Ruben Wills rides again

 

Queens Chronicle

Ruben Wills, the former city councilman in District 28 who was convicted of multiple counts of fraud and grand larceny, filed this past weekend with the city Campaign Finance Board to run against Councilwoman Adrienne Adams (D-Jamaica).

Wills, who was elected in 2010, went to prison in 2017 after a jury found that he was guilty of using over tens of thousands of dollars of government funds to buy personal items.

Though the City Council recently passed a law that would disqualify any person who has been convicted of certain felonies involving public corruption from running for City Council, Gothamist first reported that the law is unlikely to apply to Wills’ case after an appeals court reversed his conviction.

The appellate judges found that former Queens Supreme Court Justice Ira Margulis stopped several witnesses from testifying in Wills’ defense.

The court found that Wills was “deprived of his ‘right to present evidence by witnesses of [his] own choosing [which] is a fundamental ingredient of due process.’”

Gothamist reported that Attorney General Letitia James has not decided yet whether to retry the case, but Wills’ lawyer, Kevin O’Donnell, opined to the website that it would not be worth spending public funds on a second trial, when Wills has already served a two-year sentence.

Wills, who did not return multiple attempts by the Chronicle to get in touch for this article, told Gothamist that his experience in prison has got him to think about a set of criminal justice policy reforms.

So far Adams has raised about $40,000 in funds for her re-election campaign.

Two other candidates have recently filed with the CFB to challenge her for the seat.

A look at Wills’ social media pages suggests that his drive to return to public office never left him during his imprisonment. Wills never updated his official Facebook or Twitter pages to reflect the fact that he no longer held his Council seat.

“I am the Councilman representing the New York City Council’s 28th District, covering the Richmond Hill, Rochdale, South Ozone, and Jamaica sections of Queens,” reads the bio on his Twitter page that he regularly posts to.

 To quote George Costanza "It's not a lie if you believe it". Makes a lot of sense why Cuomo is going to ride his term out and run again despite all of his scandals.

Wills suing city over Rikers treatment

From the Times Ledger:

During his stay in prison at Rikers Island over the summer on the grand larceny charges, Wills claimed to have been mistreated and denied medical care for a chronic condition due to a botched surgery from a year and a half ago, according to his lawyer, Natraj Bhushan.

Bhushan said that for days Wills did not receive proper treatment, because the staff did not have his medical records on file to meet his medical needs. His lawyer also says that Wills was not in the proper unit for someone with a chronic condition.

“You’d notice that during his trial [for grand larceny], the judge allowed him to sit on a special cushion, because due to a botched surgery the lower half of his body is permanently, partially disabled,” Bhushan said. “He had atrophy and nerve damage, and it really affected his ability to tend to his constituents for a year and a half.”

According to Bhushan, the pain medicine that Wills is on has side effects, which could affect his psyche, and during his stay at Rikers he did not get placed in a unit where he could have psychological treatment that was ordered in a court directive.

“This is someone who had well-documented medical issues,” Bhushan said. “This was taken into account when they were sentencing him.”

He is suing the city for $10 million because of how he was treated and he hopes his claim, which was acknowledged by the comptroller, would force changes at Rikers.

Summer Friday caption contest

From the NY Post:

​Disgraced​ former​ ​Queens city councilman Ruben Wills cried like a baby as he was sentenced to two to six years in prison Thursday for looting public coffers​, pleading for leniency and maintaining his innocence to the end.

Wills, who was stripped of his title at sentencing, was ordered to pay almost $33,000 in res​​titution after a jury found him guilty of pocketing some $30,000 in city funds.

The normally well-heeled politician arrived in court in jogging duds and blue sneakers–and bawled as he begging the judge for leniency, claiming he’d done nothing wrong.

“Do not incarcerate me,” Wills begged. “I maintain my innocence and disagree with the verdict.”

“I did those things to enrich the community,” the typically cocky man said through sobs, at times crying so hard he was unintelligible. “I cannot justify that I did something wrong.”

“In my entire life I’ve never taken anything from anyone,” he blubbered. “My purpose from birth is I am an advocate.”

The still-teary pol then turned to his wife, and apologized for not spending more time with her “because I was out in the streets helping people and praying for people.”

Defense attorney Kevin O’Donnell also asked the judge for mercy, saying “very few people have given more to the community than Ruben Wills.”

