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Feb. 15–21, 2019 Including The Brooklyn Paper
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BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Prosecutors charged a foreign
national and former Brighton
Beach resident with seconddegree
murder for allegedly
beating a neighborhood shopkeeper
to death in a 2009 robbery,
and then fl eeing to Australia,
the district attorney
announced.
The defendant, a citizen of
Turkmenistan, faces up to 25
years to life in prison if convicted
of the top count, and
his long-awaited prosecution
brings some closure to Vladislav
Tolstykh and his family
a decade after the horrifi c
crime occurred, according to
Eric Gonzalez.
“For nearly 10 years, the
family and friends of Vladislav
Tolstykh have waited for
this defendant to be prosecuted
for a truly ruthless attack.
I commend the New York
City Police Department and
Australian law enforcement
for working together to bring
this defendant back to Brooklyn
to face justice,” he said following
the suspect’s Feb. 4 arraignment
in Kings County
Supreme Court.
The defendant and another
man allegedly ambushed Tolstykh
inside a parking garage
on Brighton 11th Street
at Brighton Beach Avenue —
near a supermarket the victim
co-owned and managed
— on March 14, 2009, and beat
the 34-year-old merchant to
death before running off with
a pouch containing $32,000
in cash, paychecks, and luxury
watches, according to
prosecutors.
Surveillance cameras captured
the defendant and his
partner-in-crime concealing
their faces with sweatshirts
and ski masks before the victim
arrived, and also showed
the duo running from the garage
carrying the pouch, authorities
said.
Investigators later recovered
the ski masks and sweatshirts,
which the suspects discarded
as they fl ed the scene,
and found traces of DNA belonging
to both of them and
the victim.
The attack occurred during
an uncharacteristically
violent few months in nearby
Coney Island, with six murders
in as many weeks that
left Southern Brooklyn communities
reeling, this newspaper
reported at the time.
The two men fl ed to their
native Turkmenistan a few
days after the incident, before
the now-captured suspect
traveled to Australia where
he sought asylum and failed
to mention his alleged criminal
past, according to prosecutors.
The second suspect is still
on the lam, said a law-enforcement
source, who requested
anonymity due to authorities’
ongoing search for him.
In April 2013, Police Department
detectives worked
with their Australian counterparts
to get a DNA sample
from the defendant, which the
Aussie authorities collected
from an energy-drink can the
NOT WANTED: Members of Community Board 13’s Health Committee refused to issue a letter of support for
the planned LSA Recovery facility on Stillwell Avenue, claiming recovering addicts can already seek treatment
at two other rehab centers in the neighborhood. Photo by Steve Solomonson
BY JULIANNE MCSHANE
City and state leaders must revoke
their approvals for a new
outpatient substance-abuse
recovery center in Coney Island,
and instead help area
addicts by shuttering booze
vendors in the neighborhood,
according to a local who
panned the center at a recent
community board meeting.
“I’m not really for it,” said
Jeff Sanoff. “Let’s get rid of liquor
stores.”
Sanoff and fellow Coney Islanders
voiced their concerns
about the LSA Recovery facility
during a Feb. 4 meeting of
Community Board 13’s Health
Committee, where other locals
argued the center could
bring undesirable characters
to the neighborhood.
“It’s not a good attraction,”
said CB13 member Pat
Brown.
Six Health Committee
members unanimously voted
against the panel issuing a
letter of support for the center
— a formal missive LSA
Recovery program director
Ertuania Jorge requested to
show community backing for
the facility, which the state offi
ce of Alcohol and Substance
Abuse and the city offi ce of
Mental Health and Hygiene
already approved applications
for.
Jorge, however, still hopes
CB13’s full board will ultimately
vote in favor of issuing
the letter at its Feb. 27 general
meeting, because she wants to
work in tandem with the community
— where the center’s
services are urgently needed,
she said.
“I’m very surprised that
they rejected it, with the opioid
epidemic and everything
that’s going on, and the services
we’re going to provide,”
she said.
In 2017, 1,487 city residents
died from unintentional drug
overdoses — and Coney Island,
together with Brighton
Beach, Manhattan Beach,
and Sheepshead Bay, racked
up higher-than-average over-
Continued on page 12
Vol. 74 No. 7 BROOKLYNPAPER.COM
Continued on page 12
BITTER PILL
Foreign man charged for
killing local store owner
Coney leaders pan planned rehab center
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