Man who allegedly killed Queens couple after forcing way into home pleads not guilty: DA
NYPD
(NEW YORK) — A man pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges he forced his way into a Queens, New York, home, killed the elderly couple who lived there, set fire to the house and then went on a shopping spree with the victims’ credit card, prosecutors said.
Jamel McGriff, 42, is charged in a 50-count indictment with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, kidnapping, arson, burglary and other offenses in connection with last month’s home invasion.
McGriff allegedly “made multiple attempts to transfer money from their bank account, murdered them and set the house ablaze before fleeing with their phones and credit cards,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said.
On Sept. 8, McGriff allegedly knocked on the Oltons’ neighbor’s door asking to charge his phone, and the neighbor turned him away, police said. Surveillance video showed McGriff then going to the victims’ house and victim Frank Olton letting him in, according to police.
Surveillance video showed McGriff going into the Oltons’ home around 10 a.m. and he did not leave until roughly 3:08 p.m, and he was seen walking from the home carrying a duffel bag, authorities said. Later, the Oltons’ son was notified by an alarm company there was a fire at the house.
Frank Olton, 76, was found tied to a pole in his basement suffering from multiple stab wounds, and his wife Maureen Olton, 77, was found on the house’s first floor, severely burned, the NYPD said.
After McGriff allegedly left the Oltons’ home, around 6 p.m., he is accused of making two purchases totaling $796.10 on Frank Olton’s credit card at Macy’s in Herald Square in Manhattan, prosecutors said. McGriff allegedly provided the cashier with his personal loyalty number for the transactions, prosecutors said.
On Sept. 9, McGriff allegedly deposited the Oltons’ phones into a machine that disburses cash for mobile devices at a Bronx check cashing store, and he allegedly used his own personal identification for the transactions, officials said.
McGriff is due to return to court on Nov. 12. He faces a life sentence if convicted.
(NEW YORK) — A week into the government shutdown, air traffic controller sick calls are beginning to cause delays and cancellations as a number of airport towers and control facilities don’t have enough staff to properly handle all flights.
Controllers are considered essential workers and are exempt from being furloughed during a shutdown. An estimated 13,294 controllers will continue to work without pay during the shutdown, according to the Department of Transportation’s shutdown plan.
California’s Burbank Airport was hit hardest Monday and was forced to close its tower from 4:15 p.m. through 10 p.m. PDT because it had no air traffic controllers, according to FAA documents.
The airport remained open but flights were delayed on average more than 2.5 hours. Controllers from a San Diego facility handled traffic into and out of Burbank during the tower closure.
“Clearance is closed. Ground’s closed. Local’s closed. The tower is closed due to staffing. You just contact SoCal on the 1-800 number in the green book for your clearance,” a controller can be heard informing pilots on air traffic control recordings, referring to a published listing of airport information.
Several other ATC facilities also experienced staffing issues on Monday. The Philadelphia TRACON (Terminal Radar Approach Control), Denver Center, Detroit TRACON, Indianapolis Center, Phoenix Airport, and the Phoenix TRACON also had staffing advisories from the Federal Aviation Administration. More than 600 flights Monday were delayed in and out of the Denver Airport and over 200 at Phoenix Airport.
“There have been increased staffing shortages across the system. When that happens, the FAA slows traffic into some airports to ensure safe operations,” the agency said in a statement to ABC News.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), the union representing controllers nationwide, said it’s working with the FAA to mitigate any disruptions in the national airspace.
“It is normal for a few air traffic controllers to call in sick on any given day, and this is the latest example of how fragile our aviation system is in the midst of a national shortage of these critical safety professionals,” NATCA said in a statement to ABC News.
While ATC staffing is at critical levels across the country, it’s rare for it to have impacts on flights due to staffing shortages in places like Arizona or California, according to FAA documents reviewed by ABC News.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said at a press conference on Monday that sick calls from controllers have been spread out across the region and not from one specific airport or ATC facility, but acknowledged that staffing levels at certain facilities are down as much as 50 percent.
“We don’t have one facility that has had long-term issues with the sick leave. But that is concerning to me. And if someone has to take sick leave, to drive Uber to make the difference, those are decisions they’re going to make themselves. But of course, that’s concerning for us,” Duffy said.
“These are high-skilled, high-performing, safety-driven professionals that I don’t want them driving for work,” Duffy added. “I don’t want them finding a second job to pay the bills. I want them to get paid for the work they’re doing today, keeping our planes in the air and our skies safe.”
