the Council Committee on Public Safety. He is the father of Briana Ojeda after whom a proposed law in the State Legislature is named, urging that police officers receive training in resuscitation every two years.
Briana’s Law is an effort that began six years ago following 11-year-old Briana Ojeda’s death on August 27th, 2010. Briana was suffering an asthma attack and was being driven frantically by her mother, Carmen Ojeda toward Long Island University. When she turned the wrong way down a one-way street on Cobble Hill Road, Officer Alfonso Mendez pulled her over and tried to write her a ticket. When Ojeda told Officer Alfonso that her daughter needed CPR he told her he didn’t know how and refused to help. When a passer-by eventually jumped in to help, it was too late. Briana Ojeda died by the time she reached the emergency room.
“The officer didn’t know CPR nor did he try to help her,” Michael Ojeda added.
Ojeda implied that the police officer had a bad reaction to the incident. “He went into hiding and shaved his head bald” before he was later identified.
Other witnesses supported the proposed legislation by the State Legislature.
“We know that if you witness someone collapsing from cardiac arrest and you jump in immediately we can save close to 33 percent of those individuals, “Brenda Vitali of the American Heart Association said. “So in those cases where we have someone collapse in front of us and someone is able to respond right away we can double or triple their chance of survival. Calling 911 isn’t enough, and most of those suffering from cardiac arrest are passing away.”
First introduced by Assemblyman Felix W. Ortiz, the law was reintroduced four times. If passed at the state level, basic training standards would be followed as set by the American Heart Association, with strong support coming from the AHA as well.
Councilman Stephen Levin commended the bereaved patents
“You have taken this tragedy that has befallen your family and befallen you in your lives and made it a mission to action to save other lives,” he said. “That is the greatest blessing that you can give to your community, to our city and to humanity. You have taken your pain and used it to make a positive change.”
By RENEE HARARI
It appeared that the City Council will likely follow in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s footsteps and move to approve a resolution condemning the global movement to boycott, divest from, and sanction the people of Israel after a five-hour hearing on Thursday that was repeatedly interrupted by rowdy participants.
The resolution, originally introduced and sponsored by Councilmember Andrew Cohen in May, seeks to “condemn all efforts to delegitimize the State of Israel and the global movement to boycott, divest from, and sanction its government and people,” according to the most recent draft language.
“The issue of the impact of BDS on Israel and the implication for New York City residents are large,” said Councilmember Helen Rosenthal, chairwoman of the contracts committee responsible for the resolution. “…I wanted a robust discussion, but, unfortunately, you know, with the distraction of those who wanted to distract – whose sole purpose was to distract – that doesn’t help their side.”
In the hour leading up to the hearing, a press conference led by supporters of the BDS movement crowded the steps leading up to City Hall. Approximately 50 people stood their ground on the steps, waving banners that read, “End the occupation,” “Jews say no!” and “I support Palestinian Human Rights.”
During the lengthy hearing, members of the audience hissed, booed, and cheered after being asked by Rosenthal to express their opinions using hand motions to avoid disrupting the proceedings. At one point, audience members kept springing up from their seats every few seconds to shout phrases like, “Zionism is racism,” “Lies, lies, lies,” and “Free Palestine” in order to prevent people against the BDS movement from speaking. Many demonstrators were escorted out of the hearing chamber for their vocal interruptions.
One man raised both of his middle fingers to the committee and shouted, “You deserve it” as he was removed from the chamber. Rosenthal eventually felt the need to have everyone sitting in the balcony kicked out of the chamber, citing safety. Many of the people ejected from the hearing crowded the chamber’s glass doors, hoping to push past a physical wall of officers and gain reentry.
“They’re not going to silence us,” said Brooke Goldstein, a speaker against the BDS movement and director of The Lawfare Project, moments before an angry woman was escorted out of the chamber for screaming, “You’re a sick human being! You are disgusting! How dare you! How dare you…you’re a f—-ing joke!” at her.
