The 20-year-old who’d faced the most serious drug sale charges in last year’s roundup of five Columbia University students is heading to Rikers for just 3 1/2 months under a deal struck in a Manhattan courtroom today.

Harrison David, son of a Boston-area plastic surgeon, had been a third year engineering student when he and four buddies were busted on charges they sold felony-weight quantities of coke, pot and pills out of their frats and apartments.

David — charged with selling just under an ounce of cocaine to an undercover on one occasion, and four grams in a second sale, for a total of just over $1,300 — pleaded guilty in Manhattan Supreme Court to criminal sale of cocaine.

He’ll turn himself in on August 30, and will be sentenced to six months jail and five years probation under a deal struck with the citywide Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor.

With good behavior and factoring in the two weeks jail he’s already served, he should be released after 3 and 1/2 months, said his lawyer, Matthew Myers.

Prosecutors has last month demanded David serve a full year of state prison and two years probation.

“While it will be less incarceratory time, an addition of three years of monitoring (via probation) will be in the interest of justice,” said lead prosecutor William Novak.

David has been suspended from Columbia since his arrest in December; he expects to be expelled now that he has entered a guilty plea, Myers said.

“It’s going to be difficult,” the lawyer said of David’s prospects in finding another school that will accept a student with a felony drug conviction. “And you’re talking about a brilliant kid.

“Hopefully, someone will take a chance on him at a smaller school,” the lawyer said.

Charges remain against the other four young men; prosecutors say they would agree to no-jail deals for them providing they still plead guilty to felony drug charges.

Reposted from: The New York Post

Attorney for the defense: Matthew D. Myers

Harrison David, SEAS ’12, who was arrested last month for selling drugs, will seek a plea bargain that does not include jail time, his attorney said Tuesday.

David is one of five students who were arrested in an on-campus police raid last month and charged with selling cocaine, marijuana, MDMA, Adderall, and LSD, according to the New York City Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Office. David is the only one accused of selling cocaine.

David’s attorney, Matthew Myers, said a jail cell would be wasted on his client. While emphasizing that the allegations against David have not yet been proven, he said that David now understands that he cannot return to dealing.

“If the prosecutors feel as though some sort of period of jail would be appropriate—I just don’t see what purpose that would serve,” Myers said. “I think Harrison David has learned his lesson more than the average person.”

Myers said David has been suspended but not expelled from Columbia, and that he is taking the situation “very seriously.” He added that David is making plans to apply to other schools, as it is likely Columbia will expel him if he is convicted.

“I don’t want to put words in his mouth. It’s certainly a huge disappointment in light of the fact that he was able to gain acceptance into one of the best schools in the country, and now it’s in jeopardy,” Myers said.

Columbia will not comment on Harrison’s status at the University in accordance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which restricts educational institutions from releasing information about students.

Myers said that David is currently living in Florida with a former captain in the New York State Department of Correctional Services who is a family friend. Myers said this is meant to give David a disciplined environment to help him “get back on the right track.”

David said in an email to Spectator that he has been in touch with friends from home and school while in Florida.

“I’m happy here, just trying to move forward with my life, make some money and I’m probably looking to transfer schools,” David said in the email.

Myers noted that David’s father did not pay his son’s bail until two weeks after his arrest in an attempt to teach him a “hard-love lesson.”

“His father, along with counsel, thought that it may serve to deter future conduct, and that the situation was not to be treated lightly,” Myers said. “But of course the Department of Corrections is no place for a kid like Harrison David, so at some point we did the safe thing and bailed him out.”

Myers would not estimate the likelihood of David receiving a plea bargain that does not involve jail time. He said that the media attention surrounding the case—which the Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Office dubbed “Operation Ivy League”—puts more pressure on prosecutors to seek jail time.

“They tend to let public perception get into their wheelhouse,” Myers said. “The bargains always involve higher jail sentences when you have the press lurking around in courtrooms.”

David has been charged with a Class A2 felony for selling cocaine, a crime that generally calls for a sentence of three to eight years, Myers said. The other defendants—Coles, Adam Klein, CC ’12, Jose Stephan Perez, CC ’12, and Michael Wymbs, SEAS ’11—have been charged with less serious offenses.

The five students are next due in court on March 1.

Friday, March 19th 2010, 4:00 AM

A Bronx man is suing the city for $1.5 million because he missed his father’s funeral when he was arrested for soliciting sex – a charge that was later dropped.

Clifton Quarles Jr., fought the criminal charges for one year, refusing to accept a conditional discharge and demanding a trial.

