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Two Men Arrested in Slashing of 16-Year-Old Exchange Student, Police Say

By Kathleen Culliton | May 26, 2016 5:37pm
 The man slashed a 16-year-old Chinese exchange student across the face, police said.
The man slashed a 16-year-old Chinese exchange student across the face, police said.
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NYPD

QUEENS — Police arrested two men involved in the slashing of a Chinese exchange student in a case of mistaken identity last December, police said Thursday.

Wilson Lai, 25, from Oakland Gardens, is accused of hiring Devon Berkley, 36, of Allentown, Pennsylvania, to attack a teenage girl he was having a sexual relationship with, according to the Queens District Attorney’s Office.

Berkley, who mistook the 16-year-old exchange student for Lai’s intended victim, attacked the girl with a box-cutter on Dec. 16 at 8:20 a.m. near the intersection of 147th Street and 13th Avenue in Whitestone, police said.

“An innocent victim who was merely walking to school was slashed in the face by one of the defendants without warning or provocation,” said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.

“For the rest of her life she must bear the physical and emotional scars of that attack.”

The girl was taken to Long Island Jewish Hospital with two wounds, including one that stretched from her ear to the middle of her throat, police said.

Lai and Berkley are both in police custody and have been charged with endangering the welfare of a child, conspiracy and assault.

Video surveillance caught the attacker running toward the victim from behind, disappearing behind a tree, then sprinting away. He wore a dark hooded sweatshirt and a surgical mask.

Three weeks later, a birthday card with an ominous note appeared on the intended target’s mother’s car, according to police.

Its author promised the girl an “entertaining year” and added the directive, “"Stop being a slut. You f---ed the wrong person."

Lai, who began a sexual relationship with his intended victim when she was 14 years old, is also charged with rape, harassment and child endangerment, police said.

Lai appeared in Queens Supreme Court on Thursday and is being held without bail, according to the DA’s Office. He faces up to 32 years in prison.

Berkley was arrested on Thursday in Allentown, Pennsylvania, where he is currently being held. He faces up to 25 years in prison.