Volume One, Issue 28, March 30 - April 05, 2007
Police Blotter
Rapper rap
Marvin Bernard, 29, a hip-hop performer known as Tony Yayo and an associate of hip-hop producer 50 Cent, was charged last week with endangering the welfare of a child by slapping the 14-year-old son of a rival hip-hop producer on March 20 because the boy was wearing a T-shirt with the rival’s name and logo on the street near 50 Cent’s G-Unit studio on Sixth Ave. and W. 25th St.
Bernard surrendered to police at the 13th Precinct March 24 and pleaded not guilty the following day to felony assault and the endangering charges. He was free on $5,000 bail pending an April 25 appearance in criminal court.
The victim, James Rosemond, was wearing a shirt with Czar Entertainment, the name of the rival company owned by his father Jimmy “Henchman” Rosemond, when he was slapped and roughed up by Bernard, according to the charges. It was uncertain whether the defendant knew that the victim was Henchman’s son, according to reports.
Face the music
The Feb. 22 Downtown traffic and license violations against the hip-hop performer Busta Rhymes mean that he blew his chances for a no-jail plea bargain in connection with two assault charges last year, one in Chelsea and the other on Chambers St.
Criminal Court Judge Tanya Kennedy on Mon. March 26 withdrew the plea bargain option and set a May 8 trial for the performer, 34, whose real name is Trevor Smith.
Judge Kennedy on Feb. 20 had offered Smith three years probation, six months of anger management and three weeks of community service for guilty pleas on the two charges, which were to have been entered March 26. But two days later, Smith was arrested for running a red light at Warren St. at W. Broadway and for driving with a suspended license, charges that prompted Kennedy to cancel the plea bargain.
One assault involves a charge that Smith last August beat a fan who accidentally spit on the car of one of his crew on Sixth Ave. and W. 19th St. The other charge accuses Smith of beating a former driver who approached him on Dec. 26 at Chambers St. and W. Broadway and demanded back pay.
Turnstile robbery
A mugger hit a woman as she was going through the high wheel turnstile at the northbound Eighth Ave. station on 25th St. at 11 p.m. Mon. March 26 and took her wallet with $100 cash and credit cards, police said.
Bicycle thief
Police apprehended Jack Esau, 45, on a stolen bicycle at Eighth Ave. at 23rd St. on Tues. afternoon March 27 and charged him with larceny. The owner of the bike had left it outside Spice Restaurant on Eighth Ave. at 20th St. and gave chase when he saw the suspect riding away, police said.
Teen thieves
Three boys in their early teens walked into Space Downtown, a designer merchandise studio on the second floor of 276 W. 25th St. shortly after 3 p.m. Wed. March 21, and while one of them distracted the woman clerk, the other two made off with a pair of laptops, a digital camera and a wireless mouse, police said. The articles were not discovered missing until after the boys left the premises.
Guest thief
A Chelsea resident brought a man he had met at Baracuda Bar at 275 W. 22nd St. during the wee hours of Sunday March 25 back to his W. 22nd St. apartment a block away and after the guest left, discovered that his wallet with $10 in cash and credit cards was gone, police said.
ATM robbery
A woman making a withdrawal at the Chase ATM at 475 W. 23rd St. at 3: 40 p.m. Sun. March 25 was surprised by a man who punched her, grabbed the $200 she had just taken from a machine and fled on foot heading north on Tenth Ave., police said.
DWI
Police charged Jerry White, 46, with driving while intoxicated after they stopped him making an illegal turn onto W. 14th St. from Ninth Ave. at 12:20 a.m. Mon. March 19 and found he had trouble standing when he got out of his car. White told police he had three beers but refused to take an alcohol test, police said.
Chelsea DOA
Police responding to a call about an unconscious man at 250 W. 24th St. found David Zuch, 43, in #2G, who was declared dead at the scene. No criminality is suspected and the Medical Examiner is investigating the cause of death.
— By Albert Amateau
