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Teen Pleads Guilty To 2006 Park Murder
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Yovani Rivera pleaded guilty to the 2006 slaying of Carlos Flores in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.
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By Noah C. Zuss
Yovani Rivera of Elmhurst has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and second-degree attempted murder in connection with a series of robberies in Flushing-Meadows-Corona Park. He now faces 25 years to life in prison.
The 2006 attacks resulted in the death of one victim and the near fatal killing of another.
Queens District Attorney Richard Brown announced Tuesday that the Queens teenager was charged and pleaded guilty to murder and attempted murder in the case.
“The defendant was involved in a string of brutal muggings in and around Flushing Meadow Park that left one man dead and another severely injured and in a coma,” Brown said. “The defendant’s admission of guilt ensures that he is held responsible for his actions and that he will serve a lengthy prison sentence.”
The park has a mixed history of crime, with violent incidents reported periodically to police.
Yovanni Rivera, 19, was last reported to live on 54th Avenue in Elmhurst.
The defendant appeared Tuesday before Justice Arthur J. Cooperman and pleaded guilty to the charges. Justice Cooperman set sentencing for Oct. 6 and indicated that he would likely sentence the defendant to the maximum 25 years to life in prison on the murder charge and a concurrent term of 25 years in prison on the attempted murder charge.
Brown said Rivera admitted he approached victim Carlos Flores, 40, of Ridgewood, as he was walking through the park on Dec. 4, 2006. He then robbed Flores of $20, his ID and Metro Card before striking him several times with a machete, causing deep slashes to his face, legs and opening gashes to the back of his head, killing him.
Rivera then tried to cover up the act by dumping Flores’s body in a park pond near the Long Island Expressway and College Point Boulevard. The body was found half-submerged in the next morning.
The DA said in the second attack, Rivera and another teenager, co-defendant Marcos Polanco, 19, of 43rd Avenue in Corona approached 33-year-old Ja Woo Park while he was jogging through the park at Dec. 25, 2006, and attacked him, causing severe head trauma. They robbed his cash and took the keys to his 2007 Honda van. Park was found unconscious near the Unisphere and remains in a coma to this day.
Polanco appeared before Justice Cooperman several months ago on March 12, and pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery. He is expected to be sentenced to 20 years in prison when he appears in court again on Sept. 26.
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