Despite all of the interruptions, speakers from both sides made points.
The BDS movement was established in 2005 by a broad coalition of activists seeking to end Israeli occupation, recognize the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality, and advocate for the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes as stipulated in UN Resolution 194, according to bdsmovement.net.
BDS supporters testified against the resolution, claiming that the resolution would suppress their constitutional First Amendment right to boycott. They argued that BDS was not an anti-Semitic movement, and they justified the boycott by comparing Israel’s political regime to South Africa’s apartheid.
“The State of Israel has violated every conceivable human rights of the Palestinian people that you can conjure up in your mind,” said Assemblymember Charles Barron before the hearing began. “…They said sanctions will hurt, but apartheid kills; occupation kills.”
People against the BDS movement rebutted these statements, arguing that the movement’s true philosophy was to bring about the annihilation of Israel, and to delegitimize the nation. They stressed that BDS is an inherently anti-Semitic, racist movement that would be detrimental to the city’s economy, since Israel is a strong economic partner of New York City. These supporters also testified that the issue of BDS coming up on college campuses has turned violent, causing Jewish students to feel uncomfortable wearing their yarmulkes to school.
“The BDS movement singles out the Jewish state, and only the Jewish state, in its so-called human rights advocacy,” Goldstein said in her testimony. “This is racism, pure and simple.”
Near the end of the five-hour hearing, Rosenthal placed a two-minute time restriction on all speakers. With limited time to get their points across, speakers made sure to state how displeased they were with the way the City Council’s Committee on Contracts conducted the hearing.
“I think that this hearing has been held in the most unprofessional manner,” said Pamela Sporn, a BDS supporter. Sporn called attention to the lack of diversity in the mostly Jewish committee, members using their cellphones during the hearing, members coming and going freely, and lack of questions critical to the resolution.
“You have to realize that you are on the wrong side of history, and we’re growing. We’re growing,” Sporn said.
The committee appeared unfazed.
“I knew [the resolution] would be controversial, but it’s not really that controversial among the body, among the membership” Cohen said. “…I anticipate the passing of the resolution soon.”
Photo by Renee Harari
By SOPHIE DWECK
The sun was shining Thursday on the LIU Brooklyn campus and students were walking to and from class with their book bags as if it were just another day of school.
But this wasn’t an ordinary day for them, nor the faculty.
Outside the gates of the campus stood professors longingly staring into where they once taught.
And suddenly at 12 p.m. sharp, hundreds of students congregated in front of the Kumbol Theater entrance, having cut their classes to take a stand.
Students vehemently chanted slogans such as, “LIU, shame on you,” and “We’re students! United! We’ll never be defeated” in support of their faculty members. Passersby stopped to watch, record, and even join in the event unfolding in front of them.
It was clear: the students wanted their professors back.
This follows the LIU administration’s unprecedented decision to lockout its faculty after they failed to reach an agreement over new union contracts, making it the first lockout at a higher learning institution in American history.
The faculty was stripped of their benefits, like health insurance and pay, as well as getting shutout from their emails and access to blackboard systems after negotiations failed under the LIU president, Kimberly R. Cline.
“We can not teach our classes,” said Stacey Horstmann-Gatti, assistant professor of history. “President Cline has locked us out. We’re ready to go back to work. My syllabi are ready, they’re copied and in a bag. Many of my own belongings are still in my office behind these gates.”
In place of the professors, the administrators, many of whom are unaccredited and unqualified, are being forced to teach or else they’ll face losing their jobs. Substitute instructors also reportedly were hired.
Students and activists have been taking to Twitter using the hashtag LIUlockout. One tweeted, “The sub had the nerve to tell us to buy the textbook. I ain’t paying a dime till we get our professors back.”
The Twitter-sphere also exploded when it was revealed that the dean for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, David Cohen, was going to be teaching ballet.
