8 THE QUEENS COURIER • OCTOBER 12, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
High school in LIC graduating to a new facility in four years
Photos via Google Maps
Woodside men attached skimmers onto bank ATMs across Queens
BY ANGELA MATUA
amatua@qns.com / @AngelaMatua
Two Woodside residents were charged
on Oct. 6 for installing skimming devices
throughout Queens ATMs and amassing
hundreds of credit cards and about
$80,000 in cash.
According to Queens District Attorney
Richard A. Brown, Bogdan Stoica and
Janos Mihalka, both 36, installed these
devices at seven banks from July through
September. Skimmers can read encoded
bank card information along with a user’s
personal identifi cation information and
their PIN codes. Th e device records the
data and allows criminals to copy the data
onto blank credit and debit cards.
Stoica and Mihalka allegedly installed
or removed skimmers from a Santander
bank on Union Turnpike on July 20; a TD
Bank on Hillside Avenue on July 21; a TD
branch on Northern Boulevard on Aug.
2; a TD Bank on Metropolitan Avenue
on Aug. 3; a Capital One bank on Queens
Boulevard on Aug. 3, Sept. 18 and Sept.
20; and a Teachers Federal Credit Union
on Aug. 17.
Prosecutors said they also allegedly
used a forged card to access a TD Bank
account of a Queens woman, withdrawing
a total of $746 from her account on
Aug. 3.
A court-authorized search warrant at
their home on 45th Street found nearly
300 forged credit and debit cards, two
green overlay skimming devices, eight
false panel PIN capturing devices, 129
deep-insert metal skimming devices and
nearly $20,000 in cash.
Marius Adrian Pop, 39, of Elmhurst, is
also believed to be an accomplice, Brown
said. Aft er conducting a court-authorized
search at his apartment on Ketcham
Street, police found nearly 300 forged
credit and debit cards and nearly $60,000
in cash.
“For most people ATMs provide them
with easy and quick access to cash,”
Brown said. “Th e defendants in this
case are accused of taking advantage
of that convenience by installing skimming
devices to steal bank account numbers
and PIN codes with each swipe at
the machine. Th ese kinds of credit card
schemes cost hard-working individuals
not just money, but time and aggravation
trying to remove the damage they cause
to their credit scores. Th is stealth thievery
will not be tolerated in Queens County.”
All three defendants were charged with
second-degree criminal possession of a
forged instrument.
Stoica and Mihalka were also charged
with criminal possession of forgery devices,
fi rst- and second-degree identity theft ,
petit larceny, fi ft h-degree criminal possession
of stolen property and third-degree
unlawful possession of personal identifi
cation information. Bail was set at at
$1.5 million bond or $1 million cash and
the defendants were ordered to return to
court on Oct. 17.
If convicted, the defendants each face
up to seven years in prison.
BY ANGELA MATUA
amatua@qns.com / @AngelaMatua
Students at the Academy of American
Studies in Long Island City will learn in
a brand-new building in 2021.
Th e school, located at 28-04 41st Ave.,
currently shares space with Newcomers
High School, which is located across the
street. But according to the Department
of Education (DOE), the parking lot at
40-11 28th St., which is located next to
Newcomers High School will become the
new home of the Academy of American
Studies.
Th e new four-story building will serve
969 students and include a visual art
room, music room, science labs and a
medical suite, according to a spokesperson
for the DOE. Currently, there
are 909 students enrolled at Newcomers
High School and 1,021 enrolled at the
Academy of American Studies.
Th e building that currently houses
some of Academy of American Studies
students will be used by Newcomers
High School, the spokesperson said.
A recent report by the nonprofi t Class
Size Matters found that more than 50,000
school seats were lost from 2004 through
2013 and that more must be done to ease
overcrowding.
Th e seats were lost due to lost leases,
co-locations, or the closure of annexes,
mini buildings and Temporary
Classroom Units (TCU) or trailers. In
Queens, 248 high school seats were lost
during that time period.
Parents in western Queens have been
vocal about the need for more schools,
especially since the area has seen rapid
overdevelopment. Several schools are
slated to be constructed, including
three in Long Island City and one in
Woodside.
The School Construction Authority will build a new school to house the Academy of American Studies.
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