Soho loft DOA
Police responded to a call about an unconscious man in the third-floor loft at 101 Wooster St. at 9 a.m. Wed., June 30. They found James Patrick Rothstein, 58, who was declared dead at the scene by an Emergency Medical Services team. Police sources said no criminality was suspected. Rothstein, a former bond trader with Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns and UBS, and head of his own investment firm, had been fighting alcoholism and depression for years, especially after a recent breakup with his former wife, according to a Daily News article. The Medical Examiner’s Office was investigating the cause of death.
Armed gem thief
Police are still seeking the public’s help in identifying a suspect wanted in connection with the armed robbery of two jewelry stores in Soho and the Village. The suspect was described as a white man, 35 to 45 years old, medium skin tone and about 5 feet 9 inches tall and 180 pounds, wearing a striped blue, button-down shirt and dark trousers.
On Wed., June 23, the suspect walked into the Land of Buddha store, at 128 MacDougal St., at about 1 p.m., pulled a knife on the shopkeeper and forced her to the back of the store where he tied her hands. He walked out with jewelry valued at more than $7,000.
On Wed., June 9, he walked into Lunessa, at 100 Thompson St. between Prince and Spring Sts., at 11:50 a.m., asked to look at engagement rings and then pulled a gun on an attendant. He made off with jewelry valued at more than $4,000.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS (8477) or online at www.nypdcrimestoppers.com or by texting to 274637 (Crimes) and entering TIP577. All calls are confidential.
Menaced woman
Police arrested a teenager on Fri., June 25, for menacing a pregnant woman on the sidewalk in front of her home on E. 15th St. near Washington Irving High School and then stealing her cell phone when she tried to call police shortly after 2 p.m. on Fri., June 11. Lequint Singleton, 17, a resident of the Grant Houses on W. 125th St., was charged with first-degree robbery and criminal possession of stolen property in the incident, which also involved two of his friends who have not been apprehended, according to the complaint filed with D.A. Vance. Singleton and his two accomplices surrounded the victim after a dispute and punched her, police said. When she tried to use her cell phone, one of the accomplices snatched it and handed it to Singleton before they all fled, the complaint says. According to the Daily News, the victim was so traumatized she subsequently moved to the Upper East Side.
Domestic assault
A female resident of Washington St. near Christopher St. told police that her boyfriend became enraged around 3 a.m. Sat., July 3, when she asked him not to leave. The suspect, 27, pulled her hair, punched her in the arm and threatened to kill her before he fled, police said. The victim, 39, sustained minor injuries.
Paris Commune rob
Police arrested Shamel Rhodes, 18, on Sat., June 26, and charged him with stealing an envelope with $4,500 in cash from the office of Paris Commune, 99 Bank St., on June 2. The suspect, who has several previous arrests for prostitution, walked into the restaurant at 9:40 p.m., asked to use the restroom and went into the office and lifted the money, according to the complaint filed with Manhattan D.A. Vance. Rhodes was recorded taking the money on a June 2 surveillance tape, the complaint says.
Pot-puffin’ passer
Police at the D.W.I. checkpoint on West Houston St. between Greenwich and Washington Sts. stopped Chris Simms, 29, a quarterback with the Tennessee Titans, at around 1:30 a.m. Thurs., July 1, in his 2009 Mercedes-Benz and charged him with driving while under the influence of marijuana. Simms, the son of former Giants great and current television sports analyst Phil Simms, was driving with his pregnant wife, Danielle, who was not charged. Police said Simms reeked of marijuana and that he admitted smoking pot shortly before his arrest, but none was found in the car. At his arraignment, his lawyer said Simms had told the arresting officers that he had smoked cigarettes, not marijuana. He was released on bail pending a court appearance this week.
Village vodka bash
An East Orange, N.J., man was charged with hitting a man in the face with a bottle of vodka around 5:10 p.m. Sun., June 26, on the corner of Christopher and West Sts. Joshua Elston, 27, was charged with second-degree assault. His victim sustained a cut below the right eye but was not hospitalized.
Unlawful videoing
Police arrested Jaime Rios, 45, around 4 p.m. Tues., June 29, and charged him with unlawful surveillance for training his video camera at a woman on Lafayette and Canal Sts. Rios told the officers that he left his home in Brooklyn and filmed three women in miniskirts on the train trip to Manhattan in addition to the filming on Lafayette and Canal Sts. Rios said, “I do this for personal use,” and told the police he was sorry.
Indict property manager
A Manhattan grand jury last week indicted Richard Bassik, 67, and his real estate management company, Downtown Properties, Inc., on fraud, grand larceny and falsifying business records regarding 13 properties, mostly in Soho and Lower Manhattan.
Bassik is charged with fraudulently diverting more than $1.7 million between January 2005 and August 2009 from the properties he was managing to his own accounts. Among the victimized properties were 115 Spring St., 41 Greene St. and buildings on Prince, Grand and Mott Sts. Bassik pleaded not guilty and was freed on bail pending a July 14 court date.
Albert Amateau
