NYC news briefs

Start of fraud trial for ex-St. John's dean

Prosecutors Tuesday accused a former St. John's University administrator of using foreign students on work-study as her household "servants" as the fraud trial of one-time fundraiser and dean of Asian studies Cecilia Chang began in federal court in Brooklyn.

"She betrayed the very students she was supposed to mentor," said Asst. U.S. Attorney Lan Nguyen in her opening statement to the jury, telling the panel that Chang threatened to have the students deported if they didn't perform menial tasks that included serving as her chauffeur, cleaning her house and even washing her underwear.

Chang, 59, of Jamaica Estates, Queens, is accused in a 10-count indictment with forced labor violations for misusing the students, and stealing money from St. John's to pay for shopping sprees, international travel and her son's law school tuition. She is also charged with lying to FBI agents and tax violations.

Her lawyer told jurors that Chang, who worked at the college's Jamaica campus, needed to live large to impress potential donors as the university's international ambassador, and all her spending and use of the students ultimately was designed to benefit the school.

The trial resumes Wednesday.

-- JOHN RILEY

New allegations for ex-con in rape case

A homeless ex-con accused of beating and sexually assaulting a 73-year-old bird-watcher in Central Park randomly groped two more women near the park before his capture, authorities said Tuesday.

Prosecutors announced the additional allegations against David Albert Mitchell at an arraignment Tuesday in state court in Manhattan. They also accused him of threatening to spit on and punch police officers following his arrest.

In addition to first-degree rape, the jailed Mitchell pleaded not guilty yesterday to lesser charges of forcible touching and sex abuse involving the two other women. They credited the original victim with helping identify the alleged attacker, described as a drifter from West Virginia with a violent past.

"We want to thank the victim for her courage and for her assistance in the investigation," District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said in a statement.

There was no immediate response to a phone message left Tuesday with an attorney representing Mitchell.

Prosecutors have portrayed the broad-daylight assault of the 73-year-old as an act of vengeance.

It occurred on Sept. 12, about a week after she photographed Mitchell exposing himself to create "evidence of his lewd act," prosecutors said. Around 11:30 a.m., he allegedly approached her in the park and asked, "Do you remember me?" before beating and raping her, then stealing her camera bag.

Later that afternoon, Mitchell accosted two more women on nearby streets on Manhattan's Upper West Side, prosecutors said, without going into greater detail.

Records show that Mitchell was once sentenced to eight years in prison after pleading guilty in an abduction case. Authorities say he also had been acquitted of murder charges in his native West Virginia.

Henry Hudson Bridge gets cashless tolls

The Henry Hudson Bridge is going cashless.

Unmanned, cashless toll booths are being introduced on the Bronx-Manhattan crossing beginning Nov. 10.

The agency says drivers can pay with the E-ZPass or their license plates will be photographed and the registered driver will get a bill in the mail.

The toll remains the same: $2.20 with E-ZPass and $4 without.

The 34 MTA Bridges and Tunnels officers currently working at the bridge toll plaza will be moved to jobs at other crossings.

The bridge averages 65,000 vehicles daily. It's the first of the MTA's seven bridges and two tunnels to go cashless.

Compiled from wire reports