Stuy Town ice-pick mugger
John Martinez, 40, pleaded guilty on Thurs., Nov. 10, to robbing three women at the point of an ice pick and a knife in and around the Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village complex in November and December of last year.
Martinez cornered his first victim on Nov. 22, 2010, in the elevator of her Peter Cooper Village building, pulled a knife, took about $700 from her and fled, according to the Manhattan district attorney.
He pulled an ice pick on another woman and her 3-year-old son in the elevator of a Stuyvesant Town building on Dec. 2 and made the mother turn over $80, jewelry and credit cards. He then threatened to stab the child if the victim did not take him to her apartment. But the woman and her son managed to get into the apartment and shut Martinez out, according to court papers.
Later on the same day, Williams entered an elevator with a woman and her two small children in a different E. 14th St. building, pulled the ice pick and forced her to give him her wallet and a ring.
A half hour before the first Dec. 2 robbery, Martinez followed another woman into a different building on E. 14th St., but she refused to step into the elevator after him and he fled, according to the district attorney.
Martinez pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary and three counts of attempted first-degree robbery.
Rape-attempt arrest Police arrested Imre Meszesan, 35, on Tues., Nov. 15, for the attempted rape of an East Village woman around 3 a.m. Sun., Nov.13, as she entered her First Ave. building. The victim, 27, turned and fought off her attacker, who reportedly grabbed her from behind and lifted her skirt on a stairway. The victim could not identify her attacker from an array of police photos but a surveillance camera at her building recorded his image. Meszesan, of Bedford Stuyvesant, faces attempted rape and burglary charges. A police officer reportedly ID’d him from the video.
Parking-punch mistrial A mistrial was declared on Mon., Nov. 14, in the February 2011 assault case against Oscar Fuller, who was charged with punching a woman who was holding an E. 14th St. curbside parking space for her boyfriend, causing her to fall into a coma. A sole holdout juror was reportedly the cause of the mistrial.
Fuller was freed on bail until Jan. 5 when a new trial will be scheduled.
The 4-foot-11-inch victim was standing at a curbside space between Avenues A and B saving it for her friend when Fuller drove up. They argued and Fuller threw a punch that knocked the victim to the pavement where she hit her head, after which she fell into a coma for nine days.
Bobst Library theft A woman in New York University’s Bobst Library on Washington Square South saw a man pick up her wallet, which was on the table beside her, around 10 a.m. Tues., Nov. 8. The suspect fled but N.Y.U. security guards stopped Lamarr Gaskin, 19, on W. Third St. at LaGuardia Place and charged him with larceny after the victim identified him.
Gaskin was also charged with possession of stolen property, including the victim’s wallet with $80, credit cards and a California driver’s license. He was also linked to the theft of a laptop, electronic tablets, headphones and a wallet from other victims in the library and theft from students in another N.Y.U. building.
Faulty taillight was signal Police stopped a car with a faulty taillight at the corner of Jane and Washington Sts. around 7:15 p.m. Fri., Nov. 11, and discovered the car had been stolen and the driver, Devron Monroe, 25, was wanted on a Virginia warrant. The cops also smelled something funny, discovered an undisclosed quantity of marijuana in the car and charged Monroe and his two women passengers, Eteidra Edwards, 19, and Ashley Forbes, 21, with possession.
But graffiti is art, right? Police arrested two suspects for making graffiti on a wall at 155 Bank St. in the Westbeth artists’ residence complex at 2:15 a.m. Sun., Nov. 13. Michael Humphrey and Evan Gilbert, both 20, had five spray-paint cans in their possession and had sprayed their tags, “OPPS” and “MRH,” on a wall, police said.
Gansevoort larceny A patron of the wine bar in front of the Gansevoort Hotel, 24 Ninth Ave., spotted a man going through her bag at her table and called security, who arrested Zion Stayberg, 18, and charged him with larceny for stealing wallets from two victims and a cell phone from another.
W. 4th A.T.M. robbery A man was withdrawing cash from an automated teller machine in front of 204 W. Fourth St. at Sheridan Square around 1:15 a.m. Thurs., Nov. 10, when someone grabbed him from behind, swung him around violently and grabbed a $20 bill from his hand and fled, police said. Michael Joyner, 44, was soon arrested and charged with larceny.
Chipotle flimflam A female employee of the new Chipotle branch at 510 Sixth Ave. was charged with stealing $1,500 from the restaurant between Sept. 1 and Nov. 10, police said. She would ring up purchases on the register, then void them and pocket the money. A store audit discovered the theft and Natali Espinoza, 19, was charged with larceny.
Albert Amateau
