East Village sex abuse
Ninth Precinct police responded to a report of sex abuse on Monday morning June 15 and spoke to a girl, 12, who told them that a man followed her into the elevator of her E. Fourth St. building shortly before 10 a.m., showed her pornography on a DVD player that he was carrying, and then groped her. She was able to flee when the elevator door opened.
Johan Garcia, 28, of the Bronx, was arrested in the neighborhood in connection with the case a short time later and charged with sexual abuse. Garcia had been arrested last December for kidnapping a 14-year-old girl from her Washington Heights building and driving her to a Bronx motel, where she was able to escape while he went to rent a room, according to a Daily News article. The suspect was also reported arrested in 2003 for indecent exposure and public lewdness.
MacDougal clubber dies
Police responded to a call at 3:10 a.m. Sun., June 14, about an unconscious man in Love, the club at 179 MacDougal St. near W. Eighth St. and found the victim, a white male, 28, unconscious and unresponsive. He was taken to St. Vincent’s Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival. He had been drinking and taking ecstasy before he passed out, according to witnesses. The incident is under investigation and the victim’s name was not released pending family notification.
Seek cop impostors
Police are looking for two men wanted in an April 26, 12:30 a.m., robbery in which they told a man on E. 13th St. that they were police officers and robbed him. The robbers approached the victim, 22, near E. 14th St. and Avenue B, said they were police and then began to search him, police said. They then forced the victim to an A.T.M. and made him withdraw $400, which they took before fleeing, police said.
Handbag attack
A man in his thirties came up behind a woman on E. Third St. near the Bowery at 5:15 a.m. Tues., June 9, punched her, wrestled her to the ground and ripped off her handbag with her laptop and cell phone, then fled, police said.
Stiff board
Police arrested Victor Anderson, 48, on Saturday night June 13 on Seventh Ave. at Christopher St. and charged him with assault for hitting a man in the legs with a plywood board.
Shoplifting spree
Police arrested three men and a woman from New Jersey on Wed., June 10, and charged them with shoplifting from eight clothing boutiques, including Max Studio, 426 West Broadway between Spring and Prince Sts., and Anthropologie, 375 West Broadway near Broome St., in Soho and shops on the Upper East Side.
The suspects walked into the shops with plastic bags lined with aluminum foil, which obstructs surveillance devices, stuffed the bags with merchandise and walked out, police said. They went from store to store in a car, according to police.
The suspects include Marjorie Cedeño, 43; Armando Astudillo, 41; Freddy Ornaza, 28, and Robert Sandoval, 27. In addition to the Max Studio and Anthopolgie in Soho, they were accused of stealing from Gap, Arden B, Bolton’s, BCBG and Chico’s on the Upper East Side.
Targets older men
Police are looking for a strong-arm robber who follows elderly men into their buildings in the Village and Stuyvesant Town during the daylight hours and takes their wallets. The most recent offense was at 3:10 p.m. Sun., June 7, when a man, 62, was robbed in the lobby of his residence at 440 E. 23rd St. in Peter Cooper Village.
The robber previously attacked a 91-year-old man in the elevator of his Village residence at 247 W. 12th St. at 1:40 p.m. Fri., May 29. When the elevator reached the third floor, the robber grabbed the victim, who resisted. But the suspect hit the victim, removed $400 from his wallet and fled from the elevator when it returned to the lobby, police said. The suspect was described as a bald black man, 5 feet 5 inches tall and about 45 years old.
Before that, the suspect robbed a man, 77, in the lobby of the victim’s residence at 447 E. 14th St. in Stuyvesant Town at 9:35 a.m. Mon., May 25.
Park molester
Police arrested Louis Lanclos, 47, on Tuesday afternoon June 9 and charged him with sexually abusing a woman, 76, in Sara Delano Roosevelt Park on Forsyth St. near Delancey St. The suspect grabbed the woman’s breasts and buttocks and put his mouth on her neck. Witnesses called police, who arrested Lanclos near the scene.
Cold-case arrest
A Sixth Precinct police officer spotted a man opening the freezer door of an ice cream delivery truck parked in front of 3 Sheridan Square at 3 p.m. Wed., June 10, while the driver was making deliveries to Gristedes. The officer arrested Patrick Merolle, 32, and charged him with taking three cases of Häagen-Dazs ice cream.
Mugged on 6th Ave.
A Brooklyn man, 29, walking on the west side of Sixth Ave. between 13th and 14th Sts., around 8:30 a.m. Tues., June 2, was accosted by a man who took his backpack containing a DVD player and DVD discs, a bottle of skin lotion, a stick of deodorant and a package of cookies, police said. Sharif Seconda Washington, 23, was arrested a short time later with the bag and its contents and was charged with robbery.
Rob attempt
A suspect pushed a man, 44, under the scaffolding over the sidewalk on Christopher St. near Bleecker St. during the early hours of Fri., June 12, and tried to pull the wallet from the victim’s pocket, but fled without taking anything, police said. The suspect may have followed the victim from Employees Only, the bar on Hudson St. between Christopher and W. 10th Sts.
Albert Amateau
