Volume 22, Number 41 | The Newspaper of Lower Manhattan | February 19 – 25, 2010
Police Blotter
Accused rapist arrested
Police arrested Wu Song Chen, 53, on charges that he kidnapped and raped a 35-year-old woman in his Lower East Side apartment on Tues., Feb. 9 and forced her to phone her family in Hong Kong to wire $100,000 for ransom.
The suspect lured the victim to his apartment at 207 Madison St. between Rutgers and Jefferson Sts., menaced her with a knife, threatened to kill her, tied her to the bed and raped her, according to the charges. The victim was forced to phone her family who attempted to make the wire transfer but failed, prosecutors say. She was able to flee the next day and called police who arrested Chen on Thurs., Feb. 11.
He was being held in lieu of $100,000 cash bail or $300,000 bond pending a March 17 court appearance on first degree kidnap and rape charges, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.
Arrest in sex assault
Police arrested Christopher Konneker, 30, on Mon., Feb. 8 and charged him with sexually assaulting a woman, 32, in his apartment at 175 Mulberry St. at 3 a.m. Jan. 31. The suspect, who met the victim in a Brooklyn club, brought her to his apartment, assaulted her sexually and choked her until she passed out, according to the complaint filed by the Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. When she regained consciousness she was bleeding and covered in blood from the waist down, had lacerations, two black eyes, and a swollen neck and head from the strangulation, the complaint said. Konneker is being held in lieu of $10,000 bail pending a court appearance on two counts of second degree sexual abuse and two counts of second degree assault.
Soho mugging
Three teenagers came behind a man on the northeast corner of Sixth Ave. and Broome St., as he was leaving work at 9 p.m. Sun., Feb. 7 and grabbed his hands, police said. One said of them said, “Give me what you have,” and they all fled after taking $20 and the victim’s cell phone. The victim said the muggers looked like they were 14 to 15 years old.
Parking rage
A man, angry because of the time it took for the parking lot at 88 Leonard St. to retrieve his Cadillac Escalade at 1:50 p.m. Wed., Feb 3, spat on the attendant, 42, got in the car and tried to run him over, then got out and hit the victim with a metal object before driving off, police said.
Missing engagement ring
A man who had ordered a $5,000 engagement ring to be delivered to the lobby of a Battery Park City residence on Little West St. between First and Second Pl. opened the package and found it empty at 1:57 p.m. Wed., Feb. 10, police said. UPS had delivered the package three hours earlier and it had been held in the lobby delivery room, police reported.
Bubby’s aids in bust
A patron of Bubby’s, 120 Hudson St., told the management shortly after midnight on Wed., Feb. 10 that he saw a man in the men’s restroom going through a woman’s bag, police said. Employees went in and detained a suspect, Glen Gurnari, 52, for police who charged him with larceny. A little while earlier, a woman patron of Bubby’s who had gone out to smoke and left her bag on the bar returned to find it had been stolen, police said. The suspect was in possession of the woman’s credit when he was arrested, police said.
Bar cut
An Upper West Side resident, 21, told police he got into an argument with a woman patron around 3 a.m. Sun., Feb. 7 in Greenhouse, the club at 150 Varick St. He said she then hit him on the left side of his face with a beer stein and fled. The victim was taken to St. Vincent’s and required four stitches to close the three-inch gash in his face.
Painting stolen
The owner of a gallery at 64 MacDougal St. just south of Houston St. told police on Tuesday afternoon, Feb. 2 that someone took an abstract painting valued at $5,000 from a storefront display window. There was no sign of forced entry.
Truck burglary
A driver parked his truck at the southeast corner of Leonard St. and W. Broadway around 9:45 p.m. Mon., Feb. 8 to make a delivery and returned to find that the side door of the truck was open and a 129-pound roll of Mylar film valued at $1,500 was gone, police said.
Break-in suspect
A First Precinct cop spotted a suspect breaking a window and entering a construction trailer on South St. between John and Fletcher Sts. shortly after midnight on Tues., Feb 9. Luis Hernandez, 32, was arrested and charged with burglary.
Stormy attempt
A resident of 471 W. Broadway near W. Houston St. was snug indoors at 6:45 p.m. Wed., Feb. 10 at the end of the snowstorm but he heard a noise coming from his bedroom and went to check it out, police said. A man dressed all in black had broken a window lock and was trying to enter but fled when the resident appeared.
— Albert Amateau
