Park Crime Spree Ends
BY LINDA J. WILSON

Photo Vinny DuPre

The reign of terror in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park may have come to an end last Friday with the arrest of two teenage males. Yovanni Rivera, 17, of 109-55 54th Ave. Elmhurst and Marcos Polanco, 17, of 108-02 43rd Ave., Corona have been variously charged with regard to four separate attacks with second degree attempted murder, first-degree assault and first- and second-degree robbery. Rivera is additionally charged with regard to an additional attack with seconddegree murder, fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, fourth-degree arson and evidence tampering. If convicted, Rivera faces up to 25 years to life in prison on the murder charge, and additionally he and Polanco each face up to 25 years in prison on the attempted murder charge and each of the robberies.

A third suspect, 19-year-old Herman Gonzalez of Elmhurst, was also arrested on Friday, January 5 and confessed to taking part in four attacks, according to a police source quoted in a daily newspaper. Police charged Gonzalez with robbery and assault stemming from the mugging of a Chinese food deliveryman just outside the park at 55th Avenue and 111th Street on November 20. Victims in the three other cases were unknown to police, so Gonzalez was charged in the one incident. Gonzalez did not take part in the attacks for which Rivera and Polanco were charged, police reported.

A fourth suspect, who was not identified by police, was also being sought. A source, also quoted in a daily newspaper, said all four suspects were friends.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said that, in the most serious attack, Rivera is charged with acting alone in the murder of Carlos Flores, 40, of Ridgewood. Flores' body was found halfsubmerged in a pond at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park near the Long Island Expressway and College Point Boulevard on the morning of December 5, 2006. According to the charges, Rivera is alleged to have approached Flores as he was walking through the park on the evening of December 4 and robbed him of $20 in cash, his identification and MetroCard before hitting him numerous times with a machete, causing him to sustain deep slashes to his face and legs and gashes to the back of his head. The wounds resulted in Flores' death.

Rivera and Polanco are charged with acting in concert in the following incidents:

+ the December 25, 2006, robbery and attempted murder of 33-year-old Ja Woo Park, who was found unconscious near the Unisphere. Rivera and Polanco allegedly approached Park while he was jogging through the park at approximately 6:45 p.m. and punched, kicked and stomped him, causing him to sustain severe head trauma, before robbing him of cash and the keys to his 2007 Honda van. Park, who was only recently identified, is in a coma and being treated at a local Queens hospital. Rivera is additionally charged with taking Park's van and credit cards and identification documents which were in the vehicle and later setting fire to the vehicle.

+ the December 9 robbery of a 40- year-old Asian male at the corner of 111th Street and 49th Avenue. Polanco and Rivera allegedly approached the victim as he was walking through the park, smoking a cigarette, at approximately 7:15 p.m. and asked him for a cigarette. One of the defendants allegedly then hit the victim in the head and knocked him to the ground before stealing his money, jewelry, cellphone and a Rolex watch, which they allegedly sold. The victim suffered a laceration above his right eye, as well as bruising and swelling.

+ the December 2 robbery of a 62- year-old Hispanic male at the northeast corner of 46th Avenue and 111th Street. Allegedly, Rivera and Polanco, armed with a machete, approached the victim as he was riding his bicycle through the park at approximately 6:30 p.m. and hit him in the arm with the machete before pushing him off his bike and onto the ground and robbing him of his cellphone, money and his medication pill case.

+ the December 2 robbery of an 18- year-old male at the southwest corner of 46th Avenue and 111th Street. As in the previous incident, it is alleged that Polanco and Rivera, armed with a machete, approached the victim at roughly the same time and scraped the machete on the ground before robbing him of his cellphone, which they allegedly sold, and a sum of money and fleeing.

District Attorney Brown said that the defendants were arrested by detectives of the New York City Police Department's 110th Precinct Detective Squad and are being held pending arraignment in Queens Criminal Court in Kew Gardens.

"Residents of our community should not have to fear being brutally attacked or robbed by thugs whenever they enter one of our parks." Brown declared. "Thanks to great police work, the alleged attackers are now in custody. Those who would commit such heinous crimes are put on notice that my office will vigorously prosecute cases involving attacks on park goers to the fullest extent of the law."