Serving Great Neck, G.N. Plaza, G.N. Estates, Kensington, Kings Point, Lake Success, Russell Gardens, Saddle Rock and Thomaston
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Friday, September 21, 2018
Vol. 93, No. 38
MINEOLA FAIR
TAMARIN LIVES ON THROUGH MEMORIAL
CUOMO TROUNCES NIXON IN NASSAU
PAGES 41-56
PAGE 2
PAGE 6
$5M suit alleges abuse, names USMMA coaches
URBAN POP
Outlines harassment preceding an alleged assault on soccer team bus BY JA N E LL E CL AUSEN A former midshipman and men’s soccer player at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy suffered sustained abuse from teammates before a sexual assault on a team bus, a newly filed lawsuit claims, with coaches allegedly standing at the sidelines or encouraging it. The federal civil suit, filed in Central Islip on Aug. 31 and amended Monday, seeks $5 million plus punitive damages, and targets seven now graduated student athletes, two assistant coaches and the soccer team head coach. The plaintiff was not identified in the suit. “It’s about accountability,” Thomas Grasso, one of the plaintiff ’s two attorneys, said in a phone interview. “We are seeking to hold [accountable] those who had direct involvement in the behavior directed at my client and who
were in a position to stop it.” The complaint claims that Cory Maier and Gavin Yingling forced the plaintiff to the floor, pulled down his boxers and shorts, and “forcibly tried to shove a banana and their fingers into Plaintiff ’s anus and privates” on the way to a soccer game in September 2016. Michael Heckmuller, the complaint alleges, also poured a “foulsmelling liquid” – possibly urine – onto the plaintiff ’s head while yelling. “Plebe we told you to shave your pubes!” “The entire sexual battery attack occurred in full view and in close proximity to all named Defendants, who knew or should have known that Plaintiff was attacked, yet none took any action to stop, prevent, interrupt or report the attack or render any aid to the Plaintiff,” the suit alleges. The other four students named Continued on Page 80
PHOTO BY JANELLE CLAUSEN
The Gold Coast Arts Center held a closing reception for the Urban Pop exhibit late Sunday afternoon, featuring entertainment from Dudley Music and conversations with the gallery’s artists.
Lawyer from G.N. involved in $7M scheme: Queens DA BY JA N E LL E CL AUSEN
the Queens district attorney’s office said last Thursday, for allegedly stealing more than $7 Two disbarred lawyers million from 29 clients over from a now closed Mineola law nine years. Together Kaye & Lenchner firm were hit with charges of grand larceny and scheming, partners Mitchell Lenchner, 60,
of Great Neck, and Corey Kaye, 60, of Seaford, face 29 counts of larceny in varying degrees and one count of first-degree scheme to defraud, Queens District Attorney Richard Continued on Page 80
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