Seek Baruch slay suspect
The Police Department is offering a $12,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or people who stabbed a woman who was found with several stab wounds to the back in an elevator in 555 F.D.R. Drive in the Baruch Houses shortly before 5 a.m. Sat., Feb 12.
The victim, identified last week as Jomali Morales, 42, of 383 Grand St., was declared dead at Beth Israel Hospital. Anyone with information should phone Crime Stoppers at 800-577-8477 (TIPS) or log onto www.nypdcrimestoppers.com or text tips to 274637 (CRIMES) and enter TIPS577. All tips are strictly confidential.
‘Rape cop’ on tape
Prosecutors plan to use a tape recording secured by an East Village woman in the impending trial of two Ninth Precinct police officers charged in connection with her rape two years ago, according to a New York Post article. The victim secretly taped one of the defendants, Kenneth Moreno, on the street in front of the Ninth Precinct a few days after the incident, the Post reported. On the tape, Moreno at first denies that he raped the victim in her E. 13th St. apartment. He then says, “It turned from us trying to help you to getting really crazy.” The tape has Moreno saying, “It wasn’t done intentionally, I didn’t mean to hurt you… . I’m sorry… . If you stop drinking, I’ll be your boyfriend.” Moreno also says on the tape that he used a condom in the rape. The trial of Moreno and his partner, Franklin Mata, is expected to start in two weeks.
Missing men
Police are seeking the whereabouts of two elderly Asian men missing last week from their homes, one from 79 Chrystie St., and the other from 132 Avenue D.
Kong Xin Huang, 79, was last seen leaving his Chrystie St. residence around 3 p.m. Sat., Feb. 19, wearing light brown trousers, a waist-length brown coat, black shoes and a blue baseball cap, police said. Huang speaks Cantonese only.
Xiulong Zheng, 63, was last seen inside his Avenue D residence by his wife at 10:20 a.m. Mon., Feb. 14, wearing a black three-quarter-length jacket, black trousers and black shoes. The missing man, 5 feet 3 inches tall and 125 pounds, has a slight paralysis to his left side due to a stroke and walks with a limp, police said. Zheng, who immigrated to this country several weeks ago, does not respond to his name and is unable to speak at all, police said.
Information should be phoned to 800-577-TIPS or reported at www.crimestoppers.com or by texting to 274637 and entering TIPS577.
DOA at St. Brigid’s
A homeless woman, ID’d as Grace Farrell, 35, was found dead under a construction scaffold in front of St. Brigid’s Church, 199 Avenue B, Sunday morning Feb. 20, police said. Her friend, a homeless man known as Tony, found her and called police, according to The New York Times. Tony left Farrell alive Saturday night wrapped in three wool blankets and lying on sheets of cardboard in an alcove area under the scaffold. He returned at midnight and found her apparently asleep and warm under the blankets, and left to get some sleep at the Bowery Mission. He returned around 8 a.m. to find her dead, according to the Times article. Police said the victim was wearing a hospital bracelet identifying her as a “Jane Doe.” She did not have any signs of trauma, police said.
Vandam shooting arrest
Police arrested Julio Locarno, 23, on Mon., Feb. 14, and charged him with being one of two men involved in the fatal shooting last July 18 in an argument over a Vandam St. parking space near the club Greenhouse. The victim, Jason Green, was shot twice around 5 a.m. and died at the scene. Locarno, who was identified as a suspect by a surveillance video, told his accomplice, not apprehended as yet, to shoot the victim, according to reports. Both parties had been at Greenhouse, the club at 150 Varick St.
Locarno is being held pending a March 17 court appearance on charges of first-degree manslaughter and gang assault, according to a spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr.
Producer found dead
Perry Moore, 39, producer of the “Chronicles of Narnia” movies, was found dead of an apparent drug overdose on Thurs., Feb. 17, in his apartment at 180 West Houston St. off Sixth Ave.
