Brothers Nabbed For Stealing Quarters From Parking Meters

A Ridgewood resident and his brother have been charged with breaking into Queens parking meters on two separate occasions and stealing a total of 8,600 quarters.

Miguel Williams, 39, of Myrtle Avenue, and his younger brother Ter rence, also 39, of Pacific Street in East New York, have been charged with possession of burglar’s tools, petit larceny, fifth degree criminal possession of stolen property and third degree criminal tampering. If convicted, they each face up to one year in jail.

Most recently, according to the charges, police from the 110th Precinct saw the Williams brothers standing next to two parking meters at the intersection of Main Street and Maple Avenue in Flushing at just after midnight on Thursday, Aug. 20.

Each man was allegedly observed holding a set of metal keys which the men then used to open the meters and remove multiple quarters, which were allegedly placed in the pockets of Miguel Williams.

Police allegedly recovered 740 quarters, totaling $185, from the front right pants pocket of Miguel Williams, as well as the set of keys each man was holding and an addi tional five keys from Miguel Williams’ shoe.

Earlier this year, on May 1, the two brothers were seen exiting a black Chevrolet Tahoe in the vicinity of the 110th Precinct in Elmhurst and approached several parking meters, which Miguel Williams allegedly opened with a key while Terrence Williams provided cover.

When police from the 110th Precinct arrested the men, they al legedly recovered two keys from under Miguel Williams’ hat and six keys rolled in his shirt. Police also re covered 7,884 quarters (totaling $1,971) from the black SUV, which belonged to Miguel Williams’ wife. Bail in that case, which is pending, was set at $2,500 for Miguel Williams and $1,000 for Terrence Williams.

Both men are due back in court on Sept. 23.

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said the investigation is continuing to determine where the de fendants obtained the keys.

“To coin a phrase, these two de fendants are accused of acting like two bit thieves to unjustly enrich themselves,” District Attorney Brown said in a statement. “Unfortunately for them time has expired on their al leged scam.”

Assistant District Attorney Nicole M. Aloise, of the District Attorney’s Criminal Court Bureau, is prosecut ing both cases under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Joan I. Ritter, bureau chief, and Kimberly A. Affronti and Floyd D. Herring, deputy bureau chiefs, and the overall supervision of Senior Executive As sistant District Attorney for Trials James C. Quinn and Deputy Execu tive Assistant District Attorneys for Trials John H. Larsen and Robert J. Masters.

It was noted that a criminal com plaint is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.