“Classes were a disaster yesterday,” Sharda Mohammed, a sophomore, said. “Professors couldn’t find their classrooms and had nothing to teach. The music business substitute looked at me and said, ‘I’m not even in the music department’ when I asked him what was going on in the music room.”
She also said that she and many of her schoolmates haven’t even received syllabi yet.
“They [the administration] keep saying they have hired qualified teachers,” Stuart Fishelson, a professor in the media arts department for over 30 years said. “To me this is the biggest sin that they have done to lie about who’s in that classroom.”
Cline, who has been the private city university’s president for three years already, has been making big changes and the faculty is not happy.
“In three years, she’s reduced the staff tremendously, cut salaries, and cut scholarships,” said Fishelson. “And she’s showing the board that she’s saving money by just cutting people out. Not one union member on this campus has a contract.”
“She changed the culture the moment she walked in,” Horstmann-Gotti said
The students started to march through the gates, out of campus, and around Flatbush and Dekalb Avenues. As faculty joined in on the march with their signs and fliers, all while chanting, “Hey, hey! Ho, ho! Kimberly Cline has got to go,” an FDNY truck drove by, holding down its horn. The crowd erupted in cheers.
Professor of journalism and the Vice President of the Long Island University Faculty Federation, Ralph Engelman was shocked by these turns of events.
“It’s very hard to say when this all will end,” he said. “We’ve been suffering for 3 years.”
Faculty complained about how the board members of the diversified campus in Brooklyn are from Long Island, which makes it difficult for them to relate to the minority students. Additionally, teachers are paid more at the sister university LIU Post which has infuriated the jobless professors.
Engelman explained that the faculty senate, which is separate from the union and deals with the academic aspect, voted no confidence by “a huge margin” in President Cline.
Without a contract, professors have begun to file for unemployment, including the professors interviewed for this article.
“After all these years of dedication to Long Island University,” said Horstmann-Gatti. “To have to file for unemployment is an event I never imagined, especially under these circumstances.”
And not only are the staff and students frustrated, but parents are furious as well.
“My parents are really mad,” Alexis Rahner, a freshman, said. “My mom wants to pull me out. She wants me to transfer.”
Professors like Horstmann-Gatti, Fishelson, and Engelman, as well as many others, have been staying in touch with their current and past students.
“My main role is to teach and my students are what I care about, and they’re the reason I’m here,” he said. “If this continues, I’m going to hold classes somewhere else. I don’t care if I lost my medical insurance. My commitment is to the students.”
Students and faculty will continue to protest the hostile lockout Friday morning. Officials such as the American Federation of Teachers president, Randi Weingarten, as well as many others will be giving a press conference outside the university.
Brooklyn News Service reached out to the LIU administration, but officials declined to respond.
Photo by Sophie Dweck
By RICHARD ANDERSON
A Brooklyn judge on Thursday ruled in favor of the prosecution, allowing DNA evidence that the defense argued was too old at the trial of an Orthodox Jew accused of assaulting a gay African-American man.
The defendant Mayer Herskovic was named the “ringleader” of assailants by the victim Taj Patterson who was allegedly beaten by a group of Orthodox Jewish men in December of 2013. Patterson is now blind in his right eye due to the beatings after multiple surgeries to his eye.
Herskovic’s defense argued that the DNA evidence was too old to be used in the case against him. However, Judge Danny Chun found it “extremely critical” that a DNA witness by the prosecution testify, due to the nature of the case.
Herskovic’s DNA was found on the heel of a shoe worn by Patterson during the beating, prosecutors said. The shoe was thrown onto a rooftop of 475 Flushing Ave according to the investigators.
On Tuesday Judge Chun listened to two 911 calls reporting the beating.
“There’s a group of Jewish guys beating up a black kid,” said a female caller. On Monday video surveillance showed multiple men chasing Patterson. One of the men in the video was shown wearing a Shomrim jacket, emblem of a Jewish neighborhood watch group, then responding to reports of someone vandalizing cars.