Moore, whose first name was entered as William in a police report, had bottles of a prescription painkiller near his body, according to reports. He was found by his partner, according to authorities. The Medical Examiner’s Office said a preliminary investigation was inconclusive pending a toxicology report. Police said no criminality was suspected.
Posed as plumbers
A man posing as a plumber convinced a woman, 80, to admit him to her apartment at 87 Barrow St, around 3:10 p.m. Wed., Feb. 16, and while he distracted her, two accomplices entered and stole jewelry from her bedroom, police said. All three suspects fled east on Barrow St. All were described as white or Hispanic. One was said to be 35 to 40 years old, 5 feet 9 inches tall, with a medium build and mustache and wearing sunglasses, a black Pittsburgh Pirates cap, gray half-zippered sweater, tan pants and brown shoes. Another was said to be about age 30, 5 feet 8 inches, with a medium build, a mustache or a goatee, and wearing a gray or blue Adidas baseball hat, black New York Jets jacket, gray hoodie, blue jeans and black shoes. The third was described as 40 years old, 5 feet 8 inches tall, with a medium build and a goatee, wearing a tan fedora, dark outer vest, blue or white shirt, dark pants and dark shoes.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers, 800-577-TIPS, or log onto www.crimestoppers.com or text tips to CRIMES and enter TIPS577. All tips are confidential.
3 mug 84-year-old
Police are looking for two men and a woman wanted in connection with the mugging of an 84-year-old woman on E. 18th St. between Park Ave. South and Irving Place around 9:30 p.m. Tues., Jan. 15. One of the suspects knocked the victim to the pavement, grabbed her bag and fled, police said. The victim told police that 25 minutes later, three suspects tried and failed to use her credit card at a Chase branch at 45th St. and Lexington Ave. The two men, both black, were both wearing black and the woman was said to be wearing black pants and a white sweatshirt.
Information should be phoned in to the Crime Stoppers phone hotline or by logging onto www.crimestoppers.com or text 274637 (crimes) and entering TIPS577.
Sick shoplifters?
Police arrested two men on Sat., Feb. 12, and charged them with stealing 56 boxes of over-the-counter medicine valued at $1,290 from a shelf in the Walgreen’s store at 145 Fourth Ave. at E. 14th St. around 7:25 a.m. A store security guard told police he saw the suspects stuff the boxes in a black plastic bag and try to walk out without paying.
Break and bust
Police arrested Matthew Miller, 34, around 2 a.m. Sun., Feb. 13, and charged him with smashing a shop window at 341 Bleecker St. between W. 10th and Christopher Sts. and entering by opening the door from the inside. A witness phoned 911 for police, who arrested the suspect. He was being held pending a March 14 court appearance.
Jewelry-job plea
Jorge Molina, 21, pleaded guilty last week to stealing gold earrings, necklaces and a ring from a ground-floor location at 136 First Ave. near St. Mark’s Place on Jan. 6. Molina was sentenced to 45 days in jail.
Claimed he had gun
A man in a black hooded sweatshirt and carrying a black bag burst into the Chase branch on Fifth Ave. near 14th St. at 2:15 p.m. Wed., Feb. 16, and told everyone to hit the deck because he had a gun under his sweatshirt. He left with an undisclosed sum of cash in his bag, just eluding police, who had been alerted by someone in the rear of the bank who dialed 911.
Cab ride goes to pot
A suspect who hailed a cab in front of 106 Seventh Ave. South near Grove St. around 10:30 a.m. Tues., Feb. 15, told the driver to take him to Washington Square Park to buy some marijuana. The cabby pulled over, ordered the suspect out of the car and demanded that he pay the fare, police said. The suspect refused and started punching the driver, who called for help. Police responded and chased the suspect into the subway station, where he jumped the turnstile but was caught before the train left the station. Lawrence Femminella, 42, was charged with assault.
Bathroom bottle bash
Police arrested Karl Williams, 24, around 3 a.m. Mon., Feb. 21, for hitting another patron of Veranda, 130 Seventh Ave. South, in the head with a bottle after a dispute about cutting the line at the club’s men’s bathroom.
Albert Amateau
