Breaking News: Joseph Alnarshi Arrested

[Bridget Martin]

Good morning, Bridget Martin, Channel 2 CBS News reporter
July 17, 2007

Breaking News: Joseph Alnarshi was arrested Monday night and charged with the recent kidnapping of Samantha Emeris, the new and highly talented singer at the Four Seasons Club. In a short morning press conference Lt. Chris Meloni advised us that they have been searching for Alnarshi for several weeks. They had staked out a houseboat on the East River near Queens, a place that an informant said Alnarshi was using as his hide out.

When police Lt. Joe Friday arrived to pick up Samantha and bring her down to the 5th Precinct to identify Alnarshi as her kidnapper, they found two dead bodies in her Carnegie Hill apartment. One was a man named Eric Shepard, Samantha's boyfriend that was shot trying to protect her. She claims he managed to wrestle a knife off the other victim an stab him before that man shot him.

The CSI team are still clearing up her apartment to confirm exactly what happened. The supposed attacker that most probably was sent there by Alnarshi to silence Samantha has not been identified yet.

We'll be staying right on top of this case as more information becomes available.

[Chris Meloni]

On Wednesday I first met with Nelle Porter to set up the interrogation of Joseph Alnarshi Wednesday night. We still don't know who his lawyer might be. Nelle has the entire file and said there won't be any trouble obtaining a conviction on the Samantha Emeris kidnapping. With Samantha identifying Joseph as the kidnapper and the data obtained by the CSI team at that warehouse, they have him nailed cold.

The hospital that went over Samantha after she escaped gave the CSI unit data on this new drug he used to manipulate her.

The FBI now has a search warrant to search the houseboat, take any computers and personal information devices like a Blackberry, trace his telephone contacts and anything else that might assist them in locating the drug designer and related dealers.

I took Jeff Mallard with me to join the FBI search team. They took his laptop and several personal devices that they can use to identify drug connections. We did find information that will prove that Shane King was indeed working with/for Alnarshi. We also found information that will link Alnarshi with Michael Smith and Eric Shepard, the two dead men found in Samantha's apartment Monday night.

We're hoping that Alnarshi will plead guilty, offer the FBI information on the drug source, and also admit that he had Shane King murdered and dumped in the river, since he's facing a life sentence already.

[David Moore]

Lisa Cohen and Nelle Porter met with Laura Oldsworth, Joseph Alnarshi's attorney, and convinced her to meet with him in private and negotiate a plea bargain. They offered to reduce his sentence to just assault and battery and simply possession of a potentially illegal drug if he would tell them where he obtained the drug he used on Samantha Emeris.

He was terrified that if he gave up that information the drug dealer would have him killed, even if he was in prison. They finally offered him witness protection where he could serve his time just wearing an electronic ankle bracelet that would allow them to know where he was at all times.

Using the phone number Joseph Alnashi gave Lisa Cohen, 1-610-459-8498, we reached a man named Matthew Reez, who agreed to meet with one of Joseph's henchmen and provide more of the drug for $100,000. Roy Ravelle, one of our FBI undercover agents, then met somebody in Central Park near the fountain to make the exchange. Our plan was to use marked money in a metal briefcase with a hidden device inside that we were able to trace to a two story building near the Brooklyn docks.

Lisa obtained us a search warrant and we raided the building the following day. A fierce gun battle ensued and Matthew Reez and two of his thugs were killed in the attack. One FBI agent was wounded in the shoulder, but he's recovering in a Brooklyn hospital.

The drug was being manufactured in a still in the building. Apparently they were all living on the second floor and all three were illegal immigrants from Columbia.