A 47-year-old man from Little Neck has been charged with grand larceny, identity theft and other crimes for allegedly stealing the identities of multiple victims and purchasing or leasing 11 cars between July 2019 and March 2020.
Yong “Jason” Jeon, 47, actively offered his services to non-English-speaking Koreans to help them buy or lease a car. According to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, he allegedly used their personal information as if his own, including their names, dates of birth and social security numbers.
Jeon drove off the lot with Kia cars, including Sorentos, Sedonas and Optimas. He collected nearly $60,000 in finder’s fees from the dealership that sold the cars.
According to the charges, in every purchase, Jeon forged the buyers’ signatures on documents.
If convicted of the crimes, Jeon faces between 3.5 to 7 years in prison.
“Using forged documents, fake identification and double-talk, this alleged conman swindled the car dealership out of hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Katz said. “The other victims are the seven individuals who had their personal information stolen, and in some instances, their credit ratings ruined.
“Many of the victims didn’t realize they had been conned until they received big bills in the mail for cars they didn’t purchase or lease,” she added.
Assemblymember Ron Kim officially endorsed Andrew Yang for mayor in Flushing on Friday. (Photo: Jacob Henry)
Assemblymember Ron Kim welcomed Andrew Yang to his district on Friday in Flushing, and officially endorsed the candidate for mayor of New York City.
“He’s a leader of principle of character and a vision,” Kim said. “It is time for bold policies that center around New Yorkers closest to the pain and that’s why I’m proud to endorse Andrew’s policies.”
Yang visited NYCHA’s Bland Houses with Kim, where many residents were left without gas for months over the summer.
“No one should be living without heat in the 21st century in New York City,” Yang said. “There are resources we can activate to invest in these complexes to help make them safer, more modern, and make repairs that should have been made years ago.”
Kim and Yang followed this by a walking through La Jornada, Queen’s largest food pantry, where the mayoral candidate spoke about how it was designed to feed thousands, but “is now being asked to feed ten times that many.”
“That should not be the case in the richest city in the world,” Yang said. “We can do better than that.”
Kim also brought Yang to the site of where immigrant sex-worker Yang Song jumped to her death in 2018 after harassment by New York police officers.
“There are many people working as migrant workers in the sex industry that have been victimized and harassed,” Yang said. “We need to decriminalize sex work here in New York City to show a model for what the better approach is.”
Andrew Yang also called for sex work to be decriminalized in New York City today. pic.twitter.com/MjJpzz4Frw
Kim said that he is endorsing Yang for mayor because the candidate is not just here for a photo, but to see the community’s real struggles, which have been made even worse due to the pandemic.
“Our poverty and pain cannot remain invisible to the top executive of our city,” Kim said. “I am proud to endorse Andrew Yang for mayor.”
Yang also spoke about how New Yorkers are frustrated with the COVID-19 vaccination rollout, and even wished that workers at the food pantry could be vaccinated.
“I wish that the protocols were more reflective of the situations and realities that people are facing everyday,” Yang said. “A lot of us want the state and the city to get on the same page. As mayor, I will be intent on working very closely to make sure that New Yorkers are not frustrated.
Throughout all this, the mayoral candidate was seen taking pictures and saying hello to dozens of Flushing residents who seemed excited about the prospect of having Yang running their city.
“We will alleviate extreme poverty in New York City and have a guaranteed minimum income,” Yang said. “that is my pledge as mayor. That was championed by Martin Luther King and many others. It is decades and generations overdue but we will make it happen.”
Andrew Yang and Queens BP Donovan Richards at Szechuan House in Flushing, Queens. (Photo: Jacob Henry)
After Andrew Yang announced his official run for mayor of New York City, the former 2020 presidential candidate met with Queens Borough President Donovan Richards on Thursday for lunch in Flushing.
Richards joked that he tried to get Yang to “endorse the Knicks,” while discussing the many challenges that Queens has faced during the pandemic, including adding more hospitals, protecting residents from evictions and improving transportation.
“Many of the issues that have really been exacerbated by this pandemic,” Richards said. “We were the epicenter of the epicenter of this crisis.”
