Chelsea murder sentence
Rafael Colon was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison by State Supreme Court Justice Marcie L. Kahn on April 22 for the murder of his neighbor, Dolly Castaño, in her Robert Fulton Houses apartment in Chelsea in April 2002. Colon, 67, was found guilty in March of strangling the 79-year-old victim in her bathtub. Castaño, a volunteer at the Fulton Senior Center, was known as the “Tea Lady” for serving tea and coffee to her fellow seniors at the Center.
Little Italy fire
Fire in a restaurant on the ground floor of a six-story tenement at the northeast corner of Mulberry and Hester Sts. on Tuesday afternoon April 27 brought 12 firefighting companies to Caffe Napoli. The blaze, attributed to an electrical connection in the ceiling, forced the employees and lunchtime patrons of the restaurant and residents of a second-floor apartment to evacuate, but no one was injured, a Fire Department spokesperson said.
A.T.M. robberies
Police are looking for a suspect in a series of robberies in March at automated teller machines on the Lower East Side, the East Village and Murray Hill. The first was at 12:30 a.m. March 5 at a Washington Mutual A.T.M. at 835 Broadway at 13th St. when a man, 25, was forced to hand over $500 to the robber who fled. The robber struck at the same location again at 1:15 a.m. on March 19, forcing a woman to withdraw $500, which he took. On March 24 at 10 p.m. the suspect robbed a 20-year-old woman of $20 at an A.T.M. at 126 Delancey St. A half hour later he robbed a woman, 27, of $100 at an A.T.M. at 450 Third Ave.
Police are looking for Jerome Collins, 25, a black man with a thin mustache and short hair, 5 ft. 8 in. and medium build, in connection with the robberies.
Bodies in East River
The Coast Guard removed a body found floating in the East River near the Williamsburg Bridge at 1:45 p.m. Sun., May 2, police said. Earlier in the day, the Coast Guard removed a body from the East River near 34th St. Both bodies were too decomposed to determine the sex of the victims. The Medical Examiner’s office is investigating the causes of death.
Housing scams
The Department of Investigation last week arrested 12 people on charges of fraudulently living in apartments in New York City Housing Authority projects, including one in the Baruch Houses and another in the Alfred E. Smith Houses after the legitimate tenants died.
One of the defendants, Carl Hopkins, 36, who had legally lived with his mother, Bernice Hopkins, in the Smith Houses on the Lower East Side, is charged with failing to report that his mother had died in 1993, and with submitting false documents supposedly signed by his mother. Hopkins could have legally remained in the apartment after his mother’s death because he was previously registered as a family member and could have become the tenant of record as a remaining family member.
Another defendant, Jeanette Melendez, 51, is charged with having falsely claimed to have been the niece of the legal tenant, Asuncion Rivera, in the Baruch Houses shortly before Rivera’s death. Melendez had asked NYCHA to allow her to live with Rivera, but the authority denied the request because Melendez had several drug-related felony convictions, which made her ineligible to live in public housing. Nevertheless, Melendez lived with Rivera and submitted false documents, including an altered Social Security check, after Rivera’s death to make it appear that Rivera was alive and living in the apartment, the authority said.
All the defendants have been charged with grand larceny and felonious submission of false documents. They are subject to jail sentences of four to seven years if convicted.
Bank pattern
A single suspect was responsible for four robberies of Commerce Bank branches in Chelsea and the Flatiron districts in March and April, police said. The first was at 2:45 p.m. March 26 at the branch at 90 Fifth Ave. The same suspect, described as a white man between the ages of 40 and 45, with blondish brown hair, wearing a black hat, black jacket, gray shirt and black pants, also robbed the branch at 401 Fifth Ave. twice, at 1:51 p.m. on April 9 and at 1 p.m. on April 23. On April 23 he robbed another bank branch at 12:30 p.m. at 200 W. 26th St. at Seventh Ave., police said.
The Commerce Bank branch at 90 Fifth Ave. was robbed again at 12:30 p.m. April 29 by an apparently different thief described as a white man wearing blue jeans, a white T-shirt, black head cloth and black sunglasses. The robbers passed notes to tellers demanding money and fled with undetermined amounts of cash.
Subway stabbing
A fight with a group of teenagers at 2:42 p.m. Thurs., April 29, on the southbound platform of the No. 6 subway station at Park Ave. S. and E. 23rd St. ended with the stabbing of two men, police said. One victim, 20, was stabbed in the torso and was taken in serious but stable condition to Bellevue Hospital. The other victim was taken to Bellevue in less serious condition. The suspects fled before police arrived and the incident is under investigation.
Driver assaults cop
A collision on the southbound lanes of the F.D.R. Drive at Delancey St. at 2:20 a.m. Sat., May 1, resulted in both cars turning over and the driver of one being charged with drunk driving and assaulting officers who went to the scene, police said. Denis Velez, 20 of Bushwick, Brooklyn, was charged with second-degree assault, driving while intoxicated and driving without a license. Police said Velez bit one of the officers who responded to the incident on the forearm and hit the paramedic who was taking him to the hospital. Velez and his passenger were thrown from the car when it turned over. The driver of the second car was also thrown from the wreck. All three were taken to Bellevue in stable condition.
Pedestrian hit
A car traveling south on West St. hit a pedestrian who was crossing from east to west at 18th St. at 2 a.m. Fri., April 30, police said. The victim, 40, was taken to St. Vincent’s Hospital in serious but stable condition. The driver stopped at the scene of the accident, police said. There was no arrest or summons issued.
