Thursday, October 11, 2018

2nd Avenue gas explosion defendants due back in court on Monday



There's another court date for Maria Hrynenko and three other people accused of manslaughter for the deadly explosion that destroyed three buildings at 119-123 Second Ave. in March 2015.

According to public records, Hrynenko, who owned No. 119 and 121, and the other three defendants will appear in court on Monday.



Records show that Hrynenko and the other accused have appeared in New York County Criminal Court 19 times since February 2016... and the outcome was the same — "adjourned/bail continued" — since their initial appearance...



To recap...In February 2016, Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance's office charged Hrynenko and four others with manslaughter and negligent homicide for their alleged role in the blast that killed two men and injured more than a dozen other people in the buildings between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place.

Vance's office charged Maria and her son, Michael Jr., along with contractor Dilber Kukic and plumber Jerry Ioannidis with manslaughter in the second degree, criminally negligent homicide and assault in the second degree, among other charges. (The final defendant, licensed plumber Andrew Trombettas, was charged with offering a false instrument​,​ for allegedly lending his name and license number to paperwork.)

The five were accused of installing an illegal gas system, which they hid from inspectors, at No. 119 and 121. All five pleaded not guilty.

An obituary posted last August at the Pizzi Funeral Home website stated that Michael Jr. died on Aug. 25, 2017. He was 31. A cause of death was not disclosed for Hrynenko, who was also called Mischou.

In early August, the development team behind the proposed 7-story condoplex at part of the explosion site (the former No. 119 and 121) received approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission for a high-end residential building with ground-floor retail.

The new building will include a commemorative plaque that honors Moises Locón and Nicholas Figueroa, the men who died that March 26, 2015.

Shaky Cohen's Nexus Building Development Group paid $9.15 million for the empty lots.

The third site, which was not owned by Hrynenko, sold for $6 million in 2016, but there aren't any development plans for that property, 123 Second Ave., yet.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Exclusive: 2nd Avenue explosion sites have a new owner

Dedicating Moises Locón Way and Nicholas Figueroa Way on 2nd Avenue at 7th Street

Soil testing underway at the 2nd Avenue explosion site

5 comments:

JQ LLC said...

And one of the contractors hired by those four demons was still getting hired by unscrupulous landlords...


https://impunitycity.wordpress.com/2018/03/09/contractor-who-exploded-an-east-village-apartment-building-caught-gut-renovating-a-east-harlem-apartment-building-days-before-his-manslaughter-trial/

Anonymous said...

How could this get pushed off for so long? Baffling.

Well, all of the money for those lots will be long gone.

NOTORIOUS said...

Why do Japanese restaurants keep blowing up? There's this one, Yakiniku West on 9th between 2nd and 3rd, the recent one First Ave.

Giovanni said...

@NOTORIOUS. I agree, theres’something really FISHY about these Japanese restaurants blowing up, and I don't like the smell of it at all.

Anonymous said...

Please don't imply that Sushi Park had anything to do with the explosion here. Jesus Christ.