Cell phone extortion
A man and a woman were arrested and charged with extorting money from the owner of a cell phone they found in a cab at Broadway and Canal St. Thurs., May 26.
The suspects, Sarah Tracee, 35, and John Mastrosimone, 43, found the BlackBerry in the cab and sent an e-mail to the owner at about 11:45 a.m. saying they would give it back to her for $500, according to the complaint filed with the Manhattan district attorney. The e-mail said if the victim didn’t pay, the finder would release “sensitive information” on the BlackBerry about the victim to the public. The victim agreed to pay, and police arrested the pair after Mastrosimone took the money, the complaint says.
Robbed bags in projects
Police arrested a man suspected of three robberies in city housing projects on the Lower East Side and in the East Village.
Kevin Alicea, 20, held up one woman on the 13th floor of 819 F.D.R. Drive in the Jacob Riis Houses around 2:50 p.m., on May 15, police said. He grabbed her bag from around her neck, pushed her to the floor and fled, according to the complaint filed with the Manhattan district attorney.
On May 24, he robbed a victim on the 10th floor of 555 F.D.R. Drive in the Baruch Houses at 11:15 a.m. He approached her from behind, threw her to the floor and made off with her bag, according to the criminal complaint.
He is also charged with robbing a woman on the fourth floor of 1115 F.D.R. Drive, in the Riis Houses near E. 12th St., grabbing her bag and fleeing.
Work site injury
Debris that fell from the sidewalk bridge at a problem construction site at 183 East Broadway on Thursday morning June 2, injured a female pedestrian, police said. An Emergency Medical Service team responded at the location near Jefferson St. and took the victim to New York Downtown Hospital in stable condition. The site has 25 Department of Buildings complaints and 35 violations. The department issued a stop-work order in 2009 on the grounds that the building violated the city’s “sliver law,” meaning it was too tall for the location.
Punches officers for ‘fun’
A rowdy patron, ejected from Cielo club, 18 Little W. 12th St., around 3:36 a.m. Fri., June 3, went across the street and came up behind Sixth Precinct officers who were investigating another incident. The suspect punched the officers in the back of the head and fought against being handcuffed, police said. When asked why he attacked cops, the suspect, Stanislaus Borat, 28, said. “I thought it would be fun.”
Try and try again
Edwin James, 24, was arrested on Sat., May 28, and charged with passing counterfeit $100 bills at Ajna bar, at 25 Little W. 12th St. The suspect fled without getting change at 12:15 a.m. when the bartender began scanning the bill, police said. An hour later, the suspect gave another bartender in the place another C-note and fled again without change when the bartender scanned the bill. Both bills were counterfeit and police soon arrested Edwin James, 24.
Groper gone wild
Police arrested Hassan Rkein, 32, in Three Sheets Saloon, 134 W. Third St., around 7 p.m. Thurs., May 27, and charged him with groping a woman patron and then punching and biting a man who intervened. Rkein rubbed his knee against the woman’s buttocks and then put his hand there when she told him to quit, police said. When a male patron confronted him, Rkein hit him in the head with a glass and then bit him on the shoulder, police said. Police charged him with felony assault and unlawful touching.
Beef over seat
A man sitting in the McDonald’s at Sixth Ave. and W. Third St. around 12:35 a.m. Thurs., June 2, heard a stranger next to him say, “You can’t sit there. That’s my seat.” When the man continued to eat, the stranger, who wore a spiked, leather bracelet, punched him and cut him behind the ear, police said. The victim went out and began calling 911 but the suspect grabbed his cell phone, stomped on the sunglasses that the victim dropped and fled. Police soon arrested James Jenkins, 28, and charged him with robbery.
Wanted his watch
A man walking to his Wooster St. home around 5 a.m. Sun., June 5, was attacked near Prince St. by two men who beat him and took his Patek Philippe watch valued at $25,000, police said.
Albert Amateau