Four of the other accused assailants: Pinchas Braver, Abraham Winkler, Aharon Hollender and Joseph Fried all avoided jail time in plea bargains in which they were sentenced to probation and community service. Herksovic if convicted faces up to 25 years in jail for gang assault.
By MARK SULEYMANOV
Dark family portraits, old paint boxes, and dusty manuscripts were among the artifacts on display as The Morgan Library and Museum debuted an exhibit for 19th-century English novelist Charlotte Brontë, best known for authoring Jane Eyre.
Open to the press a day early on Thursday, the exhibit, entitled Charlotte Brontë: An Independent Will, displayed a litany of artifacts from Brontë’s life; ranging from miniature manuscripts bound in leather and notebooks to her adolescence drawings, clothes she wore in the last few years of her life and an original manuscript of Jane Eyre.
“These are the material traces of her life and writing, the things she created,” said Christine Nelson, the Drue Heinz Curator of Literary and Historical Manuscripts at the library who is in charge of all the artifacts on display. “It’s almost as if she’s standing here as we are about to scrutinize her life.”
Entering the exhibit on the second floor of the museum, a glass display containing a two-piece printed delaine dress (of cotton and wool), which she is believed to have acquired around 1850 in London, is front and center. Accompanying the dress is a pair of brown cloth ankle boots with leather toe caps. Nelson noted that the dress has been altered several times following Brontë’s death as it was passed down to several relatives.
However, before the fancy dresses and like items that her talent provided, Brontë toiled away as a governess in West Yorkshire, England. before realizing she wanted more from life.
A daughter of Yorkshire clergyman Patrick Brontë, who outlived his wife and six kids, Charlotte’s passion for being an artist is evident from the drawings, letters, and poems scattered around the room. Her love for language began when she was young, reading authors such as Bunyan, Milton, Scott, Aesop, Byron, with her living siblings Branwell, Emily, and Anne. Bronte’s desire to illustrate was obvious from the various drawings from her teenage years at the Roe Head school in the early 1830s.
However, as the exhibit explains, she decided to give up being a governess – believing she could not thrive at that either. At 30 years old, she collaborated with her sisters Emily and Anne to self-publish a book of poems. For a year after that book, Brontë shopped around ideas, and was rejected at all turns before George Smith decided to publish her, resulting in Jane Eyre.
Manuscripts of the four novels Brontë completed before her death are aligned, including The Professor, her first piece of work, which was published posthumously.
“Her sheer ambition and the steps she took to move forward as an artist reflect her strong will,” Nelson said. “Things like writing to famous poets, sending them her work when she’s an unknown author in West Yorkshire, writing to the poet Robert Southey, telling him ‘I want to be forever known.’ [as an author].”
Over 200 years later, her work still has a profound impact on not just writers but women who want to make a life for themselves in their desired field.
“Imagine a woman who was introverted, had a towering talent, suddenly facing a life that was not a good fit for her,” Nelson said of Bronte wanting to follow her dream.
With several marriage licenses present on display, Bronte’s hard work led to deteriorating health and her death at age 39 on March 31, 1855 – just nine months after marrying Arthur Bell Nicholls. However, as Nelson puts it, the same people who once said the author of Jane Eyre – whose identity they were unsure of as Bronte published under her alias Currer Bell – had to be a “woman unsexed,” are wrong two centuries later.
Bronte’s work was a pivotal catalyst to showing that men and women were on an equal platform.
“To you, I am not a woman, I am not a man, I am an author,” said Nelson of Bronte’s most influential quotes.
The exhibit opens to the public starting Friday and was scheduled to run through January 2.
Photo of Charlotte Bronte’s dress by Mark Suleymanov
By CHRISTELL CHERENFANT
All dressed up in uniform yellow shirts, ready for the first day of school on Thursday, an enthusiastic group of Brooklyn second and third graders waited at the edge of their seats, eyeing a rainbow of brightly colored free backpacks.
