Senior mugger slammed
The prosecution requested the maximum sentence — 50 years to life — for a defendant convicted of violently mugging two elderly men in Stuyvesant Town / Peter Cooper Village. Judge Marcy Kahn felt that was a bit too steep, yet still meted out a seriously tough term — 38 years to life — on Fri., May 30.
In November 2013, Henry Huggins, 53, was convicted of burglary in the first degree, robbery in the first and second degrees, and assault in the second degree in connection with the two muggings.
On Nov. 3, 2011, he followed a 77-year-old man to his home at E. 16th St. and First Ave. from a bank where the victim had withdrawn $450. As the victim entered his building’s lobby, Huggins shoved him from behind, ripped the cash from his pocket and fled. The senior suffered shoulder, arm and chest injuries.
On Nov. 23, 2011, Huggins tailed a 71-year-old to the senior’s home on E. 20th St. from a different bank where the man had just withdrawn $400. Huggins slipped into the victim’s building behind him and threw him to the ground, breaking his arm. He then removed the victim’s wallet from his pocket and stole the recently withdrawn cash before fleeing.
A few days later, a Department of Homeless Services officer at Bellevue Men’s Shelter recognized the defendant from surveillance photos, leading to Huggins’s arrest.
The minimum sentence Huggins faced was 20 years to life. Some of his sentences run consecutively and some concurrently.
“Like many violent criminals, Henry Huggins targeted some of the most vulnerable among us — the elderly — as they were returning home from banks,” said Cy Vance, the Manhattan district attorney. “Now, this career criminal will spend decades in prison.”
Vance urged senior victims of abuse, assault or financial fraud to call the D.A.’s Elder Abuse Hotline, at 212-335-9007.
Hot words, hot shot
A West Village resident got so heated during an argument that he fired a gunshot into the air — thankfully, though, it was just a blank.
Police said that on Sun., June 1, at 11:30 p.m., Nicholas Decourcelles, 46, was involved in a verbal dispute in front of his building, at 126 W. 11th St. According to a man, 35, that he was arguing with and a female witness, 33, the defendant brandished a handgun and discharged a blank round into the air. The shot had the effect of “causing panic, fear and public alarm to multiple persons,” according to the arresting officer’s report.
Responding officers arrested Decourcelles for third-degree criminal possession of a weapon — a Zoraki Model 914 9-millimeter pistol.
He cops to being bogus
On Sat., May 31, at 10:44 p.m., a police officer observed a man with an apparent police badge — a detective shield — and a handcuff case on his waistband, standing on the sidewalk outside Our Lady of Pompeii Church on Bleecker St. between Leroy and Carmine Sts.
The man presented himself as a police officer to the patrol officer. However, when asked for ID, he could not present New York Police Department identification, and then admitted that he wasn’t a cop. He was also found to be in possession of handcuffs.
Leonaldo Garcia, 40, of Teaneck, N.J., was charged with felony impersonation of an officer.
Pissed-off trio
According to the arresting officer’s report, a woman observed urinating in an exterior stairwell on W. Fourth St. early on Sat., May 31, refused to show her ID, then resisted arrest, as two sidekicks tried to help her avoid being cuffed.
Police said a lieutenant spotted Celyse Ward, 24, peeing in a stairwell at the southeast corner of W. Fourth and Cornelia Sts. around 4:30 a.m., and then walking away with her pants pulled down. The officer requested her ID but she attempted to leave.
The defendant was reportedly “visibly intoxicated and verbally combative and refused to comply with the officer’s directive for safety.”
Ward then removed her high-heeled shoes and held them in her hands. Police say she resisted officers’ attempts to handcuff her, by pulling her arm away and twisting her body away and refusing to let go of her shoes.
One of her friends, Shanaira Styles, 22, tried to pull Ward away from the police as they were trying to cuff her, while another buddy, Kaitlyn Rose, 22, also tried to help her break free.
Ward was charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. Styles and Rose were charged with obstruction of governmental administration and disorderly conduct.
If Ward had shown ID, she would only have received a summons for a violation.
Jane St. intruder
Police received a complaint from 100 Jane St. that a man who had followed an elderly woman into the building on Thurs., May 29, around 5 p.m., was going from floor to floor knocking on apartment doors and offering alleged utilities savings. Rafael Beltre, 27, was arrested for criminal trespassing. Since he flailed his arms while being handcuffed, he was also charged with resisting arrest.
Immaculate heist
Police are asking for assistance in identifying a suspect wanted for robbing an East Village church.
On Sun., May 25, at 1:15 p.m., the suspect reportedly entered Immaculate Conception Church, at 414 E. 14th St., then went into a bedroom in the third-floor rectory, where he removed $11,000 in cash from a nightstand.
The suspect is described as a light-skinned male, wearing a black baseball hat, brown shorts, white sneakers and a red T-shirt.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Police Department’s Crime Stoppers Hotline, at 800-577-TIPS. Tips can also be submitted at www.nypdcrimestoppers.com or by texting to 274637(CRIMES) and entering TIP577.
Punched and slashed
A man, 52, was walking along W. 14th St. between Fifth and Sixth Aves., by a Foot Locker store, on Fri., May 30, at 2:45 p.m., when another man punched him on the back of his head, police said.
When the victim tried to defend himself, the assailant whipped out a knife and slashed him on the right hand, “causing substantial pain and a laceration,” according to the arresting officer’s report.
John Whittaker, 41, was arrested and charged him with second-degree assault, a felony. The attack’s motive was not immediately clear.
Too handy at Hangar
A Christopher St. handbag thief was arrested when he returned to the scene of the crime.
Police said a man, 39, and a female witness, 49, reported that, on Thurs., May 29, at 10 p.m., they noticed another man had reached into the first man’s bag, which was on a chair next to him at the Hangar, a gay bar at 115 Christopher St. They told the individual to remove his hand from the bag, but he then picked the bag up and told its owner to walk outside with him. When the patron refused, the thief ran out of the bar.
The bag’s owner found that his Prada wallet, with two credit cards and $45 in cash, was gone. They told the bouncer about the theft. At 12:35 a.m., the suspect returned to the bar and the man and woman alerted the bouncer. The thief removed the wallet and one of the credit cards from his jacket pocket to return to the victim.
The victim canceled both credit cards, but found two unauthorized purchases had been made, for $27 and $10. Francisco Martinez, 48, was arrested for grand larceny.
Hit HSBC for $1,200
Police are searching for a bank robber who, they say, struck the HSBC bank at 101 W. 14th St. on Tues., May 27, around 3:35 p.m.
The suspect is said to have approached a teller, passed a demand note and fled with $1,267 inside of a manila envelope.
The robber is described as a white male, about age 50 to 60, 5 feet 8 inches tall, and weighing 160 pounds, last seen wearing a burgundy button-down shirt, a gray T-shirt, jeans and black-and-gray sneakers, and carrying a manila envelope.
— Lincoln Anderson
