The building owner in Manhattan and a couple of builders were sentenced Friday, January 17, for the period from 4 to 12 years in prison for the illegal laying of a gas line that led to the deadly explosion.
Nicholas Figueroa, a former eagle scout, was 22, when March 26, 2015 at 119, 121 and 123 Second Avenue burst into flame. Figueroa, who a few months ago graduated from College, had lunch at the sushi bar on the ground floor of one of the buildings. He died during the explosion.
27-year-old Moses Curl Yak, the busboy, was also killed in the explosion and fire. The victim’s brother testified in court that the restaurant worker was burned so that he had to identify the remains of his brother in the morgue on the pictures provided forensic expert. Twenty people were injured.
According to prosecutors, the owner of the building Maria Grinenko, the contractor Dilber Kukic the plumber Athanasios Ioannidis conducted an illegal line into the building to pump the gas out of the restaurant on the ground floor. This was done in order to not lose $24 thousand rent on a monthly basis.
Former residents talk about landlord Maria Hrynenko ‘it was clear she wanted to get rid of… https://t.co/dbmkRejZUv pic.twitter.com/sz9hteXGWS
— Tigh Loughhead (@tigho) February 13, 2016
According to court testimony, the son of Kukicha and Grinenko left the building before it exploded without warning one of the residents of the impending danger.
«She was not only complicit, she was the driving force behind this. And whether she had money or not, it was about the ability of tenants to pay rent in this building,» said judge Michael Obus about the landlady in the sentence.
All three were convicted of manslaughter and assault.
A gas explosion and fire destroyed the 123 Second Ave., which is adjacent to buildings owned by Grinenko.
