Police sketch of sex-molester suspect.
Child molester
Police are looking for a man wanted for molesting a 9-year-old girl in the Seward Park branch of the New York Public Library, at 192 East Broadway, around 5 p.m. Thurs., May 6. The suspect was described as a white man in his mid-40s, between 5 feet 9 inches and 6 feet tall, medium build with short salt-and-pepper hair, wearing a black T-shirt, shorts, a gray cap and carrying a black bag with a strap.
Police said he stalked the victim, an Asian girl, grabbed her by her shirt when she was out of her mother’s sight, and covered her mouth and sexually groped her before making a quick exit of the library.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to phone Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS (8477) or log onto www.NYPDcrimestoppers.com or text 274637 (Crimes) and enter TIPS577.
In a statement, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who represents the area, called the incident a “heinous crime,” and said, “It is essential that our institutions of learning be places where children and their parents feel safe. Our community will not tolerate such predators and I urge anyone who witnessed this attack or has any knowledge about the suspect to contact the police.”
Village mugging arrest
Police arrested Nidal Ghalieh, 42, on Thursday afternoon May 6, and charged him with attempting to grab a woman’s bag on Broadway near Waverly Place. The suspect put the victim in a chokehold around 1:40 p.m. and pulled the strap of her bag off her shoulder — but she held onto the bag, broke free and fled. The victim alerted police, who arrested the suspect in front of 734 Broadway.
Groped in elevator
Anthony Damon, 46, was arrested Tues., May 4, and charged with burglary and sexual assault for groping a woman earlier this year in an elevator at 521 E. 14th St. in Stuyvesant Town. The suspect held the elevator doors open around 8:10 p.m. Feb. 4 for the victim, grabbed her buttocks when the doors closed and fled when the doors opened on another floor, according to the charges filed by Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. A surveillance tape led to the arrest last week. Damon was being held pending a June 7 court appearance.
Real estate scam
Vincent Armas, 45, was arrested Mon., May 3, for stealing $4,725 from three people in December of last year and January of this year by purporting to be a real estate agent renting them apartments, one on E. 13th St., another in Midtown and a third in East Harlem. Armas took $1,475 from a victim this January who wanted to rent an apartment at 416 E. 13th St., according to the charges. He left a key to the apartment for the victim, who discovered on Jan. 31 that the key did not work and that other people were living there, according to the complaint filed by the Manhattan D.A. Armas pulled the same scam two other times, taking $2,000 from a victim who thought he was leasing an apartment at 343 Lexington Ave. in Midtown, and $1,250 from a victim who thought he was renting an apartment at 117 E. 102nd St., the complaint says. Armas is being held in lieu of bail pending a June 7 court appearance.
Cupcakes and beyond
Sixth Precinct police arrested Charles Carillo, 38, on Fri., May 7, after he allegedly broke into Crumbs, at 124 University Place, around 4 a.m., scattered cupcakes all over the floor, broke into the cash register and made off with an undetermined sum of cash and a laptop computer. Charged with burglary and possession of burglary tools for the Crumbs break-in, he was further charged later with the burglary of Five Guys Burgers, 296 Bleecker St., around 2 a.m. Wed., April 14, and stealing $834. Carillo eventually confessed to nine other burglaries, including one in Lower Manhattan at Energy Kitchen, 71 Nassau St., on Feb. 19, another in the East Village at Neptune Diner, 194 First Ave., on March 4, and six in Midtown between November and January of this year.
Albert Amateau
