Murder conviction
A Manhattan jury convicted Joseph Pabon, 27, of second degree murder and first degree kidnapping on Mon., April 2 in connection with the 2009 murder of Eridania Rodriguez, a mother of three and a fellow employee in the office building at 2 Rector St.
On the evening of July 7, 2009, Pabon was working as a freight elevator operator in the building where the victim also worked as a member of the cleaning staff. He attacked her on the eighth floor of the building and bound her mouth with tape so tightly that she smothered. Pabon then took the body in the freight elevator to the 12th floor and stuffed it into an air duct where the victim’s body was discovered four days later.
Sentencing is scheduled for May 11 when Pabon is expected to receive 25 years to life in prison.
Sentence Chinatown burglar
Kenneth Harden-Smith, 24, who pleaded guilty to 12 counts of burglary in Chinatown as a hate crime on February 1, was sentenced on Wed., March 28 to eight years in prison plus five years of supervision after release.
Harden-Smith admitted that he targeted Chinatown apartments on Madison, Catherine, Eldridge, Forsyth, Monroe and Henry Sts and East Broadway because of his strong dislike of Chinese people, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.
Harden-Smith broke into the 12 apartments in October and November of 2010 when many of the victim were asleep and a few woke up during the break-ins. Entering buildings with open front doors, he entered apartments with unlocked doors and opened locked doors by using plastic credit or ATM cards. He stole electronic equipment as well as credit cards and cash.
Motorcycle theft
A man parked his 2009 Honda motorcycle valued at $14,000 in front of 108 Charlton St. near Greenwich St. at 2:30 p.m. Thurs. March 29, went to a business meeting and returned at 5:45 p.m. to find it stolen.
Southbridge child abuse
Residents of 90 Gold St. in the Southbridge Towers complex told Downtown Express this week that police questioned them on the night of Sat., March 31/Sun., April 1 about the parents of a boy and a girl between 11 and 13 years old who were severely beaten. One upstairs neighbor said police took the parents for booking and an Emergency Medical Service team took the children to a hospital. A spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney’s office said on Tuesday that the parents were not yet in the Criminal Justice System.
Sentence Tribeca thief
Mihaly Kovacsezics, 62, was sentenced to three to nine years in prison for stealing paintings and jewelry from two residents of 427 Washington St. were he worked as superintendent. He also stole jewelry from a friend and business associate and was arrested trying to leave the country, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office. Kovacsezics stole paintings valued at $13,365 from one resident of the Washington St. building and jewelry valued at $23,380 from another resident. He pleaded guilty to all charges on Feb. 22.
BPC bicycles
A resident of 375 South End Ave. in Battery Park City told police that two bicycles with a total value of $1,020, that she chained and locked in front of her residence on Mon. March 19 were stolen
Beaten on subway
An MTA employee questioned a man sitting on a train in Brooklyn holding a bloody cloth to his nose around 5:45 p.m. Sat., March 31.The injured man said someone attacked his with a box cutter in a train at Chambers St. in Manhattan.
Leather jackets
Police arrested a man on Mon., March 26 who was wanted in connection with the Oct. 21 theft of a leather jacket from the John Varvatos store at 315 Bowery near E. Second St. The suspect, Troy Cooper, 32, had walked into the shop with a leather jacket over his arm, replaced it with one he took from a rack and walked out with it. Police tracked him from the DNA on a wad of chewing gun found in the jacket he left behind, according to a New York Post item.
A man who walked into the Agnes B boutique at 50 Howard St., near Mercer St. around 6:30 p.m. Wed., March 28 took two leather jackets with a total value of $3,500.rolled them up and walked out with them under his coat, police said. A surveillance camera recorded the theft.
Lost it while shopping
A woman visiting from Mechanicsburg, Pa. went shopping in a few Soho boutiques on Saturday morning March 31 and stopped for lunch around noon at a restaurant on Broadway at Spring St. where she discovered that her credit cards were gone. She learned later that two unauthorized charges of $350 and $373 had been made at two nearby stores, Guess and Armani Exchange.
A California visitor, 18, shopping at Aldo Shoes, 579 Broadway on Friday afternoon March 30 put her bag down for a moment and discovered when she looked again that it was gone, along with her wallet, $50 in cash, her driver’s license and her University of California Santa Barbara ID. She learned later that an unauthorized charge of $11 had made at Staples nearby.
April Fool
When the staff of King Diner, 5 King St., near Sixth Ave. opened for business on Sunday morning April 1 they discovered that eight café tables, with a total value of $1,600, were gone from the front of the place.
Watch out
An employee of the Jack Spade store at 56 Greene St told police that a $2,595 Rolex watch that she knew was in its display case at 11 a.m. Sun., April 1 was gone when she looked again at 2 p.m. Police said there were no working surveillance cameras in the place.
— Albert Amateau