“Show him some mercy, some compassion,” the lawyer implored, adding that jail would bankrupt his client and leave him unable to pay restitution. “I’m just asking you, judge, that you do the right thing and let him do community service. Nobody wins by him going to jail.”

“I have no doubt that you have done some good things in the community,” Queens Supreme Court Judge Ira Margulis told the whimpering lawmaker. “However you are convicted for stealing from state and city agencies.”

Margulis then slapped the disgraced pol with a $5,000 fine on top of everything else, and ordered him cuffed.

So there you have it. Now caption that photo!

Wills guilty, booted from City Council

From NY1:

A jury Thursday has found Queens City Councilman Ruben Wills guilty on five of six counts against him in his corruption trial.

Wills was accused of stealing more than $30,000 in taxpayer money, funneling it through his nonprofit group, then using it, among other things, on clothes, fast food, gas and, in one case, a $690 Louis Vuitton handbag.

After the verdict, he was upbeat and defiant. "I'm just going to sit here and make sure that my community knows that I'm innocent," Wills said to reporters. "I didn't steal any money. I'm disappointed in the verdict."

A city councilman representing southeast Queens since 2011, Wills now automatically loses his council seat.

Wills faces up to seven years in prison. His attorney plans to appeal.

Let's recall that the Queens Machine endorsed him while he was under indictment.

Now what happens? Do they pick his successor?

Trial not going well for Wills

From the NY Post:

Queens Councilman Ruben Wills flew into a rage in court Monday — slamming his fists on the table and yelling at the top of his lungs — as a judge all but threw out his defense in his ongoing corruption trial.

The pol grew infuriated when Queens Supreme Court Judge Ira Margulis barred his lawyer from calling five witnesses, saying they were irrelevant to the case.

The two then continued bickering out of the presence of the jury, which has been hearing evidence since the beginning of this month that Wills allegedly misspent $30,000 in taxpayer funds by blowing it on personal expenses.

“You cannot speak. You have an attorney to speak for you,” Margulis told the fuming Democrat.

Wills retorted, “But you are preventing my attorney from making a case!”

Margulis then issued a stern warning, “One more outburst and I will hold you in contempt!”

“I’m not going to allow these witnesses,” Margulis said before he was interrupted by Wills, who bellowed, “How can do you do that?!” while banging his hands on the defense table.

Wills was admonished a second time for slamming a giant stack of papers on the table and muttering loudly after Margulis refused to postpone the trial so that defense could call witnesses who were unavailable Monday.

The judge eventually allowed one witness — Kim Newsom — to testify Monday afternoon but told O’Donnell, “You’re asking to produce witnesses to testify as to what is in your client’s mind. How can they do that?”

I googled Ruben Wills and this came up first:

Hacked? Or just run by a hack?

Wills finally on trial

From NY1:

Queens City Councilman Ruben Wills is the latest elected official to stand trial on corruption charges. In laying out their case Wednesday, prosecutors said he pocketed thousands of dollars in taxpayer money to use on clothing, meals, and even construction supplies. NY1's Bobby Cuza filed the following report.

Even before he was first elected to the City Council, Ruben Wills had already begun a scheme to defraud taxpayers, prosecutors said, stealing $19,000 in state grant money awarded to his Queens non-profit, and $11,500 in public campaign finance funds.

At opening arguments Wednesday, Assistant Attorney General Travis Hill said that for Wills, "stealing taxpayer funds was business as usual."

The trial is now finally underway after numerous delays, including Wills missing court appearances with an undisclosed illness.

He faces up to seven years in prison on six charges, including fraud and grand larceny, all of which he is vigorously contesting.

Where is Wills?

From the Queens Chronicle:

New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman apparently has had it with the steady stream of delays coming from Councilman Ruben Wills (D-Jamaica) as the councilman moves closer to trial on corruption charges.

Wills was scheduled to appear before Queens Supreme Court Justice Ira Margulis on March 1. The councilman is accused of stealing about $33,000 from a nonprofit group that he ran.

Wills has repeatedly denied the charge, as well as one accusing him of redirecting $11,000 in campaign funds for personal use.

He did not appear, with multiple published reports saying his attorney, Steve Zissou, notified Margulis that he had forgotten to inform Wills of the date. Wills is said to be recovering from surgery in February for an unspecified ailment.