Prosecutors dismissed the case after the cops who busted Quarles, 51, never showed up for court appearances – but that was too late to honor his father.

“It’s very upsetting,” he said in a statement released by his lawyer. “My father was my best friend and I missed his funeral. I will have to live with that for a lifetime.”

A security guard at a homeless shelter, Quarles was arrested Jan. 7, 2009, around 9:45 p.m. near his mother’s home in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

He had just spent the day making funeral arrangements for his father, who died of cancer.

He was walking on Putnam Ave. near Broadway carrying a suit for the funeral when he was approached by a woman wearing a black mini-skirt, he said.

The suit claims the woman offered him oral sex for $10 and he laughed and walked away.

The woman, who turned out to be an undercover cop, called for him to stop – and Quarles was handcuffed by plainclothes cops.

“Mr. Quarles vehemently denied any negotiation or agreement with the undercover regarding sexual favors,” his lawyer Christopher Galiardo said.

The cops refused to issue a desk appearance ticket or a summons – even after Quarles explained that his father’s funeral was the next day, Galiardo said.

He spent more than 24 hours in custody, released only in time for the burial.

After prosecutors got the case, Quarles refused to cut a deal because he wanted to clear the name he shared with his late father and mend ways with relatives angry over the arrest.

He made 10 court appearances before the case was dismissed in December. The suit names the city and arresting Officers Jason Ianno and Lenise Walker-Wilson. The undercover cop is not identified.

The city Law Department said it had not seen the suit.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/

Written by Jason Fink with Newsday

Bernie Madoff will learn today whether he will die in prison. A few victims of the disgraced Wall Street financier, who faces a maximum 150 years in prison, will get their chance to tell Judge Denny Chin of the havoc the fraudster wreaked on their lives. Some of the thousand of other victims have already written to the court pleading for a harsh sentence. “He has condemned his investors to a life of hell.” wrote Emma DeVita of Pennsylvania, who said she invested with Madoff for 20 years and is now broke.

Hundreds are expected to descend on the lower Manhattan Federal courthouse where Madoff, 71, will be sentenced. His attorney Ira Sorkin has asked for 12 years, arguing that Madoff’s life expectancy is only another 13.

Prosecutors have asked that everything Madoff owns, including the substantial assets of his wife Ruth be surrendered. The money will be used to compensate the victims. While the last statements Madoff sent to investors in November totaled $65 billion, investors believe the true losses will run $13 billion to $21 billion. One attorney who has represented white-collar criminals said he expects Madoff to help prosecutors recover some of the money he stole – as well as provide information about any co-conspirators – in exchange for a reduction in the sentence after it’s handed down.

“He has to get some benefit or else why not just have a big circus of a trial?” said lawyer Matthew Myers.

Pro Boxer Edgar Santana Busted As Part Of Alleged Major Cocaine Ring

By Teri Thompson, Michael O’Keeffe And Nathaniel Vinton
Daily News Sports Writers

Updated Friday, July 18th 2008, 4:58 PM
(Originally published on July 18 at 10:12 a.m.)

Edgar Santana, the junior welterweight boxer often billed as “The Pride of Spanish Harlem,” was arrested Friday as part of an alleged international cocaine distribution ring busted by the New York Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor and the New York Office of the DEA.

Santana, 29, was picked up at his home at the George Washington Carver Houses on 102nd St. in Spanish Harlem in the early morning hours Friday. Friends and acquaintances were stunned.

“Everybody has been blindsided by this whole thing because it’s just not something that you would think Edgar could be involved in,” said Ernesto Dallas, Santana’s manager for the last six years.

Santana and seven other alleged co-conspirators were led out of a DEA office building in lower Manhattan Friday just after noon and taken to New York State Supreme Court. They are expected to be arraigned on Monday on second-degree criminal conspiracy and first-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance.

His arms handcuffed behind him, a grim Santana, who is scheduled to fight in an ESPN-televised match on Aug. 6, said nothing as DEA agents led him to a waiting car. On his black T-shirt was the following slogan in yellow letters: “The pressure of survival in the big city will make you lose sight of your dream…hang in there – de la Vega.”

James de la Vega, the Spanish Harlem artist who designed the T-shirt, was shocked by the news. “He’s a huge symbol of pride in Spanish Harlem,” de la Vega told the Daily News. “I’ve walked down the streets with him in the neighborhood and people love him everywhere. … He’s a friend of mine. We have a lot of love and respect for him here.”

