Managed to steal $1.5 mil
A former property manager of two Chinatown buildings pleaded guilty to stealing more than $1.5 million from the buildings’ business accounts, Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance announced on July 19.
Kee Lin, 43, who managed 11 East Broadway and 128 Mott St. from November 2006 to August 2009, admitted to writing multiple unauthorized checks, payable to cash, in order to illegally funnel the money from the buildings’ accounts to his own company, AIP Realty Services.
To conceal the theft, Lin created numerous false bank statements, and submitted them to the buildings’ board members, according to court documents. But Lin slipped up on his math, and one of the board members found a difference between one of the fake statements and a corresponding bank statement.
Lin pleaded guilty to first-degree grand larceny, which carries a sentence of from five to 25 years in prison. He is expected to be sentenced Oct. 1.
Jacobs trans-gression
An employee of the Marc Jacobs outlet at 403 Bleecker St. called police around 1:30 p.m. on July 22 to report the reappearance of a cross-dressing man in the store, after he’d allegedly gotten away with stealing two bottles of body wash, two bottles of perfume and a bottle of body cream the previous afternoon — a total of $540 worth of goods. The employee, who said she identified the suspect after watching video surveillance footage that captured the crime on tape, helped police track him down to make the arrest.
Police were called, but the suspect — later identified as Lisa Olmo, a 42-year-old man, given name Luis Ramos — exited the store before officers arrived. But the employee went with the officers on a canvass of the area and quickly spotted Olmo, who was arrested and charged with petty larceny.
Clarkson teen fracas
A teenager allegedly attacked and injured two other boys during a fight on a West Village sidewalk on the evening of July 16, police said.
Officers on patrol said they saw the 17-year-old, whose name was not released, get into a heated dispute with the other boys, 14 and 17, near the corner of Clarkson St. and Seventh Ave. South around 5:30 p.m. The officers said, as they approached, they saw the first 17-year-old pick up a large wooden stick and began beating the other boys with it. The 14-year-old was left with an ankle injury that required hospitalization, and the 17-year-old victim received minor cuts and bruises to his left arm.
The officers stopped the fight and arrested the alleged attacker, charging him with assault.
Cell-phone psych-out
Witnesses told police that a man, later identified as Jude Levia, 28, approached a passerby around 4:30 a.m., as they crossed paths at the corner of W. 14thSt. and Ninth Ave. Levia reportedly got into the 35-year-old man’s face, and confused him by claiming the other man had stolen his cell phone.
When the other man took out his phone to prove it wasn’t stolen, witnesses said Levia tried to snatch it away — and when he failed, he swiped the victim’s cheap watch right off his wrist. But, unfortunately for Levia, as he turned to flee, a vigilant bystander tackled him, and recovered the victim’s watch, then held him until cops could arrive.
Levia was charged with grand larceny.
The Sneaky Surfer
Here’s another reminder to keep your eyes open — and your head on a swivel — while making even the most routine stop for a cash withdrawal at an A.T.M.
Police arrested Dainon Johnson, 41, around 3 p.m. on July 20, after they spotted him peeking over the shoulder of a 74-year-old as the senior was typing his PIN number into a sidewalk ATM at the corner of W. 12thSt. and Eighth Ave.
In a maneuver commonly known as “shoulder surfing,” Johnson was stealthily trying to learn the man’s PIN number in order to eventually access his bank account illegally, police said. But his surreptitious “surfing” ended with a wipeout, as Johnson was charged with attempted grand larceny.
— Sam Spokony
