LA II gets 2 to 4
The comeback of graffiti artist LA II may have to wait a while. LA II, 36, whose real name is Angel Ortiz, was sentenced on June 12 to two to four years in prison for selling a controlled substance, reportedly heroin, to an undercover police officer on E. Fifth St. and Avenue D on Jan. 11 of this year. In two other arrests in the first two months of this year, he was charged with possession of drugs in the seventh degree in one incident, a misdemeanor, and with obstruction of governmental administration at 179 Orchard St. in the other. The Villager profiled LA II, a former partner of Keith Haring, in a July 24, 2002, article, detailing his efforts to get financial compensation for his work that he said Haring had promised him. LA II did the graffiti background squiggles and “fill-ins” around Haring’s figures during the period of the former Pop Artist’s most valuable work. “It was a big disappointment to me,” said Clayton Patterson, who hosted a gallery show of LA II’s work, “because I spent a lot of time trying to fix him up. I got him a lot of press, got him a lot of noise. He just blew it.” The Manhattan district attorney gave Ortiz’s residence as 408 E. 10th St., and Patterson confirmed that’s where LA II lived with his mother.
Skater hit
A hit-and-run driver struck and critically injured a man who was in-line skating on Delancey and Ludlow Sts. shortly before 8 p.m. on Sat. Aug. 30, police said. The victim, Ari Shay Cohen, of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, was hit so hard that he ended up underneath a cab that had to be lifted off by rescuers, according to reports. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital with internal bleeding and head injuries.
The vehicle, a maroon van, sped away after the collision, running three red lights on Delancey St., according to reports. One witness, however, took down the license plate number. Police arrested the driver, James Simpson, 57, of Brooklyn, the following day and charged him with leaving the scene of an accident.
Avenue A bank rob
A man who entered the Citibank branch at 50 Avenue A near E. Fourth St. at about 9:30 a.m. Thurs. Sept. 29 passed a note to a teller demanding money and fled with an undetermined amount of cash, police said.
Hate graffiti
At 6:30 on the morning of Mon. Aug. 26 a motorman on an Uptown train at the Canal St. Broadway N/R station reported that a star of David with a swastika in the middle was drawn with red marker ink on the wall. Police are investigating it as a bias incident.
Chinatown murder plea
Charlie Lee, charged with murder in connection with a July 2 shooting in Confucius Plaza, has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to appear Sept. 9 for pretrial motions, according to District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau’s office.
Lee, 60, was charged with shooting Shu Hong Wu, 48, several times in an apartment on the 40th floor of the Confucius Plaza, at the Bowery and Division St. near the Manhattan Bridge, where the victim was visiting a woman friend of Lee’s. The friend, Su Xian Wu, not related to the victim, was taking care of an elderly woman who lives across the hall from Lee. The defendant is being held without bail.
Canal St. rape plea
George Augustine, 67, a parolee who spent 17 years in prison for rape, has pleaded not guilty to attempted rape in connection with a June 2 incident involving a woman who works at 511 Canal St., in the same building where Augustine was an elevator operator. The victim fought off the attack so vigorously that her fingernails were ripped off, according to police
The suspect, arrested on the Queensboro Bridge on June 4 when he was threatening to jump, is scheduled to appear in Criminal Court Sept. 17 for pretrial motions. He is being held without bail.
Murder arraignment
Jesse Williams, 21, of Brooklyn, charged with murder in the Aug. 21 stabbing on Stanton St. of Jeffrey Carter, 19, of 189 Allen St. after a dispute over a young woman, will be arraigned in Criminal Court on Sept. 10 according to the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
