Fights off muggers
Two suspects approached a Village woman, 25, walking near her W. 11th St. home between W. Fourth St. and Waverly Place at 11 p.m. Thurs., Dec. 4, and one of them put “an unknown round object” to the back of her head, police said. The two robbers punched the victim, knocked her to the sidewalk and grabbed her bag, but she hung on to it and managed to pepper-spray both of them in the face. The suspects, described only as black men, both about 5 feet 9 inches and weighing 170 pounds, fled east on 11th St. after one of them grabbed an earring from the victim’s right ear. The victim sustained a cut on the back of her head and a swollen jaw.
T-Day tagger
A vandal tagged a shuttered storefront at 38 Gansevoort St. with unidentifiable letters in orange spray paint around 1 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day, police said. The suspect, described as an Asian man about 25 years old and 5 feet 9 inches tall, fled when confronted by a watchman, police said.
Bicycle hit-and-ride
A Soho woman, 38, was crossing Fifth Ave. at W. 14th St. at 5:40 p.m. Sat., Dec. 6, when a man on a bicycle speeding south on Fifth Ave. ran a red light and struck her, police said. The suspect, described as a white man about 30 years old, 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighing about 160 pounds, fled on his cycle south on Fifth Ave. The victim sustained injuries to her face, neck and back.
Bleecker brawl
A West Village man got into an argument with three men in a restaurant on Bleecker St. near Charles St. at 3 a.m. Thurs., Dec. 4, police said. The dispute continued on the sidewalk in front of the place, where the victim, 39, took punches to the face and head. Richard Parisis, 42; Christopher Martino, 33, and Michael Salinari, 39, were charged with misdemeanor assault.
Knockoff shops shut
A Wednesday morning Dec. 3 raid on 17 storefront stalls in two buildings on Canal St. between Centre and Lafayette Sts. ended with the stalls padlocked and about 500 bags of counterfeit trademarked handbags, wallets, jewelry and perfume seized, according to the Office of Special Enforcement.
The raid, before the start of the day’s business, hit stalls that sold legitimate goods in the front and counterfeit goods in the rear behind a locked door that could only be opened electronically by a merchant in the front of the stores, according to Jason Post, a Special Enforcement spokesperson.
The Department of Buildings put vacate orders on the shops because of the danger to shoppers and employees in the locked rear area.
The shop managers and owners of the two buildings at 244 and 246-250 Canal St. were named in a civil suit. At 246-250 Canal St., where there are permits for four shops, inspectors found 15 stalls in operation. No one was arrested in the raid and there were no criminal charges.
Real estate scam
A Manhattan lawyer, James John Armenakis, 65, and his law firm were indicted on Wed., Dec. 3, for stealing a $735,000 deposit on the sale of a $7.35 million condominium apartment at 285 Lafayette St. between Houston and Prince Sts.
Armenakis, who represented the seller, received the money as a 10 percent deposit from the buyer in October 2007 and was supposed to apply it to the purchase price at the closing. But Armenakis did not appear at the May 2, 2008, closing and did not apply the money to the purchase price, according to the charges filed by the office of Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau.
The indictment charges the defendant with spending the money on personal items. At the same time, the indictment says that from February 2002 to October 2008, Armenakis failed to remit to New York State $98,000 withheld from employees for state taxes.
MP3 thievery
Police arrested four teens who got on a Q train at Union Square around 7:40 p.m. Sat., Nov. 29, and charged them with assault and robbery for punching and kicking a passenger and stealing his MP3 player. The suspects, Desean Armour, 18; Ardlyn Lashley, 16; Stevenson Joseph, 18, and Ezechial Edwards, 18, all of Brooklyn, were arrested at the Times Square station.
Bank robbery
A man who walked into the Apple Bank branch at Irving Place and E. 14th St. at 1:40 p.m. Tues., Dec. 2, passed a teller a note saying he had a gun and demanding money, police said. The robber was described as a black man with a goatee, in his late 30s, 5 feet 10 inches tall and with a stocky build; and wearing a black skullcap, dark glasses and black leather jacket and carrying a black plastic bag. He fled with an undisclosed amount of cash, police said.
Laptop lifted
An Upper East Side man had his computer bag stolen while he was in the Fat Black Pussy Cat on Monday night Dec. 1, police said. An unidentified man returned the bag to the bar later, but the computer, valued at $1,748, and his wool scarf, were missing.
Albert Amateau
