WORLD> America
Chinese paper exec robbed, strangled in NY
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-06-12 10:37

NEW YORK -- An advertising executive for the largest Chinese-language newspaper in the US was robbed and strangled by two teenagers who spotted him sleeping in a luxury sport utility vehicle late at night, prosecutors said Thursday.

Those two and another teenager charged in connection with the attack on 49-year-old David Kao, who worked for The World Journal, preyed on Asian men to rob, said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown. But the case is not being prosecuted as a hate crime, he said.

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According to statements the suspects made to police, 17-year-old Chris Levy slipped into the Lexus SUV early Saturday and grabbed Kao from behind in a headlock. Cory Azor, 16, helped yank him into the back seat, according to statements they made to police. They told police Kao was apparently drunk; Levy punched him and put him in a choke hold.

Then Kao stopped moving.

They drove the SUV to a grassy area, took Kao's wallet and dumped the body, then sped away, according to their statements to police.

"Chris said the guy still had a pulse, and we found a place to drop him off," Azor said in his statements.

The two were charged Wednesday with second-degree murder. A third teenager, Keron Wilthshire, was accused of driving the stolen Lexus after Kao's death and was charged with criminal possession of stolen property.

Levy and Azor were being held without bail, and Wilthshire was ordered held on $75,000 bail. Levy's lawyer, Robert Weinstein, declined to comment Thursday, and Azor and Wilthshire's lawyer didn't return messages seeking comment.

The three were also charged with robbing 42-year-old Jin Tong Yuan as he entered an elevator at a building about a week before Kao was killed, prosecutors said. Yuan said he was ambushed and put in a choke hold while another person showed off a silver handgun and they stole his cash and a cell phone.

The World Journal has a daily circulation of 350,000.