By The TimesLedger
COLLEGE POINT — A fire raged in a private house for 45 minutes early Wednesday morning, authorities said.
The fire broke out at 14-23 131st St. in the two-story wood frame building at 2:59 a.m., said a Fire Department spokesman.
The blaze was brought under control by about 60 firefighters at 3:45 a.m., the spokesman said.
The Fire Department did not have any information on injuries in the fire. The cause of the fire was under investigation.
Ambulances had responded to the same address two days earlier at about 3 a.m. for a report of a stabbing, a source said.
The victim, who was stabbed in the arm, was treated and released at the scene, the source said.
FLUSHING — A woman was bound in her home by robbers posing as police officers last Thursday, police said.
The 53-year-old woman answered a knock at the door of her 157-43 27th Ave. residence about 2:30 p.m. to find two men wearing shields around their necks police said. The men enterered the house, bound the woman and fled with an undetermined amount of cash and jewelry, police said.
One assailant was described as a 30-year-old white male, about 5-foot-8, 185 pounds with brown eyes and short brown hair. His accomplice, also a 30-year-old white male, is about 5-foot-10 and 175 pounds with medium length dirty blond hair, police said.
FLUSHING — Two men robbed a Greenpoint Savings Bank on Saturday, police said. The men entered the bank at 29-40 Union St., brandished hand guns and fled with an undetermined amount of cash shortly before 11 a.m., police said.
No arrests were made, no injuries were reported and the investigation was ongoing, police said.
MANHATTAN — Police are searching for a suspect wanted in 12 bank robberies in Queens and Brooklyn between Nov. 22, 2002 and May 8, 2003.
Police said Friday they are searching for Burchard Beltran, a 32-year-old black man who is 6-foot-3 and weighs between 150 and 160 pounds.
He is known to wear a construction-type dust mask on his head, and carries a red construction helmet he uses to conceal a black revolver, police said.
Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
OZONE PARK — A 32-year-old man was arrested Saturday for allegedly sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl, police said.
Malik Abdul Almohsin, of 105-06 78th St. in Ozone Park, had the girl sit on his lap while he sexually abused her around 10 p.m., police said.
Officers arrested him after they were called to the scene, while the victim was treated at an area hospital and released, police said.
Almohsin was charged with sexual abuse, police said.
RICHMOND HILL – A man in his 20s entered a Staples office supply store at the Van Wyck Expressway and Atlantic Avenue and sprayed an unknown substance in the entrance at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, police said.
Sixteen people were treated for breathing problems, and nine of them were taken to Jamaica Hospital where they were released in stable condition, police said.
No arrests were made, police said. The investigation was ongoing.
ROCKAWAY PARK — An elderly man was reported missing last Thursday after he left home for a health care center, police said.
David Namis, 64, of 140 Beach 113th St., was last seen when he left his residence at 11:05 p.m. last Thursday to visit a health care center at 430 Beach 68th St., police said.
Namis is 5 feet tall, 180 pounds, has a gray beard and was wearing a brown jacket and blue jeans, police said.
QUEENS VILLAGE — A man in his 40s was found dead in the rear of a building at 208th Street near 111th Avenue around 4:30 a.m. Saturday, police said.
There were no signs of trauma to the victim, police said. The medical examiner was to determine the cause of death.
QUEENS — The Sanitation Department’s Illegal Dumping Task Force seized and impounded 10 vehicles whose drivers were caught in the act of illegal dumping in Queens during May, Commissioner John Doherty said Monday.
The vehicles’ owners face severe fines that start at $1,500 and range as high as $20,000 per summons, and the illegal dumpers must pay the city a cleanup cost of about $150 per cubic yard of illegally dumped material, Doherty said.
Queens residents whose vehicles were impounded are from Richmond Hill, Jamaica, Kew Gardens, South Ozone Park, Sunnyside and Flushing.
BROAD CHANNEL — A family discovered the Puerto Rican flag they had placed in front of their home had been torn and partially burned around 9 a.m. Sunday, police said.
The incident around East 8th Road was being investigated as an act of bias, police said.
SUFFOLK COUNTY — An off-duty officer with the 113th Precinct was arrested by the Suffolk County Police Department Friday at 4:10 p.m. for allegedly violating an order of protection, police said.
Officer Sean Laird has been suspended, police said.
ROCKAWAY PARK — A wife discovered her husband not breathing in his bedroom around 4:30 p.m. June 4, police said.
Michael Fennely, 42, of 116-12 Rockaway Beach Blvd. was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. The medical examiner was to determine the cause of death.
BREEZY POINT — A man was discovered dead on the floor of his bedroom by a neighbor about 4:45 p.m. June 4, police said.
The cause of death of John Brennan, 53, of 658 Highland Pl. was not known and would be determined by the medical examiner, police said.
SOUTH JAMAICA — A letter with anti-black remarks was received at a private home in the 113th Precinct Friday at 6 p.m., police said.
No arrests were made and the investigation was ongoing.
BELLEROSE — A man robbed the New York Community Bank at 244-19 Braddock Ave. Friday, police said.
The man entered the bank at 2:05 p.m., passed a note to the teller demanding money and fled with an undetermined amount of cash, police said. There were no arrests or injuries, and the investigation was ongoing.
ST. ALBANS — Horace Sessoms, a bus driver with New York City Transit, was arrested Friday around 11:30 p.m. at 180th Street and Sayres Avenue, police said.
He was charged with criminal possession of marijuana, obstructing governmental administration and resisting arrest, police said.
LONG ISLAND CITY — A man sought in an attempted sexual assault in Lower Manhattan was arrested June 4 threatening to jump off the Queensboro Bridge, police said.
George Augustine, 67, approached a woman with a simulated gun and attempted to rape her about 4 p.m. June 2 around Canal Street in Manhattan, police said. The woman freed herself and called 911, and police disseminated information about him through the media in an effort to find him.
Augustine was arrested at 9:36 a.m. June 4 on the Queensboro Bridge, police said.
He was charged with attempted rape, assault, unlawful imprisonment, criminal possession of a weapon and menacing, police said.
LONG ISLAND CITY — A Long Island City tax preparer has been charged with stealing $64,200 by improperly using his clients’ personal identity information to obtain credit cards and cash advances in their names, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.
Ramfis Ortiz, 47, of 23-15 92nd St. in East Elmhurst, has been charged with grand larceny, scheme to defraud and falsifying business records, and faces up to seven years in prison if convicted, the district attorney said.
Between 1995 and 2001, Ortiz allegedly opened more than six credit card accounts in the names of five clients and one neighbor without their permission, using them to receive cash advances totaling $64,200, Brown said.
ASTORIA — Two on-duty corrections officers were found to be intoxicated by police officers who stopped them after they were seen driving erratically last Thursday, police said.
Miguel Ortiz, 45, was behind the wheel of the 2003 Toyota at 2:09 a.m. when the officers on patrol pulled him over at 45th Street and Berrian Avenue, police said.
Ortiz was charged with driving while intoxicated, while his passenger David Rodriguez, 36, was issued a summons for having an open container, police said.
Both men were on-duty corrections officers assigned to Rikers Island, police said.
The investigation was ongoing.
JACKSON HEIGHTS — The death of a woman whose body was found on the roof of her building has been reclassified a homicide, police said.
Johanna Tamayo, 24, of 40-11 72nd St., was found dead on the roof of a garage below her sixth floor apartment on May 1 at about 5:40 a.m., police said.
The medical examiner reclassified the incident a homicide, police said Monday.
The investigation was ongoing.
