New York Desk

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

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NY Sun
NEW YORK SUN CONTRIBUTOR

ALBANY


NEW YORK MEDICAID SPENDS MOST AMONG 10 MOST POPULOUS STATES


New York State’s Medicaid program pays for the biggest share of doctor and hospital bills among the nation’s most populous states, according to a report released yesterday. The survey by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality found New York’s Medicaid program covered 21% of doctor and hospital bills in 2003, more than double a national average of 9.2%. By comparison, Illinois’s Medicaid program paid just 4% of total health expenditures and Pennsylvania’s Medicaid program paid 4.4%, the survey found. The survey examined figures only for the nation’s 10 most populous states. “This is just more evidence that New York’s Medicaid spending is too high. In a nutshell, New York State provides notably lavish benefits to an unusually high number of enrollees,” an employee of the Business Council of New York State, Matthew Maguire.


– Associated Press


SON OF MIAMI POLICE CHIEF PLEADS GUILTY IN DRUG CASE


The son of Miami police Chief John Timoney pleaded guilty yesterday to drug charges that could send him to prison for up to 40 years, almost two months after being arrested for trying to buy 400 pounds of marijuana from an undercover agent. Sean Timoney, 25, admitted in federal court that he gave an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agent a gym bag filled with about $455,000 in cash for partial payment for what he and a co-defendant believed would be the delivery of 400 pounds of marijuana. Timoney pleaded guilty in U.S. District court to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana. “The idea is to show remorse and change your life, and that’s what he’s trying to do,” Timoney’s lawyer, Edward Hayes, said. He faces a maximum of 40 years in prison and a $2 million fine when he is sentenced April 10, though the guilty plea could count toward a lower sentence, lawyers said. He is currently free on $100,000 bail, an assistant U.S. Attorney, Richard Hartunian, said. Chief Timoney is a well-known in law enforcement. He rose through the ranks of the New York Police Department to become a chief and first deputy commissioner.


– Associated Press


POLICE BLOTTER


STRIKE DOES NOT APPEAR TO BE BOOSTING CRIME


Though it can be said that the transit strike has been a major headache in many respects, it has not had a significant affect on crime in the city. As 16,000 police officers safeguarded subway station egresses and directed traffic, reports of major crime dropped a fraction on Tuesday to 370 from 375 on the same day last year, said the chief spokesman of the Police Department, Paul Browne. Other than the arrest of a taxicab driver for assault and price gouging on the Upper East Side Tuesday, the injury of a Queens police officer in a traffic accident the same day, and the arrest of an alleged burglar by a recruit on pre-strike-related duty Monday, major crime and accidents related to the illegal strike have been nonexistent. The police commissioner, Raymond Kelly, thanked some of the police officers for putting in long hours in cold weather. As he shook officers’ hands Tuesday morning at 61st Street and Madison Avenue, Mr. Kelly noticed one recruit had cold hands. After the new police officer said he had loaned out his gloves, the police commissioner gave him his leather gloves.


– Staff Reporter of the Sun


SEX ASSAULT SUSPECT GETS NEW REPRESENTATION


The father of the fake firefighter sexual assault suspect, Peter Braunstein, retained a criminal defense attorney, Robert Gottlieb, to represent his son. Two Legal Aid lawyers represented Mr. Braunstein at his Tuesday arraignment on charges of kidnapping, sexual abuse, robbery, burglary, and arson. Mr. Braunstein’s father, Alberto Braunstein, had initially offered to foot the bill for a lawyer, changed his mind when his son rejected a visit from him, and then changed his mind back again. After the deal was finalized yesterday, Mr. Gottlieb said he met with Mr. Braunstein, 41, at Bellevue Hospital Center, where the suspect was undergoing psychological tests. A freelance writer, Mr. Braunstein allegedly dressed as a firefighter on Halloween as a ruse to get into a 34-year-old woman’s Chelsea apartment building. He set several small fires and made his way into his victim’s apartment where he allegedly sexually abused her on-and-off for close to 13 hours. He was arrested on the University of Memphis campus on December 16 when a school employee recognized him from America’s Most Wanted. Mr. Braunstein’s next court date is tomorrow.


– Staff Reporter of the Sun


CITYWIDE


COUNCIL PASSES RESOLUTION URGING STATE TO OPT OUT OF REAL ID ACT


The New York City Council passed a resolution yesterday urging the state to opt out of the Real ID Act, federal legislation that created national standards for driver’s licenses. Citing “no real debate or deliberation” on the act that became law as part of a war appropriations bill in May, the council’s resolution states it will hurt immigrants and may not prevent against terrorists. For those and other reasons, it urges the state not to adopt the new driver’s license regulations, which include barring illegal immigrants from licenses.


– Staff Reporter of the Sun


STATEWIDE


NEW FUGITIVE UNIT SNAGS SUSPECT


BUFFALO, N.Y. – A convict from Ghana who ignored a judge’s deportation order was among the first arrests by a new law enforcement unit dedicated to rounding up fugitive immigration violators, authorities said yesterday. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s upstate New York Fugitive Operations Team began work December 1 as part of Department of Homeland Security efforts to track down and deport fugitive aliens, particularly those with criminal records, detention and removal director of ICE’s Buffalo office, William Cleary, said. “We’re concentrating on the most serious [violators],” Mr. Cleary said, “sexual predators, people who are a danger to the community.” Arrested Tuesday in Rochester was Emmanuel Aboagye, 51, who had been ordered deported after being convicted of drug dealing, grand larceny, possession of stolen property, and driving while intoxicated, according to ICE. Aboagye, who was arrested after a surveillance team determined where he was living, will be held without bond pending his removal from the country.


– Associated Press

NY Sun
NEW YORK SUN CONTRIBUTOR

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.


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