Pace student murdered
Max Moreno, 21, a business student at Pace University who was identified as a small-time marijuana dealer, was shot to death shortly after midnight Wed., Sept. 29 in his 37th floor apartment at 2 Gold St., police said.
Two men entered the apartment and one with a gun demanded money, police said. When Moreno refused to comply, the gunman pulled the trigger but the safety catch was on so he fired again and shot Moreno in the forehead, police said. The two suspects fled with a black box and escaped down the stairs after a brief confrontation in the hall with an Erie Co. sheriff’s officer who was visiting someone in the building.
A man and a woman had been in the apartment with the victim to buy marijuana and were leaving when the two suspects burst in, according to a Daily News article. Also in the apartment was a woman friend of the victim, the Daily News said.
Stephen Friedman, Pace University President, said the school was shocked and saddened by the death. Moreno, a Matawan, N.J. resident and a member of the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity, was scheduled to graduate from Pace next year. The fraternity held a vigil for Moreno Wednesday night.
Stolen cycle on eBay
Police arrested Kelis Livingston, 49, on Wed., Sept. 27 and charged him with the Sept. 9 theft of a bicycle from a building at 137 Varick St, at the corner of Spring St. Livingston made off with the bicycle, valued at $2,500, around 6:52 p.m. and some days later sold it for $300, according to charges filed by Manhattan District Attorney, Cyrus Vance Jr. The purchaser of the cycle then offered it for sale on eBay where the owner saw it and called police. Livingston was being held pending a court appearance on burglary and grand larceny charges
Soho nail salon
A burglar broke into Grand Soho II Nail Salon, 68 Thompson St. sometime between 7:30 p.m. Sun., Oct. 3 and the next morning, police said. The manager found the roll-up gate open and the gate control box broken when he came to open at 9:30 a.m. Monday. The surveillance camera had been moved and $350 cash was stolen, police said.
Road rage
A driver stopped for a red light on West. St. at Vesey St. at 3 p.m. Thurs. Sept. 30 when another motorist pulled up alongside, threw a cup of hot coffee at the victim, scalding his arm and shouted an obscenity. The victim confronted the suspect and began to phone 911 but the suspect drove off.
Bicycle gone
A man who locked his Bianchi Pista bicycle to the rack at the Mercantile Exchange, 1 North End Ave. at 8:45 a.m. Tues. Sept. 28 found the cycle, valued at $2,500, had been stolen.
Vehicles stolen
A New Jersey man, 24, parked his motorcycle in front of 80 N. Moore St. in Independence Plaza, at 9:30a.m. Thurs. Sept. 9 and returned later to find it had been stolen. Another New Jersey man parked his motorcycle in the rear of 10 Liberty St. at 9 a.m. Fri., Sept. 17 and returned after work at 5 p.m. to find it was gone. A visitor from Raleigh, N.C., parked his van at Greenwich and Watts St. at 4 p.m. Sun., Sept. 19 and returned at 7:30 p.m. to find it was stolen.
Housewares haul
An employee of the Bed Bath and Beyond branch at 270 Broadway demanded that a woman who was leaving the shop at 9 p.m. Thurs., Sept. 9 show receipts for the merchandise she was carrying. The suspect, Claudine Polycarpe, 25, had no receipts for the bedding, shower curtain, alarm clock, curtains, candles, oven mitt and salad plates, valued at $1,563 in all, and was charged with grand larceny.
Unlocked lockers
A Merrick, L.I. woman put her bag in a locker at the Lucille Roberts fitness center, 143 Fulton St., at 11:45 a.m. Tues., Sept. 21, left it unlocked and went to work out, police said. She returned about an hour or so later to find the bag gone and someone else’s stuff in the locker. She learned later that the thief had used her credit card to make unauthorized charges of $50 each at Starbucks and Duane Reade.
A man put his clothes and bag in a locker at New York Sports Club, 503 Broadway, at 2:35 p.m. Tues. Sept. 28, and left it unlocked while he went to work out. He returned an hour later to find that his laptop computer had been stolen along with his wallet and credit cards. The thief made unauthorized credit card charges at the Apple Store, 102 Prince St. and at Best Buy at 622 Broadway, police said.
Greenhouse larceny
A busboy at Greenhouse, the club at 150 Varick St., spotted a man in the men’s room rifling through a woman’s handbag during the early hours of Tues., Sept. 21, police said. The suspect, Trevor Nash, 19, was arrested and charged with grand larceny for stealing the bag from a woman patron, 19, visiting from Vilnius, Lithuania. When Nash was arrested, the victim’s Nikon camera and her cigarettes fell out of his pants leg, police said.
— Albert Amateau
