Tribeca rape Police arrested a Brooklyn man during the early hours of Sun., Oct. 28 and charged him with raping a teenage girl he met at a party in Tribeca a few hours earlier.
Jorge Silvia, 23, was charged with first degree rape and first degree sexual abuse for raping the 17-year-old victim he met at a Saturday night party at Tribeca Tower Apartments, 105 Duane St., the residential high-rise between Broadway and Church St., according to the office of District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau. Police said the suspect left the party with the victim at about 11 p.m. on Saturday and took her to another part of the building where he raped her.
Silvia pleaded not guilty and bail was set at $2,500 cash or $4,000 bond pending a Feb. 19 possible trial date.
Gold note A man who walked into the Sovereign Bank branch at the corner of Gold St. and Maiden Lane on Monday afternoon Oct. 29 passed a note to a teller demanding money and fled with an undisclosed amount of cash, police said.
Peeping attorney pleads Peter Barta, 32, a former Legal Aid lawyer arrested in July for videotaping his female colleagues while they were changing clothes in their offices at 49 Thomas St., pleaded guilty to unlawful surveillance on Wed., Oct. 24 and is to be sentenced Dec. 3.
Under the plea agreement Barta would avoid jail time but must attend weekly counseling for a year. The plea makes him subject to automatic disbarment.
Bicycle thief A man who locked his bicycle to the scaffolding at 585 Broadway between Prince and Houston Sts., on Saturday evening Oct. 20 returned at 9 p.m. and found it had been stolen, police said.
Guilty in 9/11 fraud Two officials of the city Office of the Chief Medical Examiner pleaded guilty in Federal Court to charges they were involved in a scheme to steal millions of dollars from the office including federal funds for the Medical Examiner’s work in identifying victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 World Trade Center attack.
Natarajan R. Venkataran, former director of the management information systems of the O.C.M.S. for the past 13 years, pleaded guilty to the charges on Mon., Oct. 29, and Rosa Abreu, his former assistant, pleaded guilty on Tues., Oct. 23.
Venkataran is charged with illegally steering more than $13 million to companies owned by his unnamed co-conspirators, including one in Hyderabad, India, who then made payments to three shell companies that he created with Abreu.
Abreu and Venkataran pleaded guilty to conspiracy, embezzlement, money laundering and misapplication of funds. They are to be sentenced in January.
Wallet stolen A man, 36, visiting from California, was in a bar at 349 Broome St. during the early hours of Sat., Oct. 27 when he discovered his wallet missing from his jacket which he had left on his chair when he went to pick up his drink, police said. Credit cards, his California driver’s license and cell phone were stolen.
ATM robber arrested A suspect in a series of gunpoint holdups of women at ATMs from the Lower East Side to Chelsea was arrested Sat., Oct. 29 a short time after police said he robbed a woman, 25, at a Chase Bank ATM at 109 Delancey St. near Essex St.
The suspect, James Palmer, of Brooklyn, was also charged with holding up a woman, 41, at an ATM on Fifth Ave. at 33 St. on Sun., Oct. 21 and another woman on Tues., Oct. 23 at a Citibank ATM at 22 W. 32nd St. A 25-year-old woman became a victim on Wed., Oct. 24 at an ATM on W. 19th St. at Seventh Ave and on Fri., Oct. 26 Palmer robbed a 37-year-old woman without displaying a gun at a Chase ATM on Seventh Ave. at W. 24th St., police said.
— Albert Amateau