At P.S. 156 in Brownsville, FedEx Cares and United Way of New York City teamed up to deliver the book bags, full of supplies, to the lucky students. The children weren’t picked at random but participated in a reading program over the summer.
“These students were involved in the Once Upon a Time literacy program,” said Jennifer Johnson, a worker for United Way of New York City.
Senior Director Marielys Divanne added that the organization was making efforts to double the number of children who are reading at grade level by the year 2020. According to their website, a summer reading program, ReadNYC, was launched in 2014 in hopes of increasing reading levels. In the summer of 2015, almost 200 children joined and 89 percent of them had increased their overall reading level.
“We together, as a village, with FedEx and our partners and you and your moms and your dads, together we can achieve a goal,” said Divanne.
The managing director of Long Island District at FedEx Express, Nanette Malebranche, said that by the year 2020, they pledged to invest $200 million in 200 communities in order to provide bags for more students. Each backpack was equipped with essential school supplies and books, to make sure that all of the students would be reading. When it came time for the students to go up on stage to choose their bags, they chose with caution.
“I want this bag,” said a male third grader, picking up the backpack with animated movie characters from “The Minions” on it. There were more bags available than there were students so that each child had a fair chance in choosing a book bag that he or she liked.
“I’m happy to be back at school because I can learn and read; I like to read,” said a third grade girl who had many braids in her hair.
The workers’ faces lit up with joy as they observed the pleasure on the children’s faces after they’d just received their backpack full of supplies.
By PAUL FRANGIPANE
Mayor Bill de Blasio outlined on Thursday sweeping plans to beef up the corrections staff on Rikers Island and equip existing officers with new Tasers to increase safety.
Speaking at a press conference at the prison the mayor announced that 700 new Rikers corrections officers would graduate in November, followed by a spring graduating class of 1200, which he called an “unprecedented” number.The increase comes after a high rate of overtime shifts by current officers.
“The cause for hope is the sheer numbers we are talking about here,” de Blasio said. “And they are unprecedented. We literally will not stop until this status quo is fundamentally changed.”
The mayor added that the emergency services unit on the island would be provided with 20 Tasers in an attempt to curb violence. Each unit supervisor was slated to get a Taser, an action that the mayor said would curb violent incidents between inmates and staff.
The mayor also said that new entry scanners would be added that are similar to those in airports to help keep weapons and drugs out of the facilities.
“In my 19 years with the department, I have never seen the amount of change that has happened in the last two years,” Warden Maxsolaine Mingo said before de Blasio reached the podium.
“This change has brought positive results and the staff feels safer.”
In the first seven months of 2016, staff injuries have gone down 66 percent, while use of force with serious injuries has gone down 75 percent, Mingo said.
Mingo classified an “incident” as any use of force, assaults on staff, fights or other acts of violence. Mayor de Blasio reiterated this and said that 214 days have passed with no incident at the George R. Vierno Center on the island.
After recent controversies, including the case of Kalief Browder, who was accused at age 16 of stealing a backpack and spent three years on Rikers before he killed himself at the age of 22, the mayor said he saw a decrease of violence on the horizon. After talk of closing the island by City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, de Blasio has said that should be fixed not abandoned.
He added that officials were not yet “popping any champagne bottles. We have so much more to do.”
By ANDREA AUSTIN
A Brooklyn man accused of fatally shooting a Muslim imam and his friend pleaded not guilty on Thursday in Queens Criminal Court.
Oscar Morel, 35, is charged with shooting Imam Maulama Akonjee and Thara Uddin from behind at point blank range on Aug. 13. The shooting occurred on 79th Street, just one block from Al-Furqan Jame Mosque in Ozone Park at around 1:55 pm.
Morel faces up to life in prison without parole. He was arraigned on one count of first degree murder, two counts of second degree murder and two counts of second degree criminal possession of a gun.
The murder weapon was found hidden in a bag in a wall inside Morel’s house and determined to be a match. Authorities said five shots were fired at the victims and inside the bag were five discharged shell cases. The bullets were found to match the shell cases, investigators said.
