Sex assault suspect
On Wed., July 25, police arrested Asunscion DeJesus-Garcia, who is suspected of sexually abusing and robbing three women on the Lower East Side between June 12 and July 13. DeJesus-Garcia, a resident of Lexington Ave. at 107th St., was charged specifically with first-degree sexual abuse, second-degree burglary and third-degree attempted robbery in connection with the Fri., July 13, attack at 4:30 a.m. on a woman in the lobby of 508 E. 12th St.
Police are also investigating whether the defendant was involved in similar attacks, one in another East Village building at 3:34 a.m. Sat., July 7, and another in a building in the confines of Little Italy/Chinatown’s Fifth Precinct at 4:16 a.m. on June 12.
In all the attacks, the attacker either lurked in a building lobby or pushed in after the victims and grabbed them from behind.
DeJesus-Garcia is being held in lieu of $25,000 bail pending arraignment this week.
Thompson St. beating
Two men were arrested at 10:30 p.m. Sat., July 28, for beating a Westchester man, 33, outside The Dove, a cocktail lounge at 228 Thompson St. near W. Third St.
The suspects, Nathaniel Spiggs, 25, and Lorenz Spiggs-Depass, 32, both of Brooklyn, started an argument with the victim, who was urinating on a friend’s car parked at the curb, according to a New York Post article. The two were charged with misdemeanor assault. Police said the victim was taken to St. Vincent’s hospital with scalp cuts that required staples to close.
Falls to death
Eric Wishnie, 45, a TV news producer for NBC, fell or jumped to his death from the roof of his residence at 444 Sixth Ave. near W. 10th St. on Monday morning, July 30. There was no suicide note, but friends and colleagues said that Wishnie, on leave from his job, had been depressed and drinking heavily following the breakup six months ago of his marriage to Dawn Fratangelo, 47, an NBC news anchor.
Wishnie was found at the curb at about 3 a.m. by a couple who were going uptown in a cab. He was taken to St. Vincent’s hospital where he was pronounced dead at 5 a.m. It was first reported as a possible hit-and-run.
Wishnie and Fratangelo won an Emmy in 1993 for reporting on floods in the Midwest. They were married in 1997.
Cipriani guilty pleas
Arrigo Cipriani, 75, head of the international Cipriani restaurant group, and his son Giuseppe Cipriani, 42, president of Cipriani USA, the holding company for the group’s American establishments, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to evading $10 million in New York State and City taxes, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau announced.
The guilty pleas also include three Cipriani corporations: Cipriani Fifth Ave. LLC, operator of the Rainbow Room and Rainbow Grill at 30 Rockefeller Plaza; Downtown Restaurant Co. LLC, operator of the restaurant at 376 W. Broadway in Soho; and GC Alpha, LLC, operator of Cipriani Dolci in Grand Central Terminal.
Arrigo pleaded guilty to felony tax charges while Giuseppe pleaded to misdemeanor tax charges. They agreed to pay $10 million in back taxes and to install an independent monitor to oversee tax treatment at all family enterprises until the 2011 tax year.
Gang attack
Two men and a woman were charged with gang assault on a victim outside of 303 E. 10th St. across from Tompkins Square Park on Sunday afternoon, July 22.
Ronald Sudol, 20, of the Lower East Side, Rochelle Trivett, 20, of Oregon, and Craig Krieger, 20, of New Hyde Park, N.Y., were accused of jumping and beating the victim, Robert Boyce, 22, knocking him down and kicking him in the face in an apparently unprovoked attack. Boyce was taken to the hospital with a fractured eye socket, police said.
Krieger was freed on $2,500 bail; Sudol was freed on $1,500 bail; and Trevett was freed on her own recognizance. They are scheduled for Oct. 30 court appearances.
Vicious at Vladeck
Robert Basile, 28, of Brooklyn, was arrested Mon., July 23, in connection with the May 23 beating of a 75-year-old man during an argument outside 45 Jackson St. in the Vladeck Houses. Basile was freed on $3,500 bail pending an Oct. 30 court appearance on a second-degree assault charge.
Credit card theft
Foudel Banabdrahime, 28, was arrested on Sun., July 22, and charged with making unauthorized charges on credit cards that he stole from a woman he had met at Manor, a club at 73 Eighth Ave. between W. 13th and 14th Sts., police said.
The suspect met the victim, 36, a Soho resident, on July 20 and made a date with her for the following night at a Spring St. restaurant. But she discovered on July 21 that her American Express cards were missing and had been used to make unauthorized charges totaling $3,200. She notified police, who turned up at the Spring St. restaurant and arrested the suspect. Police said he was carrying several other stolen credit cards.
Banabdrahime was charged with grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property. He is being held in lieu of $50,000 bail pending an Aug. 29 court date.
Bag thieves
A woman customer of Le Pain Quotidien, W. 12th St. and Broadway, lost her credit cards to a thief who dipped into her bag on Monday afternoon, July 23, and made unauthorized charges. A woman customer of PM, the club at 50 Gansevoort St., had her bag stolen at 11 p.m. Thurs., July 26. A woman patron of APT, the club at 319 W. 13th St., had her credit cards taken from her bag at 3 a.m. Sat., July 28.
Albert Amateau