Margulis drafted but did not issue a bench warrant for Wills’ arrest. This past Monday, Wills’ attorney did show in court, and Wills’ next appearance was set for March 13.

But Schneiderman’s office said there were indications this week that Wills now is seeking to hire a new attorney.

DHS rolls out same line of crap in Richmond Hill

From NY1:

A heated town hall meeting took place Thursday to discuss a proposed homeless facility in Ozone Park.

"We don't know if there's sex offenders in here, these people can't survive on their own," said resident Christopher Chopin.

The city is working with non-profit 'Breaking Ground' on the proposal to serve homeless men and women at a building on Atlantic Avenue.

They said the plan is designed to serve 75 drop-in clients who can stop by for services, and an additional 25-50 transitional housing residents.

Councilmember Ruben Wills and State Assemblyman Michael Miller hosted the meeting. The goal was to give residents a chance to express their concerns to a panel of representatives behind the plan.

"This allows people to ask questions, and hopefully get some answers, whether they believe the answers or not, at least they are getting some answers, said Wills.

Answers that didn't seem to sit well with most of the residents who attended, especially since organizers don't plan to put a curfew in place.

"What happens if one day they're not on their medication or they're not receiving the help they need, or they just don't want the help, and they attack one of our children?" said resident Ivette Hurtado.

Organizers argue they will have 24/7 security inside and outside of the building, and won't let sex offenders in.

Look folks, this will not be a "drop in center". This will be yet another location where DHS warehouses 100+ people who come from nowhere nearby. Those deluded into thinking that this will serve "local street homeless" and that they will screen for sex offender status - when they have already been found inside the Pan Am Hotel - have got to wake up and smell the coffee.

Will this work?

From NY1:

Some elected officials and several non-profits in Queens are taking part in a new initiative aimed at helping homeowners get out of foreclosure and increasing affordable housing.

Under the "Foreclosure Buyback Pilot Program," non-profits can buy back distressed mortgages from federal government entities such as Freddie Mae and Freddie Mac, giving families the opportunity to refinance with the organization and stay in their homes.

If that's not possible, local non-profits or municipalities can bid on the distressed properties and then convert them into affordable housing.

Previously, only private equity and hedge funds could purchase these properties.

Councilors I. Daneek Miller, Ruben Wills, and Richards are involved in the program and say it is the first of its kind in the nation.

Wills a no show council member

From NY1:

City Councilman Ruben Wills' seat has been empty a lot lately. The indicted Queens Councilman has not been to City Hall since December, and he has not been to his court appearances, either.

Wills is on medical leave, and that illness is the latest hiccup delaying his corruption trial.

It was nearly two years ago that the Queens Councilman was charged by the state attorney general with grand larceny and filing false business records. He is accused of stealing public tax dollars from a nonprofit group he founded.

"I am not resigning on charges," Wills said in May 2014. "This is America, people. We are presumed innocent before you are proven guilty."

Sounds like he expects to go down. The phrase is "innocent until proven guilty".

The court case that no one is talking about

From the Queens Chronicle:

The position of embattled City Councilman Ruben Wills (D-Jamaica) became even more tenuous last week when his co-defendant in a corruption case brought by state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman pleaded guilty to lesser charges, and accused the councilman of hatching an elaborate scheme to steal campaign funds for personal use.

Jelani Mills said under oath that he assisted Wills in an alleged plot to take $11,500 in campaign funds between June 2009 and April 2010. The agreement with Schneiderman’s office was signed one day after Mills allegedly skipped out on a court date.

It also let Mills avoid a prison sentence by allowing him to plead guilty to a misdemeanor count of second-degree falsifying business records, with four more serious charges from his original indictment dropped.

Mills was originally charged with one count of third-degree larceny and three counts of first-degree falsifying business records when they were arrested.

The agreement stipulates that Mills will be sentenced to one year of probation and 10 days of community service. He could have faced up to a year in prison and a $1,000 fine for the one remaining charge.

Schneiderman’s office declined to comment on the agreement, and no sentencing date was yet available.

The state also alleges that some of the campaign money was directed to NY 4 Life, a nonprofit concern that Wills allegedly controlled.

Residents opposed to "supportive housing"

From the Times Ledger:

Southeast Queens residents and elected officials headed to City Hall last week to voice their concerns over the city’s new supportive housing plans for their shelter-saturated neighborhoods.

