Guilty of murder
A Manhattan jury on Thurs., Nov. 18 found Jeromie Cancel, 24, guilty of the August 2008 strangling murder of Kevin Pravia, 19, a Pace University student, in Pravia’s Chelsea apartment.
The jury deliberated a day and a half after the end of the trial that began Nov. 5 before it rendered the guilty verdict. Cancel encountered Pravia near Union Sq. Park and went with the victim to his apartment at 239 W. 15th St. where he garroted Pravia with an electric cord, according to the charges. Pravia, an honors student in the Lubin School of Business at Pace’s campus near City Hall, had last been seen by friends getting into a cab at Gold and Fulton Sts., after a party.
Cancel was arrested three days later after burglarizing his father’s home in Queens. He told police at the time how he killed Pravia who was sleeping while a horror film was playing on television. Cancel’s lawyer, Michael Alperstein tried but failed to have the confession excluded as evidence. State Supreme Court Justice Daniel Fitzgerald is to sentence Cancel on Fri., Dec. 10.
LES burglar
Police are looking for a suspect they identified as Irving Walker, 40, for 13 burglaries on the Lower East Side from Oct. 12 to Nov.15. The suspect entered the front door of apartments on Madison St. between Rutgers and Catherine Sts.; East Broadway between Pike and Rutgers Sts., and Eldridge and Forsyth Sts. between Hester and Grand Sts., mostly during the early hours.
The suspect often woke sleeping residents during the burglaries, police said. Police described Walker as a 6-ft., 210-lb. black man whose last known address was 2636 University Ave., Bronx.
He is suspected in the following burglaries: 133 E. Broadway on Oct. 12; 33 Catherine St. Oct. 14; 120 Madison St., Oct. 18; 7 Monroe St., Oct. 22; 105 Henry St., Oct. 25; 114 Madison St., Oct. 26; 122 Madison St., Nov. 3 at 2:10 a.m. and 69 Eldridge St., at 5:10 a.m.; 201 Madison St. on Nov. 7; 113 Madison St. Nov. 11; 75 Madison St., Nov. 13; 215 Madison St., Nov. 14 and 74 Forsyth St., Nov. 15.
Kid porn arrest
David Watson, 62, former cultural events director at Pace University’s Lower Manhattan campus, was charged in Westchester on Wed., Nov. 17 with promoting sexual performance by a child and possessing child pornography.
Watson had posted Craiglist ads looking for a “nubile girl next door,” according to a Daily News item quoting the Westchester Co. District Attorney. A plainclothes police officer arrested Watson at an Elmsford, N.Y., motel carrying pictures of “minor children in sexually suggestive poses,” the Daily News item said. He pleaded not guilty and was released on $5,000 bail. Watson was placed on administrative leave at Pace.
Bar hopping
Police arrested Jeffrey Lewis 54, on Sat. Nov. 13 after the owner of a bar at 64 Stone St. found him leaving the place at 11:30 p.m. with 10 bottles of liquor. Police found that Lewis had been recorded on a video surveillance tape taking 10 cases of Red Bull from an office at 160 Pearl St. around 11:30 p.m. Fri., Nov. 12. Lewis was being held in lieu of bail pending a Dec. 8 court appearance.
Robbed in BPC
A Battery Park City man told police he was walking on the southwest corner of Northend Ave. and Murray St. around 1 a.m. Tues., Nov. 16 when a mugger came from behind, knocked him to the pavement and made off with his duffle bag with two cameras and lighting equipment with a total value of $1,800. The victim, 63, could not describe his assailant nor say how many attacked him.
“You look lost”
A visitor from Florida got out of the subway station at Canal and Varick Sts. around 5 p.m. Sun. Nov. 12 to discover that her parents who had been on the train with her were nowhere to be seen. A stranger stopped her and said, “You look lost. Let’s look around on our tiptoes, ” and then took her by the wrist. The stranger then grabbed the woman’s wallet that was on a strap on her wrist and fled. The victim, 38, lost $68 in cash, credit cards and her Florida diver’s license, police said.
Stolen on train
A woman who got on a No. 2 train at 125th St at 10 a.m. Thurs., Nov. 4 got off at the Fulton St. station about 20 minutes later and discovered that her wallet, which had been attached by a chain to her shoulder bag, was gone. She told police she later discovered that someone had used her stolen debit card to deposit $6,300 into her account and then had withdrawn $7,000.
Bag gone
A Queens woman told police she went to Uncle Mike’s bar at 57 Murray St. around 12:30 p.m. Thurs., Nov. 18 and put her bag on a chair while she was texting and then shot some pool. She later discovered that her bag was gone but could not identify any suspect in the crowded bar, police said.
Gone from Bouley
An employee at Bouley Restaurant, 163 Duane St., told police on Wednesday afternoon Nov. 17 that someone had stolen her jacket and her wallet from her bag earlier that day. The victim discovered later that several and her jacket from work earlier unauthorized charges had been made on her debit card at a Duane Reade pharmacy and for a MetroCard.
Gone from locker
A Brooklyn man told police he put his clothes in a locker at the Equinox fitness center, 14 Wall St. around 6 p.m. Fri., Nov. 19 and returned after his work out to find that someone stole his jeans, Tag Heuer watch and his wallet with ID and credit cards. The victim said he did not lock his locker.
Auto theft
A Brooklyn woman who parked her car near the southwest corner of Vandam St. and Sixth Ave. at 12:05 a.m. Fri., Nov. 19 returned at 5 p.m. to find her 2000 Dodge Charger was gone. It had not been towed and police said there were no signs of broken glass indicating a forced entry.
Motorcycle gone
A Brooklyn man who brought his motorcycle to the Ducati Triumph agency at 155 Sixth Ave., at Spring St. at 11:20 a.m. Fri., Oct. 29 for servicing returned on Saturday afternoon Nov. 20 to find the bike, valued at $25,000, was gone. The agency owner said the bike had been parked at the curb in front of the location after it was serviced.