He would not officially endorse Yang for mayor, but said he is “looking for ideas” from all the candidates in the race.
“I am looking for someone who’s going to have a vision, that’s going to move this city forward, but also, an individual who’s going to make sure that Queens is front and center in this recovery,” Richards said.
Yang said that Richards is someone that everyone admires, and the candidate who receives the Borough President’s endorsement should be “very grateful.”
“He’s someone who works with anybody,” Yang said. “That’s exactly the kind of leadership this city needs.”
Yang also touched on the issues facing the city as a whole, bringing up a conversation he had with a restaurant owner in Queens who had to close up shop after 35 years in business.
“That decision is playing out over and over again here in Queens and around the city,” Yang said.
He talked about how he has lived in New York City with his wife Evelyn for 25 years and called it “the greatest city in the world.”
“I’m running because we are in the midst of a historic crisis,” Yang said. “I believe I can help.”
He is running on a platform that involves Universal Basic Income (UBI), which comes with the promise of giving direct cash payments to people in poverty.
“If you’re in extreme poverty, you’re trying to survive, you’re having difficulty keeping a roof over your head, or feeding yourself or your family,” Yang said. “If you have a little bit of money in your hands, it’s going to give you a much better chance at actually potentially finding a job.”
While there are critics of the UBI program, Yang said that these much-needed resources will be essential in helping New Yorkers to get back on their feet.
“Anyone who thinks that getting a little bit of money in the hands of the extremely poor is going to somehow curb their work ethic, in my opinion, has never actually spent time with people who are poor, and should do so before they have that kind of critique,” Yang said.
With the insurrection at the Capitol last week still fresh in every American’s mind, Yang also brought up Donald Trump, and said the president’s name on buildings in New York needs to go.
“It has bothered me even before he incited a riot that took multiple lives in our nation’s Capital,” Yang said. At a minimum, we should be excising Trump’s name so that New Yorkers do not have to see it and think that somehow he’s associated with our city.”
Andrew Yang may be a buzzworthy candidate, but he still has to face off with established New York politicians like Comptroller Scott Stringer, Wall Street favorite Ray McGuire, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and many more.
The New York City Mayor race is crowded, with multiple candidates vying to win the Democratic nomination, with the primary officially taking place on June 22, 2021.
With the legislative session in Albany starting back up, local elected officials have been assigned new leadership positions.
Assemblywoman Nily Rozic was appointed chair of the Committee on Consumer Affairs and Protection. It is her first appointment as chair of a standing committee. Rozic is serving her fifth term in the Assembly.
The committee is responsible for safeguarding consumer’ rights, including health and safety, personal privacy and regulation of business practices.
“In the weeks ahead, I look forward to engaging consumers, advocates, businesses and government agencies to map out an inclusive agenda responding to our most urgent needs,” Rozic said.
She also serves on the Committees on Ways & Means, Labor, Correction and Corporations, Authorities and Commissions.
Assemblyman Ron Kim, meanwhile, has been appointed as the chair of the Committee on Aging, where he will focus on the elderly and nursing home residents, particularly as COVID continues to affect older New Yorkers.
He says his immediate focus will be making sure the elderly receive their COVID vaccinations as soon as possible.
He will also fight for a new bill of rights for nursing home residents this legislative session.
“During this pandemic, my team and I saw firsthand how dysfunctional our care system is toward our elderly,” he said. “We worked hard to ensure the plight of our seniors, especially those living in nursing homes, was no longer ignored.”
The Shops at SkyView has welcomed two new stores: Starbucks and Adidas.
Starbucks is located on level two next to Haagen-Dazs and Coco Tea, while Adidas, expanded to nearly 10,000 square feet, is on level four.
The new Adidas store has 78 percent more space than its previous space and will offer new collections for runnings, football, training and more.
“These strong retailers complement other businesses at SkyView and contribute to the culture that makes the neighborhood special,” said Rishika Mahtani, regional marketing manager at ShopCore Properties.
Zaire Couloute is president of the Queens College Student Association.
