POLICE BLOTTER

MAN FATALLY STABBED ON N TRAIN

An unidentified man was fatally stabbed on the last stop of the N train in Brooklyn early yesterday morning, police said. According to police, the train was stopped at the Stillwell Avenue Station in Coney Island, when passengers alerted the train conductor to the man’s presence shortly before 5 a.m. Police said the victim was found sprawled out on the floor of the third car in the train and covered in blood. He was taken to Coney Island Hospital, where he died. As of last night, police did not know the identity of the man because he did not have identification with him, but police described him as a Hispanic male in his 20s, wearing blue jeans, a black bubble jacket, a football jersey, and red and white sneakers. Police said they would use his fingerprints to try to identify him. The murder is the first transit homicide of the year, police reported yesterday. Police also said that transit crime is down this year, with 163 crimes reported so far in 2006, compared to 241 reported by this time in 2005.

– Special to the Sun

IN THE COURTS

KOREAN BUSINESSMAN INDICTED IN OIL-FOR-FOOD SCANDAL

A South Korean businessman accused of accepting millions of dollars from Iraq in the U.N. oil-for-food scandal was indicted yesterday in federal court in Manhattan. Tongsun Park was added to an indictment that already charged six other people and five oil trading companies with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to engage in prohibited financial transactions with Iraq. Prosecutors say Mr. Park, a South Korean citizen, agreed in October of 1992 to work on behalf of the Iraqi government. The indictment said Mr. Park accepted millions of dollars from the Iraqi government while he operated in America as an unregistered agent for Iraq’s oil-for-food program. Mr. Park, 70, remains held without bail. He is scheduled for a bail hearing and an arraignment on Thursday.

– Associated Press

STATEWIDE

21 ARRESTS IN LONG ISLAND ONLINE PROSTITUTION STING

ISLIP – More than 20 arrests have been made after a months long investigation into Internet prostitution, police said yesterday. The sting, dubbed Operation John 5.0, began in October 2005 with Suffolk County police officers gathering intelligence from various Internet sites advertising sexual services in exchange for fees. Prostitutes and their clients were targeted. The investigation showed that the people involved in online prostitution use little discretion and frequently use public areas for their encounters, the police said in a statement announcing the arrests. The 11-week probe yielded 21 arrests for prostitution, promoting prostitution, and patronizing a prostitute, police said; there also were drug and warrant charges.

– Associated Press

QUEENS

ELEVEN INJURED IN QUEENS FIRE

Eleven people, including one firefighter, were injured in a Queens fire early yesterday morning, Fire Department officials said. The blaze at the three-story, brick home on 47th Street near Laurel Hill Boulevard in Sunnyside started around 1 a.m., fire officials said. Some 60 firefighters on the scene got flames under control by 2:32 a.m. Fire Department officials said one civilian suffering from severe burns and smoke inhalation was taken to NewYork Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. Others were taken to St. John’s and Elmhurst Hospitals. Six of the 10 civilians were rescued from the third floor of the home, while four got out by themselves, fire officials said yesterday. Last night, fire officials said tentatively that the fire may have been started by a Hindu prayer altar, used to burn scented oils, incense, and candles. All of the victims are believed to be part of one family, fire officials reported.

– Special to the Sun

COUPLE CONVICTED OF DEFRAUDING LANDLORDS OF MORE THAN $86,000

A Queens couple was convicted of stealing more than $86,000 in a home rental scheme, the Queens district attorney announced yesterday. Nancy Jace and Danny Nicholas, both 39, of 64th Street in Maspeth, were convicted of cheating six landlords out of rent over a seven-year period. The couple was found guilty yesterday of scheming to defraud in the first degree, as well as four counts of grand larceny in the third degree. According to the district attorney, the investigation stemmed from a tip received from U.S. Army reservist David Wang, the owner of a Fresh Meadows home where the couple lived. The district attorney’s office said the couple failed to pay the reservist while he was serving overseas, and he called the authorities when he learned Ms. Jace was suspected of defrauding two elderly men.

– Special to the Sun