L.E.S. kids in line of fire
A rash of shootings has been plaguing the area around the Lower East Side housing projects. Above, on July 7, a 13-year-old girl was wounded in the leg outside 71 Columbia St. Right, on July 22, a 10-year-old boy was struck in the shoulder outside 100 Pitt St.
Dies of wounds
Yency Araujo, 22, who was stabbed on July 6 outside of Rocket Joe’s Pizza, 61 Delancey St., near Orchard St., after he and a friend got into an argument with two men, died of his wounds last week. Police are seeking the two suspects in what has now been classified as a murder.
Beating, rape charges
Eli Figueroa, 28, was arrested for breaking into an apartment at 130 Columbia St. in the Baruch Houses on July 16 and punching and slapping his 18-year-old wife, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Charged with burglary and assault, he was also charged with rape after police learned that he had sex twice with his wife when she was 16, younger than the age of consent. Bail was set at $4,000 pending an Oct. 25 court appearance.
Stray bullets
A stray bullet struck a boy, William Claudio, 10, while he was in a playground in the Samuel Gompers Houses, 100 Pitt St., shortly before 10 p.m. Sun., July 22. Claudio was hit in the right shoulder and a bullet fragment also struck his right forearm just above the wrist, according to reports.
Three weeks earlier, on July 7, not far from the site of the July 22 incident, a stray bullet hit a girl, 13, in the leg as she was leaving a community center at 71 Columbia St.
Police from the Seventh Precinct arrested four drug suspects on Mon., July 23, and were questioning two of them about the Pitt St. shooting, according to a Newsday article.
Missing teen
Police last week were seeking public help in locating Rodney Cokley, 15, last seen at 7:30 a.m. Tues., July 17, in the Chambers St. station of the A train in the company of a relative. The missing boy is 5 feet 7 inches, 160 pounds and was wearing a green shirt, blue jeans and black sneakers. Phone information to the New York Police Department’s missing persons line at 212-473-2042.
German kiddie porn
Edward Feuer, an employee of the General Services Administration, at 26 Federal Plaza, was charged on Fri., July 20, with downloading child pornography onto his office computer, according to Michael J. Garcia, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Feuer, a G.S.A. employee for 20 years, was charged with downloading at least 124 images of child pornography from a German Web site.
G.S.A. investigators learned from German law enforcement officials that the pornography had been downloaded to a U.S. government computer. If convicted, Feuer is subject to a prison term of up to 10 years.
— Albert Amateau
