Delancey armed robbers
Police are seeking information on two suspects who held up the Duane Reade at 100 Delancey St. at Ludlow St. at gunpoint around 11 p.m. Fri., June 15. When the woman cashier refused their demand for money, one of the robbers said, “Shoot her,” whereupon his accomplice fired and missed. The two then fled in an unknown direction.
One suspect was described as Hispanic, 40 to 45 years old, between 5 feet 10 inches and 6 feet tall, with short dark hair and wearing a blue baseball cap with a white symbol on the front and a black jacket and a white shirt.
The other suspect was described as Hispanic, 40 to 45 years old, 5 feet 9 inches tall, with salt-and-pepper hair and a moustache and goatee, wearing a blue short-sleeve jacket and white sneakers. Tips may be phoned to Crime Stoppers, 800-577-TIPS (8477) or reported online to www.nypdcrimestoppers.com or by texting 274637 (Crimes) and entering TIP577.
Club melee
A bottle-throwing brawl at W.i.P., the club at 34 Vandam St. in the basement of Greenhouse, 150 Varick St., in the early hours of Thurs., June 14, involving hip-hop singers Chris Brown and Drake, left eight people with minor injures. The incident is still under investigation but there were no arrests. The brawl started over an argument between Brown and Drake over the singer, Rihanna, who was not at the club, according to reports. Over the weekend, police closed W.i.P. and Greenhouse indefinitely due to last week’s incident and other violations.
Multi-bank robbery
Police arrested Cornell Neilly, 21, on Wed., June 13, and charged him with robbing or attempting to rob 14 banks from Harlem to the Financial District since April 11. Among his targets was an HSBC branch at 26 Broadway and a Chase branch at 231 Grand St. He earned the tabloid nickname the “Burberry Bandit” because he wore a Burberry shirt in two robberies.
Watch thieves
Police arrested a man and a woman around 6:15 p.m. Sun., June 17, for stealing a watch from a jewelry store at 385 Canal St. near Thompson St. The suspects, Melinda Rodriguez, 29, and Stephen Rios, 31, grabbed the watch and fled. The owner, who saw the theft, phoned 911 and followed the suspects. Rios confronted the owner and punched him in the face, and the two suspects ducked into the doorways of two West Broadway buildings, where police collared them.
Pier 40 thefts
The Sixth Police Precinct this week warned athletes who use Pier 40 that the recreation fields and facilities at the pier at W. Houston St. are the precinct’s top theft location.
“The Sixth Precinct routinely patrols the pier in uniform and plainclothes, but the very large volume of unattended property makes it exceedingly difficult to distinguish between a thief who is stealing property from a person who is leaving with his or her own belongings,” says a warning that the precinct has posted. “Do not bring valuables to the piers because they cannot be secured,” the posting warned, noting that a thief would steal an unattended bag with the hope of finding something valuable. Teams should designate someone to watch property and should call 911 with a description of a suspect.
The Hudson River Park Trust provides a few large bins for groups of players to store their belongings. However, at a recent meeting of Community Board 2’s Waterfront Committee, a young female soccer player whose iPhone had been stolen on Pier 40, called for real lockers. Madelyn Wils, the Hudson River Park Trust’s president, responded that that would involve issues like having to clip locks, which the Trust doesn’t want to have to do.
Skimming sentence
Nikolai Ivanov, 31, and Dimitar Stamatov, 29, each have been sentenced to three to nine years in prison for using a skimming device at bank A.T.M.s in Manhattan to steal debit card numbers from 1,490 bank customers. The defendants, residents of Quebec, were arrested on May 24, 2011, while retrieving one of the plastic devices from a bank A.T.M. at 785 Broadway at E. 10th St. They pleaded guilty to skimming and larceny for using the stolen card numbers to steal more than $280,000 from victims’ accounts.
Meatpacking mayhem
Police arrested three suspects who punched, choked and robbed a man in front of 409 W. 13th St. at Ninth Ave. in the Meatpacking District around 3:45 a.m. Fri., June 15. Terrel Ephron, 23, Isaiah Thompson, 18, and Adam Kirkman, 19, were arrested at the scene.
Shortly before their arrest, the same man was threatened on 14th St. and Ninth Ave. by a suspect who menaced police who responded to the complaint. The suspect, Tyshawn Holloway, 18, was charged with menacing and resisting arrest.
On Mon., June 18, police were called to Hector’s, the diner at 44 Little W. 12th St., around 5:20 p.m. after a man threw a container of fruit into the street. The suspect also threatened a potential victim that he would “find something to bash his head in.” Robert Turbino, 41, was also charged with weapons possession after he pulled a serrated knife from his backpack.
Subway theft
Transit police arrested Laking Bristow, 27, on a train at the Eighth Ave. subway station at 14th St. around 3:40 a.m. Sun., June 27, for taking money from a passenger’s pocket. Bristow was also charged with weapons possession after two razor blades were found tucked in his socks.
Assaults
Police arrested Jawann Abraham, 24, around 5:40 a.m. June 15 for hitting a victim in the head in front of 25 W. Fourth St. near Mercer St. The victim was taken to the hospital, where he had two staples put in his scalp to close the wound, police said.
Around 4:10 p.m. Sun., June 17, Preston Smith, 48, was arrested on Seventh Ave. South at Christopher St. for aggressive panhandling. He was also charged with assault for biting the arresting officer on the hand.
Flirt and snatch
A woman sitting in her car parked on the southwest corner of 13th St. at Sixth Ave. at 4:45 p.m. Mon., June 18, was approached by a man who began flirting with her and then snatched her cell phone and fled. Police saw the incident, gave chase and arrested the suspect, Jerome Cameron, 41, on W. 15th St. between Sixth and Seventh Aves.
Subway bag grab
A Brooklyn woman, 46, was taking a Q train home around 8:40 p.m. Thurs., June 7, when a thief snatched her bag and fled at the Canal St. station at Broadway.
Albert Amateau