Duffy met with controllers handling Newark’s airspace Monday and said they expressed concerns over the added financial stress of the shutdown in an already demanding job.
“The consistent message from these controllers was they’re not just now thinking about the airspace and the jobs they have to do in these towers or TRACON centers across the country. They’re thinking about, ‘am I going to get a paycheck?’” Duffy said. “So now what they think about as they’re controlling our airspace is, ‘how am I going to pay my mortgage? How do I make my car payment? I have a couple kids at home, how do I put food in the table? I’m working six days a week — do I have to take a second job and drive Uber when I’m already exhausted from doing a job that’s already stressful to think about.’”
Air traffic controllers will receive a partial paycheck on October 14 but will not be paid on October 28 if the shutdown continues, according to NATCA. Under the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 (GEFTA), controllers will receive back pay after the shutdown ends.
The staffing crisis also led to some heated political exchanges on social media. California Governor Newsom posted on X, saying, “Thanks, @realDonaldTrump! Burbank Airport has ZERO air traffic controllers from 4:15pm to 10pm today because of YOUR government shutdown.”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy fired back at Newsom, posting, “News Flash! Your Democrat friends shut down the government because they want to make Americans pay the health care for illegals. And no state has more illegals than California! You care more about illegals than our hard-working American air traffic controllers. If you’re looking for someone to blame, look in the mirror – we all know it’s your favorite thing to do.”
Another aspect of air travel impacted by the shutdown, which is on the verge of running out of funding, is the Essential Air Service (EAS) program. Duffy said the EAS program, which provides airlines with subsidies to fly to rural areas that otherwise wouldn’t have air service because the route wouldn’t be profitable, will run out of funding on Sunday, Oct. 12.
“Air carriers that continue to operate EAS flights beyond October 12, 2025, would do so at their own risk as the Department may not be able to pay the contracted subsidy,” the DOT said in a notice. The notice also says that if carriers continue to operate during the funding lapse, they could be reimbursed on a “pro rata basis,” meaning they might not receive the full amount owed.
The biggest impacts would be felt in Alaska, where air travel is the primary mode of transportation. Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski posted on X, saying, “The critical assistance these routes provide makes a disruption on any scale detrimental to these communities, and the local air carriers serving them.”
Murkowski said she is working with the administration to find a solution.
Emergency responders gather at Times Square in Manhattan after a suspicious package was discovered on August 18, 2025 in New York City. Police evacuated a part of the popular tourist destination for over an hour as they examined the package, which turned out not to be a threat. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A suspect faces multiple charges after allegedly leaving a suspicious package in Times Square on Monday, according to the New York Police Department.
On Monday at approximately 10:32 a.m., police responded to a call of a “suspicious package” in the vicinity of West 43 Street and Seventh Avenue, officials said in a statement to ABC News.
Once on the scene, officials said they located the package “in front of the New York Police Department facility.”
Police requested the NYPD Emergency Service Unit and Bomb Squad to respond to the scene, with officials also releasing an advisory urging the public to avoid the area.
An hour after the initial advisory was released, officials said the object was determined to not be a threat and the area was reopened “to both pedestrian and vehicular traffic.”
The suspect, 26-year-old Desean Maryat, was taken into custody on Monday at approximately 2:11 p.m., police said. Maryat, who is from the Bronx, was charged with reckless endangerment, placing a false bomb or hazardous substance, making terroristic threats, making a threat of mass harm and disorderly conduct, police said.
Maryat was taken to a hospital for a psych evaluation before being charged, according to New York ABC station WABC.
Police said the investigation remains ongoing.
Maryat has been previously charged with criminal possession of a weapon, third-degree menacing and second-degree harassment, according to court records.
It is unclear whether Maryat has an attorney who can speak on his behalf or when his next court appearance is scheduled.
Thomas Fuller/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Image
(NEW YORK)- — A father’s lawsuit against the online gaming platform Roblox will remain in the public eye after a California judge denied the company’s attempt to force the dispute into a private resolution process.
While the ruling issued last week by California Superior Court Judge Nina Shapirshteyn applies only to one case in San Mateo County, attorneys representing dozens of families view the ruling as a legal precedent that opens the door for other victims to pursue their lawsuits against the company through the judicial system.
Roblox, launched in 2006, has been at the center of recent controversy, with some parents alleging that the platform has been used to help facilitate child sexual exploitation and grooming. The company is facing over 35 lawsuits, with one law firm telling ABC News that it is investigating thousands of child sexual exploitation and abuse claims.
