Police sketch of suspect in Oct. 8 home-invasion robbery at 50 W. Ninth St.
Tied up housekeeper
A robber entered a second-floor apartment at 50 W. Ninth St. at 4:10 p.m. Thurs., Oct. 8, after the housekeeper went to put out garbage and came back inside without locking the door behind her, police said. The robber, described as a Hispanic man with a light complexion, 6 feet 2 inches tall, weighing 175 pounds, with black-and-gray hair and wearing a gray, hooded, zippered sweatshirt, blue jeans and tan work boots, grabbed the woman from behind as she was vacuuming, police at the Sixth Precinct said. The robber tied the housekeeper with the vacuum cleaner cord, then stuffed an iPod, two laptop computers, an iPod speaker and $200 in cash into a red backpack that he stole from the premises. The suspect, between 50 and 55 years old, ordered the housekeeper, 53, to wait 10 minutes before calling for help, and fled. The apartment’s owner was out at the time. Police are asking anyone with information to phone the Crime Stoppers hotline at 800-577-8477 (TIPS), or go online to www.crimestoppers.com or by texting 274637 then entering TIP577.
Subway track deaths
The body of an unidentified man was discovered on the uptown D train tracks at the Broadway-Lafayette St. station at 10:12 p.m. Sun., Oct. 11, police said. Someone pulled the emergency brake of a train in the station at the time, but the body was not discovered until the train pulled out of the station, according to reports.
An unidentified man, 49, was found unconscious on the tracks at the L train station at 14th St. and First Ave. around 11:30 a.m. Wed., Oct. 7, police said. The victim was pronounced dead by an Emergency Medical Service team that arrived at the station.
Teen burglary charges
A boy, 15, arrested for burglary in Richmond Hill, Queens, on Friday night Oct. 9, is also a suspect in up to 25 burglaries in the Village, police at the Sixth Precinct said. The suspect, Juan Gonzalez, was apprehended along with his 13-year-old brother and was charged with 12 robberies in the Richmond Hill precinct. Police sources said the suspect was first arrested in 2005 for burglary when he was 11 and was arrested again last year. Gonzalez began taking his younger brother with him recently, according to a Daily News article. The Village burglaries, which occurred over a period of several weeks, are under investigation, police said.
Credit-card theft
A man and a woman from Massachusetts were charged with grand larceny and possession of stolen property on Wed., Sept. 30, when they tried to pay for drinks at Off the Wagon, 109 MacDougal St., with a stolen credit card, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Danielle Hill, 22, and Anthony Brazza, 26, were charged with stealing the card from a woman who had left her bag at a table while she went to the bathroom at a nearby bar on Sixth Ave. and Bleecker St. The couple were being held in lieu of bail pending a Jan. 10 court appearance.
Murder attempt
Police responded to a call to a seventh-floor apartment at 420 W. 19th St. in the Robert Fulton Houses at 11:40 p.m., Sat., Oct. 3, and found a victim on the floor bleeding profusely from the chest. Luis Natal, 41, who answered the officers’ knock on his door, was charged with stabbing the victim, whom he has known for 20 years, according to the D.A.’s office. The victim, whose name was not disclosed, was taken to Bellevue Hospital where he was reported in critical but stable condition. The defendant told police that some of the victim’s friends had jumped him the previous week, according to court papers. On Saturday, the victim came to Natal’s apartment and they argued. A witness told police he saw Natal grab a knife, plunge it into the man’s chest and pull the knife out. Natal was being held for attempted murder pending a Nov. 9 court appearance.
Bakery burglary
Cesar Betegon, 25, of Brooklyn, was arrested Mon., Oct. 5, for breaking into a bakery at 35 Christopher St. near Waverly Place between Saturday night and Sunday morning. Police said they lifted prints on the bakery cash register that matched Betegon’s prints, which were on file. Betegon was being held in lieu of bail pending a Dec. 1 court appearance.
Art theft arrest
Police arrested Daniel Cardebat, 65, on Sat, Oct. 3, in connection with the March 8 theft of a painting from an antique dealer at 40 W. 25th St., and two antique lamps from a dealer at 5 E. 16th St. Cardebat is charged with taking a 12-by-14-inch painting of Charlie Chaplin from the wall of Showplace, the gallery on W. 25th St. on March 8. He is also charged with stealing the lamps on Sept. 6 from an E. 16th St. dealer. He was identified by a Flatiron District dealer who recognized him from a surveillance photo taken in March and distributed to merchants in the area, according to police. Cardebat was being held pending a Dec. 1 court appearance.
Unrestrained
Paul Greenwald, 61, was arrested on Sat., Oct. 3, for the second time in two weeks for criminal contempt for violating a court order secured by his estranged wife, Michelle Greenwald, barring him from her Horatio St. apartment, according to reports. He reportedly turned up at her apartment on Mon., Sept. 28, demanding to see her. On Sept. 17, he reportedly grabbed his estranged wife by the arm outside her apartment, but fled in a cab when a neighbor intervened, according to a New York Post article. Michelle Greenwald is an adjunct professor at the New York University Stern School of Business and author of a popular cookbook, “The Magical Melting Pot.”
Albert Amateau