The Queens College Foundation has allocated $2.75 million in support of need-based scholarships, the college’s student food pantry and tech internships.
The one-time infusion of funds will help students facing difficult financial circumstances as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Retention Incentive Supporting Excellence (RISE) program will provide support to students who are unable to meet the costs of higher education. RISE scholarships will be given out for spring, summer and fall of 2021.
The funding will also be used for the Knights Table Food Pantry, which reduces food insecurity among Queens College and CUNY students.
“This most timely action will allow our dedicated undergraduate students to pursue their higher education, advance toward graduation and fully participate in the economic recovery of our city and state,” said Queens College President Frank Wu. “We are profoundly appreciative.”
“As the pandemic continues, Queens College students are facing many difficulties as they work toward completing their education,” added Student Association President Zaire Couloute. “I know I speak for everyone when I thank the Queens College Foundation for this generous initiative to help students stay in school and to keep many of us from going hungry.”
City Council candidate Linda Lee has been endorsed by a prominent lawmaker who has represented Fresh Meadows for years.
Assemblywoman Nily Rozic is backing Lee’s bid for District 23 in eastern Queens, including neighborhoods like Queens Village, Oakland Gardens, Little Neck, Hollis, Glen Oaks, Fresh Meadows, Douglaston and Bellerose.
“Linda’s decades of volunteerism and experience delivering social services has prepared her for this moment,” Rozic said, “and I’m excited to join her in the work ahead uplifting our neighbors across Queens.”
Lee, an 11-year Oakland Gardens resident and New York native, is a member of Community Board 11, the School Leadership Team (SLT) at her son’s school and is president and CEO of Korean Community Services (KCS) of Metropolitan New York.
She is the mother of two young children and the daughter of immigrant small business owners.
Rozic is the first elected official to endorse Lee’s candidacy.
Other candidates in the race include lawyer Steve Behar, DSA and WFP-endorsed activist Jaslin Kaur and CB2 district manager Debra Markell.
Sandra Ung, a candidate running for City Council, wants the city to do a better job clearing sidewalks and crosswalks of snow days after the snowstorm.
“This isn’t just inconvenient, it creates real dangers and obstacles, especially for senior citizens and individuals with disabilities,” she said. “These are real hazards.
“It’s not good enough to say that it will melt, or to blame the plows,” Ung added. “People are literally stuck at home unable to go out until the city clears crosswalks.”
She noted that part of the problem is enforcement. Property owners are responsible for cleaning their sidewalk, bus stops, pedestrian ramps and fire hydrants. But she also wants city agencies to clear sidewalks in areas without homes or businesses.
“This isn’t a problem of convenience, it’s a problem of accessibility,” Ung said. “We owe New Yorkers better.”
Stop & Shop opened several more pickup locations in Queens where shoppers can place an order ahead of time and an associate will load groceries right into their cars on site.
The stores at 213-15 26th Avenue in Bayside and 31-06 Farrington Street in Flushing are the most recent additions, joining pickup locations in Belle Harbor, Springfield Gardens, Arverne, Glendale and Maspeth.
Shoppers can place an order on the website or on the Stop & Shop mobile app. Click on “order online” and select “pickup” at the preferred location.
After choosing a pickup time, shoppers can park in a designated pickup spot and call to let the store know that they have arrived. The associate will then drop off the groceries.
Customers are asked to have their trunk or door open for associates to place directly into the car. Customers are also encouraged to wear masks and limit the number of people in the car where possible.
A $30 minimum is required on all pickup orders, and a $2.95 service fee will be applied at checkout.
Median sale prices, however, rose to $660,000, representing a one percent increase from last year.
Hudson Yards was the most expensive neighborhood in the Big Apple with a median sale price of $4.5 million. TriBeCa was the second most expensive, followed by Little Italy.
Malba came in 12th with a median sale price of $1.35 million. Queens overall made up 19 percent of the city’s priciest neighborhoods, with a median sale price of $520,000 and an eight percent increase year-over-year.
Neponsit was the 23rd most expensive neighborhood in New York City with a median sale price of $1.25 million.
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