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced last week a new plan to build 15,000 supportive housing units for those in need across the city at an estimated cost of $2.6 billion in capital funds over the next 15 years.

The City Council’s Committee on Housing and Building and Committee on General Welfare held a joint hearing Nov.19 about the new supportive housing plan with the city’s Human Resources Administration and Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

During the testimony, HRA Commissioner Steven Banks said HRA provides a form of financial support, temporary housing assistance, training for employment and services for those unable to work.

Council members Ruben Wills (D-South Ozone Park), I. Daneek Miller (D-St. Albans) and Donovan Richards (D-Laurelton) all spoke up about their residents’ concern about more homeless shelters in their neighborhoods.

Sex offenders finally removed from shelter

Daily News

From the Queens Tribune:

In what a seemed like an unending battle with the community, the Skyway Men’s Shelter has finally removed the convicted sex offenders, which they housed in violation of city statutes less than 1,000 feet from local school PS/MS 124.

Councilman Ruben Wills (D-South Jamaica) announced the good new at the Community Board 10 meeting in Ozone Park last Thursday. Wills stated it was a community effort, “It was all of us together as one.” He noted that there have been no incidents since the shelter the Skyway was turned exclusively into a men’s shelter in 2011.

“Deputy Inspector Schiff directed his officers to patrol PS/MS 124’s grounds, particularly during arrival and dismissal, as well as the surrounding park(s). In addition to those locations, the previous precinct commander, Deputy Inspector Thomas Pascale, arranged for patrols at the nearby gas station where offenders residing at Skyway were seen panhandling,” said a spokesperson for Wills’ office.

A press release from Wills’ office regarding the evacuation of the sex offenders stated, “I am pleased to report that sex offenders are no longer being housed at the Skyway Men’s Shelter. DHS has assured my office it will act more cautiously to ensure compliance with the State’s guidelines when sheltering such individuals, and I thank the Department for its cooperation.”

Shit hits the floor in South Jamaica

From the Daily News:

A leak spilling sewage across three floors of a Queens housing complex has outraged tenants and their local city councilman.

The sewage leak at the South Jamaica Houses is the latest black eye for the problem-plagued New York City Housing Authority, which took more than 12 hours just to send somebody with a mop, frustrated residents said.

The smelly sewage spill flooded the basement and the first two floors, closing the community center and forcing the cancellation of several activities.

Residents said the flooding began Sunday evening at about 6 p.m., but has been an ongoing issue for about three years.

Fed-up tenants, dissatisfied with the city's response, reached out to Councilman Ruben Wills, who chastised the agency for the mishap.

More sex offenders moved into controversial shelter

From the Daily News:

A Queens city councilman claimed Tuesday four more registered sex offenders are now living in an Ozone Park homeless shelter that the city promised to make perv-free.

Councilmen Ruben Wills said no sex offenders should be in the Skyway Men’s Shelter because it’s less than 1,000 feet from a school.

“Today, I received word from DHS that it will aggressively ramp up its efforts to remove them from that site,” Wills said. “We will be watching closely in the days ahead to see if there is actual progress on this front.”

There was no explanation from the city Department of Homeless Services about why another quartet of offenders was sent to the shelter.

Ruben Wills has worst Council attendance

From the Daily News:

A Queens pol accused of corruption and a Bronx pol accused of sexual harassment have something in common besides legal trouble - the worst attendance records on the City Council.

Indicted Councilman Ruben Wills (D-Queens) and Councilman Andy King (D-Bronx) each missed about a third of their required meetings, putting them in a tie for dead last in attendance on the 51-member body.

King, who was hit with a claim this year charging he wrongfully fired a staffer after she spurned his sexual advances, skipped 29 of the 89 hearings he was supposed to go to, or 32.6%, according to attendance records obtained through the Freedom of Information Law.

Wills missed 26 out of 111 committee and Council meetings during the fiscal year that ended in June - 23.4%.

Contract for juvie home rejected by comptroller

From the Queens Chronicle:

South Ozone Park residents and members of the South Ozone Park Civic Association West on Tuesday erupted with applause when they heard the news that city Comptroller Scott Stringer rejected the contract for a proposed juvenile detention center on a residential block in the community.

