Teen murdered
Two men were stabbed, one fatally, around 6 p.m. Wed., Nov. 18, in front of 100 Hester St. where the Chinatown YMCA shares the building with I.S. 131 and Pace High School, police said. Responding to a 911 call, officers found Nelson Pena, 18, of 55-75 Pike St., in the Rutgers Houses, with stab wounds in the torso and the leg. Pena was declared dead on arrival at Bellevue Hospital. The other victim, 18, was stabbed in the neck and was said to be in stable condition in Bellevue. School and YMCA officials said the incident did not involve students or Y members.
Stuy student arrested
Fire marshals arrested a 16-year-old Stuyvesant High School student on Fri. Nov. 20 and charged him with arson for setting two fires in two boys’ bathrooms in the school on Tuesday afternoon Nov. 17.
Several other fires, including one on Nov. 12 in the boys’ bathroom on the third floor of the school, are under investigation, fire marshals said, but the suspect is charged only with the Nov. 17 fires.
The complaint filed by the Manhattan District Attorney says a teacher discovered a fire in the garbage can in the seventh floor bathroom at 1:16 p.m. and put it out with a fire extinguisher. Around the same time, a student discovered a fire in a garbage can in the sixth floor bathroom and ran to get assistance, the complaint says. The student told investigators that just before he entered the bathroom, a male fitting the suspect’s description and carrying a large backpack exited the bathroom.
The complaint says a surveillance camera on the seventh floor recorded the suspect entering the bathroom and existing about two minutes later. A surveillance camera on the sixth floor recorded an image of him exiting the bathroom, bumping into the student who was entering, and “hastily walking down the hallway,” the complaint says.
At the arraignment, the defendant’s lawyer, Kevin Faga, said his client did not set the fires. The teen’s father was quoted in a Daily News article saying the second fire broke out while his son was in detention.
The suspect, a resident of Castle Hill in the Bronx, pleaded not guilty and was released on $2,500 bail.
Subway mugging
A man and a woman leaning against a wall at the bottom of the stairs in the Spring St. (C, E) subway station grabbed a victim from behind after he passed them at 1:30 a.m. Sun., Nov. 15, police said. The man put the victim, 25, in a chokehold, and told the woman, “Get it, take it,” and both fled with the victim’s wallet, iPhone, credit cards and his MetroCard with $89 on it, police said.
Soho gallery break-in
A burglar who got into 495 Broadway sometime between 10 p.m. Wed., Nov. 4 and 9:30 a.m. the following morning broke into Swiss Institute of Contemporary Art on the third floor and stole a 20” Samsung flat screen TV and other undisclosed small items, police said.
Hanover punch
A customer of Hanover Café at 5 Hanover Sq. got into an argument with an employee around 8 a.m. Wed., Nov. 11 and punched him in the jaw, police said. The victim, 31, a Brooklyn resident, sustained a broken jaw and was treated at Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn. Police arrested the suspect, Alberto Pedrosa, 32, and charged him with felony assault.
Auto thefts
A Brooklyn woman who parked her 1995 Honda sedan in front of 435 W. Broadway at Prince St. at 3 p.m. Sun., Nov. 15 returned an hour later and found it had been stolen. A man who parked his company van in front of 175 Franklin St., near Hudson St. at 1:30 a.m. Fri., Nov. 13 returned at 5:30 a.m. and discovered the 2009 Ford van with his iPhone inside had been stolen, police said.
— Albert Amateau
