Villager photos by Tequila Minsky
Police nab library laptop thieves
Police arrested a man and a woman on Elizabeth St. at Canal St. on Thurs., May 15, after a librarian at the Mulberry St. Library branch identified them as the pair who stole a library patron’s laptop computer on April 23. The suspects, Sid Henning, 24, above, and Nakekya Smith, 19, returned to the library at 10 Jersey St. between Lafayette and Mulberry Sts., where the librarian recognized them and called police. The suspects were also on the videotape of the library surveillance camera, sources said.
Homicide arrest
Police arrested William Davila, 42, of 54-64 Rutgers St. on Thurs., May 15, and charged him with stabbing his estranged wife to death on Tuesday night May 13.
The victim, Leonida Davila, 39, of the Bronx, was found dead, handcuffed and wrapped in a blanket in her husband’s black Chevrolet Suburban in the parking garage at 105 Essex St., near Delancey St., at 11:50 p.m., on May 13. She had stab wounds to her head, neck and torso, police said.
The couple had been living apart for some time, police said.
Kool fire
Fire broke out in the roof of Kool Bloo, a one-story diner at 117 Sixth Ave., around 11:30 a.m. Wed., May 14, bringing 12 companies and 60 firefighters to the scene at the corner of Watts St.
Ghassan Fallous, the owner, said one of his employees smelled smoke at the beginning of the lunch rush and called 911. The diner does a takeout business and no one was injured. Fallous said he expected to reopen later in the week. Firefighters had to remove sheet-metal panels on the facade to reach the source of the fire, which was under control at 12:06 p.m.
Employee embezzler
Kyle Avila, 24, of 501 W. 28th St., was charged on Mon., May 12, with embezzling $62,000 from the Marc Jacobs boutique at 385 Bleecker St., near Perry St., where he worked for the past year, a spokesperson for the Manhattan district attorney said. A fellow employee discovered the theft and notified police. Avila was charged with grand larceny and freed on $2,000 bail pending an Aug. 13 court appearance.
Armed holdup
Two Queens residents were about to get into their car parked in front of 334 W. 15th St. at 4:15 a.m. Tues., May 13, when two men each armed with a handgun stopped them, police said. “Yo! Give it up,” said one gunman as the robbers took jewelry, cash and the victims’ car keys, with a total value of $6,000. The robbers fled in a black Dodge Charger that was parked nearby and driven by a third accomplice, police said.
Cosmetics shoplifted
A security guard at Sephora, 555 Broadway between Spring and Prince Sts., stopped a woman who had just left the shop at 5 p.m. Sun., May 11, and charged her with shoplifting skincare and hair-care products valued at $1,056. Angie Palacios, 24, was charged with the theft.
Prostitution arrests
Vice Squad police arrested three men at 35 Market St. on Monday afternoon May 12 for offering a 16-year-old girl as a prostitute, according to the office of District Attorney Robert Morgenthau. The girl, whose name was not disclosed, was to be charged later.
The arrests came after an officer spoke on the phone with one defendant, Bei Jie Zheng, 48, who directed him to the Market St. address, where the second defendant, Sheng Cong Li, 46, led him to a fifth-floor apartment. A third defendant inside #5C, Ying Yeung, 34, accepted $40 in payment and told the officer, “The girl is in the bathroom.” A short time later, the girl came out, agreed to have sexual intercourse and the officer called backup to arrest the suspects.
Handbag bagged
Employees of the Louis Vuitton store at 116 Greene St. who noticed that a bag valued at $1,240 was missing at 4:45 p.m. Wed., May 7, checked their surveillance camera and saw the image of a woman putting the bag inside her own handbag and walking away, police said.
Electronics robber
The 15-year-old victim of a May 9 mugging at Jefferson and Henry Sts. when his portable PlayStation game was taken, was making the complaint at the Seventh Precinct on Monday afternoon May 12 when he saw his assailant being brought into the station after an arrest at Orchard St. and Canal Sts. The suspect, Samuel Page, 16, was charged with the May 9 robbery and with beating a man on Orchard and Canal Sts. on May 12 and taking the victim’s iPod.
iPod punch-up
A 17-year-old Staten Island resident was walking on Sixth Ave. at Broome St. about 8:15 a.m. Wed., May 14, when four teenage boys approached and demanded his iPod, police said. The victim refused, put the iPod in his pocket and the four muggers punched him and reached into his pocket for the iPod. They were only able to grab the headphones and fled.
Domestic abuse
Police arrested Derrick Melvin, 26, on Mon., May 8, for beating his girlfriend, 25, a week earlier in their apartment at 10 Avenue D in the Lillian Wald Houses with their 19-month-old child looking on. The suspect is to appear in court July 15 to answer assault charges.
Wrong number
A patron of Diablo Royale, 189 W. 10th St., on Thurs., May 15, discovered at 11:30 p.m. that her bag with her cell phone was gone, police said. She called her cell phone from a pay phone and a man’s voice answered, telling her she had the wrong number and then hung up. The victim cancelled her cell phone service and her credit cards, which had no unauthorized charges, police said.
Repair man gone
A man walked into Barrow’s Pub, 463 Hudson St. at 7 p.m. Sat., May 10, and said he was there to repair the vending machine, police said. He put the machine, valued at $3,500, on a hand truck and took it away. The bar manager discovered later that no one had been called to repair the machine or to remove it, police said.
Painting gone
A New School security agent told police that someone had stolen a painting, valued at $15,000, from the wall where it was hanging in the building at 64 W. 11th St. around 7:25 p.m. Mon., May 12.
Albert Amateau