A spokesman for the comptroller said the contract was sent back to the city Administration for Children's Services on Friday, June 12, due to "inconsistencies in the contract."

An ACS spokesman said in an email about the rejection "The Comptroller's office has given ACS additional time to provide more information about our contracts for Limited Secure Placement services, and we are hopeful that we will be able to do right by these young people and bring them closer to home later this summer."

Councilman Ruben Wills (D-South Jamaica), who announced the news to the civic at their meeting on Tuesday, called Stringer's move "a huge step" in the community's fight against the facility that seeks to hold 18 juvenile offenders at 133-23 127 St.

Construction worker punches photographer

From the Forum:

In the latest development of the saga of a proposed juvenile justice facility in South Ozone Park, a construction employee who had been working on the newly erected 127th Street building was arrested for allegedly assaulting a resident who was taking pictures of the controversial site, according to an area elected official and court records.

Andrixs Suarez, 24, was cuffed by 106th Precinct cops on April 30 and arraigned on charges of assault with the intent to cause physical injury, and second-degree harassment. He was released on his own recognizance under a temporary order of protection, according to court documents. Suarez’s next court date is scheduled for July 13.

According to the office of City Councilman Ruben Wills (D-Jamaica), on April 15, Philip Kinard, described as “a resident living in the immediate vicinity of the proposed Administration for Children’s Services Close to Home Limited Secure Placement facility” at 133-23 127th St., was capturing images of the building’s exterior to document what he, at the time, believed to be active violations of a city Department of Buildings stop-work order when Suarez allegedly threatened to strike him if he did not cease taking pictures. Suarez, who was employed by a construction firm that had been hired by facility operator Sheltering Arms, then allegedly punched Kinard as he was looking at Suarez through the camera lens.

Katz's selective outrage

From the NY Times:

Michael Duvalle squared up in front of a two-story brick building on a quiet residential block in southern Queens and brought a megaphone to his lips. A retired security executive and local resident, Mr. Duvalle had a message for the commissioner of the city’s Administration for Children’s Services, Gladys Carrión.

“Commissioner, if you’re listening,” he began, his amplified voice ricocheting off the facade, “this is Mike Duvalle asking you to put this prison in your neighborhood, not in our neighborhood!”

Ms. Carrión was not in the building. Nobody was. But Mr. Duvalle’s bit of political theater on Saturday capped an hourlong rally by more than 40 residents of South Ozone Park, the latest action in a growing protest against the city’s conversion of the building, once a convent, into a center for adolescents who have committed acts of delinquency.

The center is part of the Close to Home program, an initiative started in 2012 by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat, to place some juvenile delinquents — those who are not sentenced to secure facilities upstate — in group homes closer to their families. In New York City, the program’s centers are overseen by the Administration for Children’s Services.

The South Ozone Park center has set off vociferous opposition among some residents of the neighborhood who, since mid-February, have held weekly protest marches through the district to rally more critics. Last week, residents escalated their fight, filing a class-action lawsuit seeking to stop the opening of the center.

Residents have also marshaled the support of politicians who represent the neighborhood, including City Councilman Ruben W. Wills, who has been working with residents for months to block the project. And on Friday, the Queens borough president, Melinda Katz, another Democrat, stepped up her own opposition, sending a letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio requesting that the South Ozone Park location “be shelved” and that the city find an alternate site.

Critics say the South Ozone Park center raises concerns for the safety of neighborhood residents in the event that one of its charges escape. Furthermore, they contend, the center’s presence could lower property values.

Hmm, I can't help but notice the way the press frames these issues when it's a black neighborhood fighting something detrimental vs. a white or Asian neighborhood. I also like Melinda Katz's selective opposition. No letter was sent from her to de Blasio about the Pan Am or the Westway.

Wills indicted again

From Capital New York:

New York City councilman Ruben Wills has been indicted on five counts of filing false documents with the New York City Conflict of Interest Board, state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a release Tuesday.

Wills allegedly filed five different statements with the board between 2011 and 2013 that each failed to disclose “certain financial dealings,” Schneiderman’s office said in a statement.

If convicted, Wills would face between 16 months and four years in prison, the statement said.

Wills served as an aide to former state senator Shirley Huntley, who was arrested on corruption charges by Schneiderman in 2012, before joining the City Council in 2011.

This is the second set of charges Schneiderman’s office has brought against the councilman in less than a year.