Auto break-in
A motorist told police that she parked her S.U.V. near the southwest corner of W. Houston and Sullivan Sts. on Sunday morning, March 21, and when she returned at 11:30 a.m. the front door on the driver’s side was open. Missing was a diamond ring valued at $1,700, a camera and several personal items.
Left bag on chair
A diner at a restaurant at 466 Greenwich St. in Tribeca put her bag on a chair when she left the table for a moment at 11:30 p.m. on Tues. March 23 and returned to find the bag open and her wallet with several credit cards missing, police said.
Nab bank suspect
Acting on a tip, detectives arrested Modesto Guzman, 32, at his home on Bowery and E. Second St. on Saturday morning March 27 in connection with the March 11 robbery of an HSBC Bank branch at 245 First Ave. across from Stuyvesant Town. Guzman is charged with taking an unspecified amount of cash after passing a note to a teller.
Weekends are booked
Beatrice Kaufman, 69, who pleaded guilty to defrauding government agencies and private relief organizations of $78,000 and attempting to illegally obtain even more in connection with the Sept. 11, 2001, attack, was sentenced last week to 52 weekends in jail on Rikers Island. In addition to the jail time imposed on Fri. March 26 by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Roger Hayes as a result of a plea bargain, Kaufman had to pay more than $250,000 in fines and restitution to the Red Cross, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Safe Horizon and her insurance carrier. Kaufman, owner of a temporary employment agency, claimed she was living in Lower Manhattan at the time of the attack, when in fact her two apartments on Lower Broadway were being renovated, and she was in the Hamptons.
Union Sq. bank hit
A man who walked into the HSBC Bank branch at 10 Union Sq. E. on Tuesday afternoon March 23 passed a note to a teller demanding money and fled with an unspecified amount of cash. The suspect was described as a black man about 20 with a mustache and of medium build.
Fifth Ave. bank hit
A man walked into the Commerce Bank at 90 Fifth Ave. near 15th St., on Friday afternoon March 26, passed a note to a teller demanding money and fled with an unspecified amount of cash. The suspect was described as a white man, about 40, with light colored hair and wearing a green jacket.
Bleecker scam fails
Two scam artists failed to hit their mark in the seating area south of Bleecker Playground on Hudson St. last week, said Betty Rinckwitz, a member of the Perry St. Block Association. She said she saw a well-dressed black man in his 20s, joined later by a second young man, approach an elderly man who was sitting in the location one afternoon. The two younger men left and the elderly man told Rinckwitz, “They tried the old ‘I found this money’ trick, but I told them no thanks and they left.”
Albert Amateau