The investigation, known as “Operation Special Delivery,” was the result of a cooperative effort by the Special Narcotics Prosecutor, in conjunction with the DEA and the the New York Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Strike Force, which is composed of agents from the NYPD, the IRS, the Homeland Security and the FBI, among other agencies.

Agents arrested 12 individuals and recovered $450,000 and at least a kilogram of cocaine in the one-year investigation into a plot to mail cocaine from Santana’s native Puerto Rico to addresses in Manhattan and the Bronx, according to the DEA.

Santana, according to investigators, brokered a deal on behalf of ringleader Angel Colon, and is accused of selling a kilogram of cocaine. Because the case originated with the Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s office, it will be prosecuted in New York state court.

“This organization abused the U.S. Postal Service and used packages to smuggle illicit goods into our country,” said New York DEA special agent in charge, John P. Gilbride. “This shows the lengths drug distribution organizations will go to achieve their goal, but they will not be successful, and will face the consequences of their actions as today’s arrests demonstrate.”

A headline attraction in promoter Lou DiBella’s Broadway Boxing Series, Santana was out of boxing briefly, working as a barber in Spanish Harlem, before making a comeback.

Santana, whose record is 24-3 with 15 knockouts, last fought in April, when he won a 10-round decision over Josesito Lopez in Miami on April 11.

Contacted by the Daily News Friday, DiBella was shocked that Santana had been arrested.

“This is completely out of character for him. He was close to everybody in our office,” the promoter said. “My staff is sick about this. He was just talking about opening a barbershop. I’m hoping this is a mistake. But obviously if he’s done something against the law, he’s going to have to pay,” DiBella said.

Santana began his career in a gym in Spanish Harlem and then moved to the reknowned Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn, where he worked with Hector Rocca, who helped train Hilary Swank in Clint Eastwood’s Academy Award-winning drama “Million Dollar Baby.”

Dallas, Santana’s current trainer, was with Santana the night before the arrest and said there was nothing in the young boxer’s demeanor to suggest trouble on the horizon.

“In our conversations there were only two things on his mind lately and that was continuing to move up in boxing and getting his barbershop started,” Dallas said. “We were looking at the lease for a place for the barbershop and working out the final plans for the place. He was getting that off the ground. I was with him until 8:30 last night and there was nothing in his demeanor that would indicate anything like this was happening.”

In a 2005 interview for the boxing Web site Doghouse Boxing, Santana talked about what a blessing it was to find boxing as a youngster growing up in dangerous circumstances.

“When I started boxing, I went with seven of my friends to Mickey Rosario’s gym in Spanish Harlem,” Santana recalled. “I remember he told us, out of all seven of us, only one or two of us were going to make it. He said the rest would go into a life of drugs or end up getting killed.

“Looking back, I’m the only one left. Everyone else is either in jail or is getting killed.”

Source: New York Daily News

Attorney for the defense: Matthew D. Myers

NEW YORK – A federal immigration official who was recorded demanding sex from a young Colombian woman in exchange for a green card was arrested on corruption charges, prosecutors said Friday.

The woman, who is married to an American citizen, said she gave in to one demand for oral sex because she was afraid, but she also used a mobile phone hidden in her purse to record the December encounter and the conversation that preceded it.

Days later she went to a The New York Times to tell her story. She also called the district attorney’s office.

“I want sex,” he said on the recording, according to the Times. “One or two times. That’s all. You get your green card. You won’t have to see me anymore.”

Queens prosecutors said Isaac R. Baichu, an adjudication officer at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Garden City, threatened to hold up the woman’s application and even deport her relatives if she didn’t acquiesce.

Baichu was arrested March 11 after meeting with the woman again, this time with prosecutors listening in.

His attorney did not immediately return phone messages Friday.

Baichu faces misdemeanor charges of coercion and sexual misconduct and a felony charge of receiving a reward for official misconduct. A judge released him on a $15,000 bond.

Baichu was suspended immediately after his arrest, and his pay will be halted, Citizenship and Immigration spokesman Shawn Saucier said. Baichu was hired three years ago and made about $50,000 annually.

An alleged cyber-sicko accused of posing online as a co-ed to trick college women into sending him their nude photos has hired a top forensic shrink to prove he’s just a harmless nerd.

Chubby Hunter College student Elvin Chuang, 20, of Brooklyn, is trying to avoid a possible 16-month prison sentence on charges of identity theft, coercion, fraud and general larceny.

