Drugs, kids, dogs
Police who arrested a man and two women in their Lower East Side apartment on Mon., Jan 14, on cocaine charges also found a 2-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy locked in a room with two emaciated pit bulls, according to the office of Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau.
Keith Thomas, 41, Valerie Thomas, 47, and Lashika Thomas, 21, were arrested in their Vladeck Houses apartment at 384 Madison St. after a warrant raid, and were found in possession of a bag of cocaine and two crack pipes with crack cocaine residue.
In a locked room police found the starving dogs and the two children. The floors throughout the apartment were covered with urine and feces, according to police who conducted the raid.
The suspects, whose relationship was not made clear, were charged with drug possession, endangering the welfare of children and torturing and injuring animals. The Administration for Children’s Service took charge of the boy and girl.
Arrest in robberies
Rafael Brito, 18, was arrested on Wed., Jan 16, and charged with three Lower East Side robberies, using a fake gun in one and holding up victims at knifepoint in the others.
Police said that Brito, with an accomplice not apprehended, held up a man on Henry St., using the plastic gun on Jan. 14, two days before he was apprehended near the scene of the incident. Police said he admitted that he robbed a man at knifepoint on Nov. 30 at 189 Allen St. near Stanton St. and held up another victim at knifepoint on Nov. 23 at 60 Hester St. at Allen St.
Stripped of pants and cash
Four robbers attacked a man walking on W. 14th St. at Seventh Ave. at 3 a.m. Sat., Jan. 19, pushed him to the ground after he refused their demand for money, then hit him with a bottle, kicked him and stripped off his pants with his wallet and $600, police said.
Deli takeout
Two men walked into a deli on Washington St. near Charles St. on Saturday night Jan. 12 and announced a robbery, police said. The thieves took an unspecified amount of cash from the register and from a safe behind the counter.
Toothy shoplifter
The manager of the Walgreens at 145 Fourth Ave. at E. 14th St. stopped a man at 12:30 a.m. Sun., Jan. 13, trying to walk out without paying for 18 tubes of toothpaste under his coat, police said. Richard Trott, 50, was charged with burglary and petit larceny.
Soho gunpoint mugging
Police arrested a teenage girl and a 17-year-old male in connection with the mugging of a male at the corner of Greene and Prince Sts. at 12:10 a.m. Sat., Jan. 19. The victim walked passed three people dressed in black when one of them pushed him to the ground, put a black pistol to his face and said, “Gimme what you got.” They took his cell phone and a wallet with $5 and fled south on Greene St. Police arrested two of the suspects, Dashawn Whittingham, 17, and Katrina Garrett, 14, and charged them with robbery.
Attempted robbery
A girl, 16, told police that two men, each about 18 years old, stopped her and a girlfriend in Soho Square, the park at Spring St. and Sixth Ave., at about 1:30 p.m. Thurs., Jan. 10, and one of the men said, “Run your phone,” meaning, “Hand over your cell phone.” The victim refused and the thief grabbed her by the hair and tried but failed to get the phone, police said.
Bag snatches
A woman, 59, walking on King St. between Sixth Ave. and Varick St. at 9:30 p.m. Fri., Jan. 4, felt a tug on her bag and turned to face a man pulling at it, police said. The thief, described as a black man, 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighing 200 pounds, fled with the bag with $300 in cash and miscellaneous credit cards, police said.
A woman, 32, walking south on Washington St. at Bank St. at 9:10 p.m. Thurs., Jan 17, lost her handbag to a man who ran past her from behind, snatched the bag from her right hand and fled west on 11th St., police said. The victim told police the thief might have jumped into a car on West St. and sped away uptown.
Girls hit school guard
A woman security guard at Chelsea Vocational High School on Sixth Ave. between Dominick and Broome Sts. tried to stop two 15-year-old girls from fighting on the second floor of the school at 2:45 p.m. Fri., Jan. 18. The two turned on the guard, punched her, knocked her down and injured her leg, police said. The girls were charged as juveniles and the guard was treated at St. Vincent’s Hospital.
Lost in bars and bistros
A woman patron at Uno Chicago Grill on Sixth Ave. near Waverly Pl. at 9 p.m. Sun., Jan. 13, had her wallet stolen. A woman patron of Corner Bistro at the corner of Jane and W. Fourth Sts. lost her bag to a thief at 9:30 p.m. Tues., Jan. 15. A woman patron of Fiddlesticks bar on Greenwich Ave. near Seventh Ave. S. discovered her cell phone had been stolen at 11 p.m. Fri., Jan. 18, and learned later that several unauthorized international calls had been made. A woman patron of Club APT in the Gansevoort Market District at 419 W. 13th St. discovered her bag was stolen, probably while she was on the dance floor, at about 2 a.m. Sat., Jan. 19.
Albert Amateau