Roblox had nearly 83 million average daily active users in 2024, according to its financial reports. It reported $3.6 billion in revenue last year.
The attorneys general of Louisiana and Kentucky have filed lawsuits against the company, and recently Florida’s attorney general subpoenaed Roblox for information about its age verification and chat moderation policies.
The company has consistently responded to the lawsuits and allegations by stating that protecting children is a priority and announcing investments in safety measures, including artificial intelligence age verification.
“We are deeply troubled by any allegations about harms to children online and are committed to setting the industry standard for safety,” a spokesperson for Roblox told ABC News. “To protect our users, we have rigorous, industry-leading policies, including limiting chat for younger users and employing advanced filters designed to block the sharing of personal information. Roblox also does not allow users to share images or videos. We also collaborate closely with law enforcement.”
The Roblox spokesperson told ABC News the company disagrees with the ruling from the California judge and plans to appeal.
‘The gateway to all of this happening’ Steve, the father whose lawsuit prompted last week’s ruling in California, told ABC News that in 2023, he created a Roblox account for his son who was 13 years old at the time.
A year later, Steve — who asked ABC News not to publish his last name out of concern for his son’s safety — made a devastating discovery. He says he found messages on his son’s phone from an individual who, according to civil court documents, found his son on a children’s game in the online platform and initiated contact, despite him and his son not being “friends” on the platform.
According to Steve and court records, the perpetrator, who had initially posed as a 16-year-old, moved communication off of Roblox and onto Discord, a separate communication platform. Once there, he allegedly began exploiting Steve’s son by offering Robux gift cards — Roblox’s in-game currency — in exchange for explicit images and videos.
The messages Steve found allegedly included direct threats after his son failed to show up to an arranged in-person meeting, with the accused predator reminding the teenager that he knew his New Jersey address, according to the complaint.
“He had our home address, what school he went to, his phone number, everything,” Steve said.
Steve told ABC News he immediately contacted local police who later told him that the man who messaged his son was a known predator who was facing charges in another case for sexually exploiting another child. According to the complaint, authorities believe the same individual similarly exploited at least 26 other children using online platforms.
In February, Steve filed a lawsuit against Roblox and Discord, alleging the companies misled him and other parents about the platforms’ safety and features, leading directly to his son’s “sexual exploitation and abuse.”
In a statement to ABC News, a Discord spokesperson said the company is “committed to safety” and said it requires all users to be 13 to use their platform.
“We maintain strong systems to prevent the spread of sexual exploitation and grooming on our platform and also work with other technology companies and safety organizations to improve online safety across the internet,” the spokesperson said.
“I’ve traditionally kept myself as a ‘helicopter parent,’ so I did all my research,” Steve said. “I did my best to enable every parental control I could find, and a lot of them are pretty confusing, but I tried my best to keep him safe online and teach him as best I could, and it still happened.”
Steve told ABC News that Roblox “was the gateway to all of this happening” because that’s where “all the conversations started.”
‘Everyone deserves a day in court’ Alexandra Walsh, the attorney representing Steve and about a dozen other clients suing the company, said Roblox’s response to the lawsuit was to file a motion to compel arbitration — a private, out-of-court process where claims are settled confidentially by a third party.
“[It was] a motion to silence this family, to prevent this family from presenting what happened to them to a judge and jury, and instead put it into a secret rigged system,” Walsh told ABC News. “Roblox has followed suit in multiple other cases … they’ve either filed similar motions to compel arbitration, or made very clear that they intend to do so.”
In court filings, Roblox has said the dispute must be settled confidentially, because Steve, when he signed up for Roblox, was provided notice of the Terms of Service and the Arbitration Agreement mandating that any dispute “will be subject only to binding arbitration.”
The company said in filings that their arbitration agreement is “consumer friendly and cost friendly.”
Last week, Judge Shapirshteyn rejected Roblox’s motion to compel arbitration.
Walsh told ABC News the company has a right to defend itself, but it should do so “in the light of day so the public can see, and so that a jury made up of citizens of this country can decide if they’re liable or not.”
Steve told ABC News the ruling was “reassuring.”
“Everyone deserves a day in court, but Roblox and these companies don’t want that to happen,” Steve said. “They want to keep things quiet.”
Steve told ABC News that his family moved across the country because they did not feel safe in their home.
“It was an eye-opening experience,” he said. “Predators aren’t down at your local park anymore. They’re not hanging out in the dark city places … it has become just so easy for them to come online and pretend to be somebody that they’re not.”
