Guilty in branding
Kristina Caban and Robert Testagrossa pleaded guilty to first-degree assault on Tues. Aug. 14 for branding the torso of Caban’s ex-lover after luring him to a room in the Chelsea Inn on W. 23rd St. in October 2006.
Caban and Testagrossa accepted the plea bargain in return for a five-year prison sentence with five years post-release supevision. They are to appear Oct. 4 for a pre-sentencing hearing.
Caban, 21, a former School of Visual Arts student, and Testagrossa, 25, were charged with holding Samir Sara at gunpoint in a Chelsea Inn room on 23rd St. at 11th Ave., zapping him with a Taser and tying him up, then burning a four-inch high letter “R” on his torso with a red hot wire brand.
Caban had told Testagrossa that Sara had raped her and the letter R was for “Rapist.” The defendants also had wire brands for the five other letters in the word, but they fled when Sara screamed in pain. It was later discovered that Caban wanted revenge because Sara had ignored her after a one-night stand in 2004.
Motorcycle fatal
Fergus McQuillan, 40, of Yonkers, was killed at 6:30 a.m. Mon. Aug. 13 while riding his motorcycle eastbound on W. 23rd St., where he was hit by a westbound livery cab making a left turn at Ninth Ave., police said. McQuillan flew off his bike on impact, flipped over the car and landed behind it, police said. He was declared dead at St. Vincent’s Hospital, and police are investigating the circumstances of the accident.
Pedestrian fatal
Timothy Royes, 42, was struck by a northbound car on the West Side Highway at W. 15th St. while trying to cross the highway against the light from east to west just before 1 a.m. Mon. Aug. 13, police said. The victim was declared dead at St. Vincent’s Hospital. The driver, 31, remained at the scene and was not charged, police said.
Hotel burglary
A tenant in the Chelsea Hotel, 222 W. 23rd St., told police that someone entered his room while he was out at 9:45 a.m. Sun. Aug. 12 and, by the time he returned at 10:50 a.m., had stolen a laptop computer, portable DVD player, portable battery charger, portable hard disc drive and four bottles of cologne.
Walked into fight
A patron of Home, 530 W. 27th St., walked out of the club at 5:30 a.m. Mon. Aug. 13 and ran into a brawl in front of the place, police said. The victim, 25, of the Bronx, was knocked to the ground and jabbed in the side with what could have been a knife or a piece of broken glass that was littering the entrance, police said. He was treated at St. Vincent’s Hospital.
West Chelsea attack
A Brooklyn woman, 25, was walking down 11th Ave. between 28th and 29th Sts. at about 6:30 a.m. Mon. Aug. 13 when a man and a woman began an argument with her, police said. The man knocked her to the ground, the woman punched her in the eye, and both fled from the scene. The victim went to St. Vincent’s Hospital for treatment.
Some gum
Security guards at Rite Aid, 282 Eighth Ave. at W. 24th St., saw a man walk out of the store at about 10:15 a.m. Mon. without paying for 26 packs of Dentyne chewing gun he had taken from a shelf, police said. A few hours later, the suspect, James Douglass, 42, returned and was apprehended by police.
Ring and watch
A man, 67, who lives in a fifth-floor apartment at 532 W. 22nd St., told police at 11:09 a.m. Sat. Aug. 11 that someone had stolen his Patek Philippe watch, valued at $10,000, and a jeweled ring, valued at $6,000, from a safe in his bedroom that he had left unlocked.
Eat and run
Eight men eating together at BBQ Restaurant, 261 Eighth Ave., on Saturday night Aug. 11 walked out without paying their bill, police said. Five of them fled on foot, and three got into a blue car parked at the curb and drove east on 23rd St.
Snatch phone, jacket
A thief grabbed a cell phone from the hand of a man walking on the southeast corner of Ninth Ave. and 29th St. at 3:30 p.m. Sat. Aug. 11, police said. The thief, described as a black man about 5’11” and weighing 250 pounds, threw the phone into the street and smashed it when the victim tried to get it back, police said. The robber then grabbed the jacket off the victim, 29, of Brooklyn, and fled with it.
Restaurant assault
Six men got into an argument with a victim inside Park, a restaurant at 118 10th Ave. at W. 18th St., on Saturday evening Aug. 11, hit him over the head with an unknown object, hit him on the head again with a bottle and fled, police said. The victim, 22, took a cab on his own to Beth Israel Hospital. The management told police that the restaurant surveillance cameras recorded the incident.
Store burglary
The manager of Tasti D-Lite, 236 Seventh Ave. between 23rd and 24th Sts., opened the shop at 8 a.m. Sun. Aug.12 and found that the security gate and the side door had been forced open during the night, police said. The burglar got away with $2,500 from the cash register and also took a small safe, a computer, a camera and cigarettes with a total value of $21,800, police said.
Robbed on boat
A Bronx man, 22, told police he was sitting at a table on a Spirit Boat docked at Chelsea Piers during the early hours of Sat. Aug. 11 when four men attacked him, took a gold necklace valued at $9,000 and a gold ring valued at $1,500, and fled.
— By Albert Amateau
