Three men who were arrested during a drug raid at this Woodside auto shop earlier this month had their charges reduced after further investigation. Via Google Maps
Feb. 24, 2025 By Bill Parry
The owner of a Woodside auto repair shop and two reputed gang members who live at city-run migrant shelters were arrested during an NYPD drug raid earlier this month.
Detectives from the NYPD Intelligence Bureau and police from the 108th Precinct in Long Island City executed a search warrant at V&R Auto Repair, located at 54-03 37th Ave., on Wednesday, Feb. 5.
They found the owner, 54-year-old Rafael Nieves, and the other two men working on a car together. During a search of the premises, a detective recovered a 40-caliber Glock pistol inside an office desk along with six and a half oxycodone pills, a plastic bag with two oxycodone pills, and a plastic bag containing a quantity of cocaine on a shelf in the office and four more plastic bags containing a quantity of cocaine from a box near the desk, according to the criminal complaint. A sergeant from the 108th Precinct found a quantity of cocaine wrapped in paper and a plastic bag with more cocaine in a backpack located behind the desk. Over $3,000 was also recovered during the raid.
Nieves and the two men, Jose Tamaronis-Caldera, 27, who lives at the migrant shelter in the Crowne Plaza JFK Airport Hotel, and Richard Garcia, 33, who lives at the migrant facility located in the Roosevelt Hotel on East 45th Street in Manhattan, were taken into custody and booked at the 108th Precinct, where they were charged with felony criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the 4th degree and other related crimes.
The trio were arraigned the following day in Queens Criminal Court on reduced charges after further investigation determined the Glock was not loaded and another firearm found during the raid turned out to be an air pistol.
“The DA’s office reviews all evidence and charges as warranted,” a spokesperson for the Queens District Attorney’s office said in a statement. “In this case, the weapon charge against defendant Nieves is for an unloaded firearm and not bail eligible. Our office asked for supervised release and the judge granted supervised release.”
Tamaronis-Caldera and Garcia were not charged with drug possession and the felony gun charges were reduced to misdemeanors and they were also released without bail.
“The charges against the other two defendants, Garcia and Tamaronis-Caldera, are for possession of an air pistol and are not bail eligible.”
The two migrants reportedly have ties to the Venezuelan street gang Tren de Aragua, but law enforcement sources could not confirm they have gang affiliations.
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