Volume 2, Number 6 | The Weekly Newspaper of Chelsea | November 16 - 22, 2007
Police Blotter
Penn South fire fatal
Frances Lurrie, 95, died in a kitchen fire in her 12th-floor apartment at 365 W. 28th St. in Penn South shortly before 1 p.m. Mon. Nov. 12. “We’re very upset and deeply saddened,” said Brendan Keany, Penn South general manager, who said the co-op is looking into the circumstances of the accident. The blaze did not spread to other apartments, an FDNY spokesperson said. Firefighters from 12 companies responded to the alarm and had the blaze under control at 1:16 p.m.
Bank jobs
Police last week arrested Farid Abdul-Ali, 52, and charged him with 17 Manhattan bank robberies ranging from Chelsea to the Lower East Side over the past year. The most recent robbery was on Mon. Nov. 5 when police said he walked into the Sovereign Bank branch at 169 Seventh Ave. at W. 20th St., passed a note to a teller, and fled with an undisclosed amount of cash.
Manslaughter plea
Eugenio Cidron, 28, of Queens, pleaded guilty on Thurs. Nov. 8 to manslaughter in connection with the December 2006 death of a bicycle rider on the Hudson River Park bicycle path. Cidron was driving away from a party at Chelsea Piers and turned south on the Hudson River Park bike path instead of the highway. He struck the bike rider, Eric Ng, 22, a math teacher in a Brooklyn High School, on the bike path at Pier 40 about a mile south of Chelsea Piers. Cidron’s blood alcohol level was 0.16, twice the legal limit. He faces a sentence of three and a half to 10 and half years in prison on Jan. 3, according to the plea agreement.
Assaults co-worker
Police arrested Robert Beldo, 46, and charged him with assault on Thurs. Nov. 8 for hitting a fellow worker, 47, with a wrench and breaking his arm in the Starrett Lehigh building on W. 26th St. and 11th Ave. He pleaded not guilty and is to appear in court Feb. 28.
Chelsea traffic injury
A man, 66, was taken to St. Vincent’s Hospital in critical condition after he was struck shortly after 7 p.m. Mon. Nov. 12 by a car while crossing W. 21st St. at Eighth Ave., police said. The victim was crossing from between two parked cars when he was struck, while the driver, who was not charged, remained at the scene.
Seek serial robber
Police are looking for a man suspected in a series of armed robberies over the past two months of stores from Chelsea to the Lower East Side. A donut shop at 84 Seventh Ave. near W. 15th St. was the target on Tues. Nov. 6 at 8:10 p.m., and the robber hit another donut shop at 140 Delancey St. at 3 a.m. Mon. Nov. 5.
The same suspect is wanted in connection with the robbery of Dinosaur Hill, a toy store at 306 E. Ninth St. shortly before 7 p.m. Sat. Oct. 27. On Sat. Oct. 20 at 8:36 p.m., the robber held up a newsstand at 139 E. 12th St., and on Oct. 1 at 9:30 p.m. he robbed Integral Yoga Natural Apothecary at 234 W. 13th St.
A clothing boutique at 15 Gansevoort St. was the target at 1:45 p.m. Mon. Oct. 19. Police said the suspect is in his 30s, between 5’5” and 5’8”, 140-150 pounds, light to medium skin tone and carries a handgun or a simulated gun.
Arrest in poker hold-up
Police arrested one of the three men believed involved in the Nov. 2 armed robbery of an illegal poker game in an office at 251 Fifth Ave. near 28th St., where one of the poker players was killed by a shot fired, apparently accidentally, during the hold-up.
William Delvalle, 35, was arrested Nov. 9 and charged with three counts of robbery but not with the murder of the victim, Frank DeSena, 55, a math teacher from New Jersey. Delvalle, who served time for a Bronx murder in 1997, was released Tues. Nov. 13 after a grand jury did not return an indictment, but he still faces the robbery charges and the police investigation continues, according to a spokesperson for District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau.
Hotel room surprise
A visitor from Portugal who checked into the Holiday Inn at 232 W. 29th St. with his 22-month-old daughter woke up at 9 a.m. Sat. Nov. 10 and discovered that the child had found two hypodermic needles and a small bag of heroine under a seat cushion of a chair, police said.
Stolen car arrests
Police arrested a man and a woman, James Thomas, 26, and Andrea Summers, 41, who were sitting in a stolen car on W. 27th St. near Ninth Ave. at 7:12 p.m. Mon. Nov. 12 and charged them with possession of stolen property. Thomas was also charged with possession of drug paraphernalia after police discovered he was carrying a crack stem.
Breaks car mirror
Seven years bad luck may have begun at 5 a.m. Sat. Nov. 11 for Jason Reyes, 23, when he was arrested for kicking and breaking the side mirror of a 2005 yellow Ford Crown Victoria parked on W. 28th St. at 11th Ave.
— By Albert Amateau
