Arrest in Chelsea rape
Police arrested Hendrick Ajamiseba, 32, on Wed., March 5, in connection with the March 1 rape and robbery of a masseuse in her Chelsea. studio/residence.
The suspect was traced to the Flushing YMCA, where he was staying, by a fingerprint lifted from a wine glass in the victim’s W. 23rd St. apartment. He was being held in lieu of $100,000 bail pending arraignment later this week.
The victim, 32, told police the suspect entered her apartment at about 6:10 p.m. representing himself as a customer, but he later said he was a police officer and threatened to arrest her if she didn’t submit to sex. When she refused, he punched her in the neck, forced oral sex on her, then had intercourse with her and stole $2,000 in cash before he fled, police said.
Village rape-attempt suspect
Police were still looking this week for the man who attacked two women in the Village on Sun., March 2, and tried to rape them.
The suspect was described as a Hispanic man in his 20s about 5 feet 7 inches tall, 140 pounds and wearing a baseball cap and a dark, hooded pullover. Police asked the public to phone 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) with any information.
One victim, 30, was attacked twice on Bleecker and Carmine Sts. at 2:15 a.m. and a short time later but the suspect fled both times. The other victim, 26, was attacked on Barrow St. between Greenwich and Hudson Sts. around 2:30 a.m. about six blocks from the first incident.
A man of similar description on Feb. 14 made his way into the Village apartment of another woman before she came home and threatened to rape her, but fled after two hours, according to a New York Post article last week. Police, however, said it was “a totally separate incident.”
Hunt Key Food killer
The prime suspect in the Feb. 29 stabbing death of Tina Negron, 24, in the Key Food supermarket at E. Fourth St. and Avenue A was still at large, police said on Tues., March 11. James Gonzalez, 42, a co-worker in the store who formerly dated the victim, is wanted in connection with the incident in which another co-worker, Rosheda Andradas, was also stabbed and seriously injured.
East Village resident John Penley said he called “America’s Most Wanted,” urging the TV show to air a segment on Gonzalez. Jon Leiberman, New York City correspondent for “America’s Most Wanted,” confirmed that the show has spoken to local police about the case. “It was on our radar right away. We’re in our research phase right now,” he said.
Although Leiberman said “A.M.W.” often waits to “let police work the case until their leads are exhausted or the fugitive leaves the area,” the show also does breaking news. But, he said, it’s not certain if the show will do a Gonzalez segment or when it would air.
Mail truck fatality
A U.S. Postal Service truck struck and killed a man at 5 a.m. Wed., March 5, as he was crossing W. 23rd St. at the southwest corner of Seventh Ave., police said. The victim, Carlos Flores, a Bronx resident, was declared dead at St. Vincent’s Hospital an hour later. The driver of the truck remained at the scene and was not charged.
Meat Market robbery
Police arrested a man and a woman for beating and robbing a couple coming out of a restaurant on W. 16th St. between Ninth and 10th Aves. at 9:52 p.m. Mon., March 3. Glenwood Williams, 25, and Devita Russell, 24, both residents of the nearby Robert Fulton Houses, were charged with two counts of second-degree robbery for taking cell phones and credit cards from the victims, police said. They were freed on bail pending a June 16 court appearance.
Boutique death threat
An employee of Gerry’s, a clothing boutique at 110 Eighth Ave. near W. 16th St., saw a man making off with two pairs of jeans and a leather belt without paying for them shortly after 4 p.m. Sat., March 1, police said. She stopped the suspect just outside the shop, took back the merchandise and later told police the suspect threatened, “I’ll be back and I’ll [expletive] kill you.” The suspect, described as a white man about 40 with short blond hair, 5 feet 10 inches tall and 180 pounds with scars on his face and hands, then fled in a cab.
Arrested again
Richard Young, 42, pleaded guilty on Feb. 26 to shoplifting an MP3 player from a Circuit City branch at 52 E. 14 St. on Jan. 31 and was sentenced to time served, according to a spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau. Young was arrested again on March 1 for entering a cell phone retailer at 1099 Broadway near W. 24th St. armed with a box cutter, menacing an employee and stealing a phone. He was being held in lieu of $10,000 bail pending a court appearance later this week.
Store burglary
The manager of a clothing store at 593 Broadway between Prince and Houston Sts. opened the place at 9 a.m. Sun., March 2, and discovered $6,127 gone from the cash register and about $38,000 worth of watches and jewelry gone from several display cases, police said. The security company had phoned the manager the night before to say that a sensor in the store had registered movement. When the theft was discovered in the morning, the sensor was found covered with tape and paper, police said.
Car crime
A man who parked his car at the southeast corner of Spring St. at Sixth Ave. at 10 a.m. Mon., March 3, discovered it was gone when he went to retrieve it at 5:30 p.m., police said.
Carjack arrest
Police arrested Kevin Broomfield, 30, on Wed., March 5, and charged him with robbing three drivers at gunpoint and taking their cars in separate incidents in the Village and in East Midtown, all in the early afternoon. On Feb. 11, the suspect held up one driver sitting in his car parked on Sutton Pl. near E. 58th St., ordered him to get out and drove off with the car, according to the charges. On Sun., Feb. 24, he waved a gun at another driver on Horatio St. near Washington St. and drove off with the car, the charges say. Broomfield was charged with holding up a third driver at gunpoint on Thurs., Feb 28, on E. 53rd St. at Lexington Ave., police said.
Lewd move
Carl Fisher, 37, was convicted in a nonjury trial on March 5 of public lewdness for masturbating naked on the stoop of his Bank St. townhouse in May 2007 and was immediately sentenced to 60 days in jail, according to the office of D.A. Morgenthau. Fisher was a registered sex offender in Connecticut where he was convicted in 1996 of groping an 11-year-old girl in his parents’ home in Danbury. He was previously convicted of molesting female students in 1989 when he attended Syracuse University.
Road rage swinger
Police arrested East Villager Steven Mills while he was riding his bicycle and swinging a metal pipe and a tree branch at motorists and pedestrians on Broadway near W. 46th St. at 5:15 p.m. Sat., March 8. Mills, of 30 First Ave. near E. Second St., was charged with reckless endangerment and was taken to Bellevue Hospital for observation.
New Village C.O.
Captain Ray Caroli, executive officer of the Sixth Precinct, which covers Greenwich Village, became the commanding officer of the precinct last month when Deputy Inspector Theresa Shortell, who had headed the precinct since October 2004, was appointed commanding officer of the New York Police Department’s Special Victims Unit, which handles sex crimes.
Albert Amateau
