Police Blotter

Volume Number 1 Issue Number 4 | October 20 - 26, 2006

Police Blotter

Nab burglary suspects
Two brothers suspected in a series of 12 residential burglaries last April were charged last week after 10th Precinct police traced them from a stolen laptop computer offered for sale online at Craigslist.

Detective Joseph Barbera arrested Derrick Ashley, 40, on Fri. Oct. 13 and charged him with 12 counts of burglary. At the same time, the suspect’s brother, David Ashley, 41, who was in jail on a drug possession charge, was also charged with the burglaries. Both suspects are Queens residents.

“We check online sites for stolen merchandise that we think might have serial numbers,” said Mike Patrillo, precinct community affairs officer. “We traced the computer to the person who placed the ad and back to who they had purchased it from,” Patrillo explained.

Padlock proposal
The Bloomberg administration on Wednesday proposed legislation that would allow the city to close nightclubs after two incidents of serious crimes within a year. Clubs with two or more incidents of murder, manslaughter, felony assault or gang assault within a year would be subject to a court-ordered closing.

The legislation introduced Oct. 18 would also allow the city to begin padlock proceedings against clubs convicted by the State Liquor Authority of two or more violations within a year of certain provisions of the state Alcoholic Beverages Control law.

David Rabin, president of the New York Nightlife association and co-owner of Lotus, a club in the Gansevoort Market District, said the proposal would discourage the reporting of crimes in clubs.

“Why on earth would I call the police ever again if I’m risking my entire business?” Rabin said.

Rapper wounded
John Jackson, the rap performer known as Fabolous, was shot and wounded outside Justin’s, at 31 W. 21st St., a restaurant owned by Sean Combs (P. Diddy) at 12:23 a.m. Tues Oct. 17, police said. An unidentified gunman fired eight shots, one of the bullets catching Jackson in the leg as he was walking into a parking lot across the street from Justin’s. Jackson got into a car with three companions and the four sped away, but their reckless driving attracted the attention of police in a patrol car. The four were arrested after two illegal guns were found in the car, police said. Jackson was taken to Bellevue hospital in stable condition.

Police are investigating the shooting’s possible connection to the snatching a few hours earlier of a $50,000 gold necklace from Sebastian Telfair, the Boston Celtics basketball player, a Justin’s patron who was parking his car in the same lot.

Telfair later went to view a police lineup including Fabolus and his three friends but did not pick out any one for the necklace snatching.

Fatally shot at club
One man was shot to death and two others sustained knife wounds in two separate incidents on Oct. 15 and Oct. 16 at Hush, a Hell’s Kitchen basement club at 572 11th Ave. near 43rd St., police said.

Gerard King, 37, of Jersey City, was inside the club when he was shot in the chest during a dispute with an unidentified gunman shortly before 3:30 a.m. Mon. Oct. 16, police said. The victim ran outside and collapsed a half-block away where a passerby phoned 911. King was taken to St. Vincent’s hospital where he died a short time later.

Ryan Jones, 32, of Detroit, was stabbed outside the club after an argument that started inside during the early hours of Sun. Oct. 15, and his friend, Gilbert Lemel, 40, of Freemont, Ohio, was cut when he tried to break up the attack, police said.

The State Liquor Authority began an investigation into the operation of the club on Monday.

Roxy blast
A reveler at a hip-hop event at Roxy, the Chelsea dance club on W. 18th St. west of 10th Ave., was on the dance floor when a bullet fired by an unidentified shooter grazed his arm at 3:45 a.m. Sat. Oct. 14, police said. Ronald Fleming, 36, of Queens, was not seriously hurt and refused medical attention.

Tenth Precinct police investigating the incident at the event promoted by Joe Jackson recovered the .22-caliber bullet inside the club. They found the gun just over the wall of the General Theological Seminary near 10th Ave. at 20th St. where the shooter apparently tossed it.

Plea by fake MD
Dean Faiello, 47, pleaded guilty on Mon. Oct. 16 to aggravated assault that led to the death of a woman on April 13, 2003, while she was being treated in Faiello’s unlicensed medical clinic at 151 W. 16th St. in Chelsea.

The plea was part of an agreement that Faiello would receive a 20-year prison sentence to be imposed later this month.

The victim, Maria Cruz, had gone to Faiello for the removal of a growth on her tongue and suffered a seizure after receiving a lidocaine injection in her tongue. Faiello, who told the judge on Monday that he was a cocaine addict, called a doctor friend who told him to get Cruz to a hospital emergency room immediately. But Faiello did nothing because he was under indictment at the time for practicing medicine without a license and feared an inquiry.

Cruz died the same day and Faiello took her body in a suitcase to his home in Newark where he buried it in concrete in his garage floor. Faiello then fled to Costa Rica where he lived until February 2004 when the body was found. Police traced him to San Jose, Costa Rica, and extradited him.

Extradite murder suspect
Draymond Coleman, 34, arrested in Northern Manhattan for the rape and murder in July of Jennifer Moore, 18, in a Weehawken, N.J., motel after she was picked up on the West Side Highway after a night of clubbing in West Chelsea, was extradited last week to face charges in New Jersey.

Sentenced in theft
Judge Gregory Carro on Oct. 18 sentenced Sandrene Austin, 28, a former bookkeeper at Gramercy Tavern, 42 E. 20th St. at Irving Pl., to three to nine years in prison for stealing a total of $276,000 from the tavern over a two-year period. Austin will spend part of her time behind bars during her pregnancy. She was arrested in March 2005 and found guilty on Sept. 27 of this year. She insisted that she was innocent at the sentencing but the judge said the evidence was overwhelming. Carro also said Austin could have avoided prison time if she had pleaded guilty and paid back the stolen money.

Albert Amateau