He’s hoping an examination by forensic psychologist N.G. Berill, scheduled for Monday, will convince a Manhattan judge that he isn’t really dangerous and shouldn’t be jailed at all.

Berill has consulted on numerous high-profile criminals, including serial killer Joel Rifkin, LIRR mass murderer Colin Ferguson and Abner Louima torture cop Justin Volpe.

“We’re hoping he’ll find my client is not a predator, but is more or less doing this as a college prank” said his lawyer Matthew Myers.

But Manhattan prosecutors want Chuang sent up the river, noting that he admits he succeeded in tricking and bullying some 50 women into sending him pictures.

Chuang allegedly worked his scheme by going online at the web site facebook.com while assuming the identity of a female friend of the would-be victim.

He’d plead for nudie pictures under the guise of needing them for an art project – then extort still more pictures by threatening to post the first ones online.

Source: New York Post  – Friday, September 15 2006

Attorney for the defense: Matthew D. Myers

Fotog Was Louse Who Got The Cheese

By Barbara Ross
Friday, August 18th 2006, 7:20AM

A FRENCH photographer admitted in a Manhattan courtroom yesterday that he ripped off his former roommate of thousands of dollars by pretending to be in financial deals with celebrities like Madonna.

As part of a plea deal, Alexis Quinlin, 46, will be sentenced next month to serve 2 1/2 to 7 1/2 years in prison, and he will have to pay an undetermined amount of money back to two dozen other friends he also swindled.

Although Manhattan prosecutors said in May that Quinlin stole $3.9 million, his lawyer, Matthew Myers, said yesterday that the amount was closer to $325,000.

Myers said Quinlin spent much of the money instead of investing it: “He enjoyed that lifestyle and wanted to run in those circles.”

Quinlin will be deported to France when he gets out of prison.

Although he was accused of stealing money from almost two dozen people, Quinlin was allowed to settle all criminal charges yesterday by pleading guilty to one count of grand larceny relating to the $50,000 he took from his roommate.

Myers said Quinlin already had paid back $40,000 of that.

Source: New York Daily News

Attorney for the defense: Matthew D. Myers

Between his cashmere coats, his perfect French accent and his claims of big-bucks dealings with John Travolta and Jodie Foster, Alexis Quinlin was quite the convincing businessman – taking some 22 investors into handing him nearly $4 million over five years.

But every one of these deals was a swindle, Manhattan prosecutors said yesterday, as Quinlin was thrown in jail on grand larceny charges.

Quinlin, 46, of SoHo, claimed that he exported DVD players and flat-screen TVs to Europe at astounding profit but needed money from investors to finance these transactions, prosecutors said.

To throw some extra razzle-dazzle into his sales pitch, he sometimes pretended to be famous French photographer Jean-Baptiste Mondino, prosecutors said.

And to clinch the deals he’d pull out of his briefcase what he claimed were contracts in which no less celebrities than Travolta, Foster and Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson had invested in his deals.

In fact the celebrities were never involved – Quinlin had allegedly forged their signatures.

“He speaks French fluently; he’s a regular at Balthazar; he’s the man about town” said an alleged victim, who asked not to be identified. “Designer clothes, clean cut, always flirting with young girls – he acted like he really knew everything about everything.

“And he would give money back quickly, unexpectedly, so you wouldn’t suspect anything. So you wanted to give even more money” said another alleged victim.

The victims were all acquaintances of his – a personal trainer, a model, a teacher, lawyers and businessmen, prosecutors said.

Quinlin used some of the money to pay off debts from his movie projects, including the distribution of the Oscar-nominated film “The Taste Of Others” (“Le Gout Des Autres”).

He also blew the money on fancy dinners at The Four Seasons, Daniel, and Bouley, prosecutors said.

He’ll be in jail at least three days, as anything he posts toward his $100,000 bail is scrutinized.

Quinlin was caught after one of his alleged victim’s pals spotted him at Coffee Shop in Union Square.

Source: New York Post – Friday May 12, 2006

Attorney for the defense: Matthew D. Myers

A small independent film distributor has been indicted for defrauding at least 22 people  of $3.9 million over seven year, the Manhattan District Attorney said yesterday. The film distributor, Alexis Quinlan, 46, President of Offline Releasing told investors he needed money to export televisions to Europe, prosecutors said, but instead used the money to pay off debts incurred by his film company and to patronize luxury establishments. Mr. Quinlan’s lawyer Matthew Myers did not return a call for comment yesterday.

Source: New York Times – Friday May 12, 2006

Attorney for the defense: Matthew D. Myers