Police arrested Morel after surveilling a vehicle parked outside his home that matched the Chevy Trailblazer involved in a hit-and-run with a bicyclist that occurred just 10 minutes after the shooting.
Prosecutors said Morel identified himself and his Chevy Trailblazer in video footage taken after the hit-and-run, and stated a bicycle came at him. According to prosecutors, Morel first told police, “I knew you were coming,” which was filmed and a copy of the videotape will be provided to the defense counsel.
A motive has yet to be determined but many members of the victims’ mosque believe it was a hate crime. “Hate crime. Hate crime,” said Somir Uddin outside the courthouse. “He should be charged with that. He didn’t take no money or anything. He just kill and just go away… He’s guilty for sure. The camera showed his picture, the gun was found in his room, his car was found.”
Defense attorney, Michael Schwed said outside the courthouse the witness misidentified the suspect in the photo ID. Of the few witnesses present at the lineup, “nobody picked him out. Not one person picked out another individual in that lineup. I’m not just making that up, the DA put that on the record,” Schwed said.
Schwed added that Morel hasn’t worn glasses in over ten years. He wears contacts and the man in the sketch of the shooter was wearing glasses.
Schwed said that Morel thought he was going to be attacked and robbed when he saw two plainclothes officers running towards him. Morel told him he tried to get away and shots were fired.
“The only thing that enters my mind is if they did, they may have planted evidence on him,” said Schwed. “They say it [the gun] was found in his house. I haven’t seen any proof of that … I haven’t gotten any of the evidence in this case.”
Asab Uddin, another member of the mosque said he couldn’t think of anyone who would want to harm the imam and there was never any fighting. Akonjee was “a very honest guy, very very honest,” said Uddin.
By MARK SULEYMANOV
A Manhattan deli owner who allegedly sold synthetic marijuana in exchange for food stamps was arrested on Thursday, federal authorities said.
Yousif Mosleh, 26, is the owner of a deli on Lexington Avenue between 124th and 125th Street in East Harlem, and another nearby deli, according to court documents. He allegedly sold K2, a synthetic marijuana, under names such as Avalanche, Xtreme, Kisha Cole, AK-47, and Phantom while accepting Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits as payment.
Two “cooperating sources” helped the United States Drug Administration (USDA) by making a series of controlled purchases of K2 from both of Mosleh’s delis. On July 23, 2015, police retrieved approximately 1,000 packages of K2 from one of the delis; on July 30, 2015, while police apprehended Mosleh “on charges unrelated to this investigation,” an additional 1,396 packages of K2 were retrieved.
“Yousif Mosleh is charged with peddling dangerous synthetic drugs in New York City neighborhoods and funding his drug sales by abusing a system created to assist the most vulnerable in our society. Thanks to the dedicated agents of the USDA and HSI, Mosleh can no longer profit from this illegal scheme,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement.
Mosleh received a license to accept and redeem SNAP benefits for the first deli in December 2007. The second deli received a license on June 23, 2014, which included a notification that SNAP benefits may not be exchanged for ineligible items.
“The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program was created to provide food and nutrition to those who truly need this assistance,” Special Agent-in-Charge William G. Squires Jr. said. “Those who are involved in fraud and abuse of SNAP and other USDA programs will be aggressively pursued by our office.”
A friend of Mosleh who was present for the case declined to give his name but told Brooklyn News Service – while pacing around the fifth floor of the Southern District Courthouse at 500 Pearl Street – that he was waiting to speak to an attorney to find out more details.
“I promised him [Mosleh] that I would be here, I don’t know anything about the case,” he said. “But I was the one who told him to turn himself in.”
Mosleh faces a maximum of 45 years in prison. He’s being charged with two counts of distribution and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance – both counts coming with a 20-year maximum sentence – and one count of conspiracy to violate the regulations governing the food stamp program – which comes with a maximum of five years.
Photo of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara
