Payback will cost New Brighton man his freedom

Photo Courtesy of NYPDJoseph Jones

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A motorist forked over $400 to a New Brighton man’s friends to cover damages they sustained in a fender bender.

But Joseph Jones apparently wanted to extract his pound of flesh, too.

Jones, 24, and another man badly beat the motorist inside the victim’s New Dorp Beach home on March 19, 2010 and stole his video gaming system, said prosecutors.

Jones’ attempt at payback is going to cost him his freedom.

A jury in state Supreme Court, St. George, on Wednesday convicted him of first-degree burglary, setting up a potential 25-year prison sentence.

The beating occurred at the end of an unusual sequence of events.

It began when the 54-year-old victim collided at the intersection of Harvard and Prospect avenues in New Brighton with a car occupied by three female friends of Jones.

The suspect and Tavon McClain, 20, of Tompkinsville, arrived on the scene shortly thereafter and began negotiating with the victim over the price of the damages.

The man agreed to pay $400, but had just $60, said prosecutors.

They went to an ATM; however, the man could only get a portion of the remaining $340.

The victim then offered to lead Jones and his friends to his Titus Avenue home to get the rest of the cash.

Once there, the females went into the man’s residence, despite his repeated requests that they wait outside, said prosecutors.

The man got the remaining money, one young woman took it, and she and her two friends left the apartment.

Jones and McClain then entered. They pummeled the victim, breaking his jaw and nose and inflicting other injuries, said prosecutors.

McClain was arrested on April 9 and five weeks later on May 13, pleaded guilty in Stapleton Criminal Court to attempted second-degree robbery, according to online state court records. He was sentenced to six months in jail and five years’ probation.

Jones, who lives on the 200 block of Corson Avenue, was nabbed on May 27.

The defendant has a prior violent felony conviction and faces a minimum of 10 to a maximum of 25 years in prison when sentenced for the burglary conviction, said a spokesman for District Attorney Daniel Donovan.

The proceeding is set for April 6 before Justice Robert J. Collini.

Jones’ lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.

Assistant District Attorneys Karen Varriale and Michele Molfetta are prosecuting the case.