LI BRIEFS

GARDEN CITY/New charges in hit man-for-hire case

Two new criminal charges are being brought against Susan Williams, the Garden City woman accused of trying to hire a hit man to kill her husband, the Nassau district attorney's office said Friday.

Williams, 43, a mother of four, now will face charges of second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, a felony, and fourth-degree criminal solicitation, a misdemeanor, the district attorney's office said in a release.

More details about the new charges will be released when a grand jury indictment is unsealed Monday morning, the district attorney's office said.

John Carman, Williams' defense lawyer, declined to comment Friday on the new charges.

Williams already has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree criminal solicitation and second-degree conspiracy.

- YAMICHE ALCINDOR

and ANN GIVENS

East GARDEN CITY/Prof. charge with sex abuse

A math professor at Nassau Community College was arrested Friday morning, accused of molesting a female student who was in his office to take a makeup test, authorities said.

The professor, Alfred Magrella, 56, of 4 Campbell Dr., Dix Hills, was detained after an investigation into what happened on April 19 at 11:30 a.m. in his office.

Police would not identify the accuser but said she's about 20 years old.

Magrella's defense attorney, Stephen P. Scaring of Garden City, said his client denies the encounter ever happened.

"It's devastating that a professor who's been teaching for 34 years to be accused of something like that," Scaring said of his client, who the college says teaches algebra and statistics.

Magrella has been charged with forcible touching and third-degree sexual abuse. At his arraignment Friday, Magrella's bail was set at $10,000 bond or $5,000 cash.

College spokesman Reggie Tuggle said the administration was to meet Monday to determine what internal actions, if any, it would take.

- SOPHIA CHANG