Volume One, Issue 27, March 23 - 29, 2007
Police Blotter
Deep massage
Police arrested Carlos Araque, 44, owner of Essential Therapy, a massage therapy studio at 122 E. 25th St., on March 9 and charged him with sexual abuse of a woman client, sexual misconduct and practicing massage therapy without a license. He pleaded not guilt on Sat. March 10 and was released on $1,500 bail pending an April 10 court appearance.
A client reported that Araque, who lives in Stuyvesant Town at 321 Avenue C, touched her genitals and performed oral sex against her will while treating her on Jan. 30, according to charges filed by Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau. The police special victims unit is investigating allegations that Araque made sexual advances to a woman therapist at the studio.
Araque claimed in his promotion material to have given massages to ballplayers on the New York Mets and to Radio City Music Hall rockettes. A Mets spokesperson said Araque had sporadically given massages to players about two years ago but was not the team’s official massage therapist. The state Attorney General’s Office of Professions said that Araque has never had a valid license for massage therapy, according to the charges.
Araque’s attorney, Brett Harrison, said his client absolutely denies any of the allegations.
Drunk driving
Police charged Christopher Coffey, 27, formerly with the Mayor’s Community Assistance Unit, with driving while intoxicated at about 11 p.m. on Thurs. March 15, on Ninth Ave. at W. 17th St. According to news reports, Coffey had left a bar at the Maritime Hotel, where he had been celebrating a new job, and had just gotten into a car when he was arrested. The Bloomberg administration is said to be reconsidering Coffey’s assignment to the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation.
Bag snatch
A thief who followed a woman as she got out of a cab on W. 26th St. at Ninth Ave. at 1 a.m. Sun. March 18 snatched her bag on Tenth Ave. and fled into the Elliott-Chelsea complex, police said.
Car break-in
A man who parked his car on W.19th St. between Eighth and Ninth Aves. at about 2:30 a.m. Sat. March 17 returned 20 minutes later to find a window smashed and a cell phone charger and Prada sunglasses stolen.
Assault on officer
Sgt. Lorraine Perez of the 10th Precinct responded to an incident in front of 119 Ninth Ave. in the Robert Fulton complex at 11:30 p.m. Thurs. March 15 and was kicked in the ankle, police said. Cecily Swanson, 34, of Brooklyn, was charged with the assault.
Beating and weapon
Police charged Robert Vaughn, 32, with assault and criminal possession of a weapon in connection with an argument that turned violent with a woman acquaintance in her Chelsea apartment on Sunday night, March 18. The suspect is charged with knocking the woman down, stomping on her chest, banging her head against a wall and menacing her with a loaded handgun.
Chairs are for sitting
Police charged Edwin Ortiz, 45, with assault on an acquaintance in his apartment in the Robert Fulton complex on Tues. March 20. Police said Ortiz went on a rampage and broke a wooden chair over the resident’s head; smashed a mirror, a fish tank and other pieces of furniture; and menaced the victim with a knife.
Off to Bellevue
Two officers responding to a report of drug sales at 427 W. 26th St. in the Elliott Chelsea complex at 2:20 p.m. Tues. March 20 stopped a man in the lobby and arrested him for trespassing when he would not say where he lived or what he was doing there. He struggled with the officers, wildly punching and kicking them, and was taken to Bellevue Hospital for observation after he was subdued, police said. One of the officers also went to Bellevue for minor injuries to his right knee and right hand incurred during the struggle, police said.
— Albert Amateau
