By Thomas Tracy
ROBBED IN ELEVATOR: A Colonial Road woman told police that she was held up at gunpoint as she entered her building’s elevator last week. The victim, 69, told police that she had just stepped into the elevator at her building, located at the 6700 block of Colonial Road, at 11:50 a.m. on December 31, when a heavy-set, 5’8” Hispanic male blocked the doors from closing. He then pulled a gun, demanding her property, officials said. The suspect ran off with $200 in cash and the victim’s watch. The woman, police said, was not harmed. Cops are asking anyone with information regarding this incident to call the NYPD CrimeStoppers hotline at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential. *** ROLL BY ROBBERY: A free-wheeling thug wrestled a Fendi handbag from a 21-year-old woman walking past the corner of Fort Hamilton Parkway and 69th Street last week, officials said. The woman told police that the bag was in her hands at 4:50 p.m. on December 28 when the suspect, a dark-skinned Hispanic male wearing a brown knitted hat, rolled up to her. The suspect ripped the bag from her hands and pedaled off, officials said. The woman was not harmed. Police were told that there was $500 in the bag when it was taken. To make matters worse, the bag itself was valued at $500, officials said. Police are investigating. *** FLUFF AND FLEECE: Two men are being sought for trying to slip away with a woman’s money at an area laundry. Officials said that the two unidentified men walked into a laundromat at 691 86th Street at 4 p.m. on December 31 when they accosted a 53-year-old woman, attempting to take the cash she had in her hand as she tried to carry laundry to a washing machine. But once the woman resisted, the suspects ran out of the store in different directions. The woman, police said, was not harmed. Cops said that one of the two men ran towards Fort Hamilton Parkway. The second man ran down 7th Avenue, officials said. *** WOMAN FALLS FOR E-MAIL SCAM: A 42-year-old woman told police that she had fallen victim to an Internet scam where she believed that she was going to make a profit off of a Nigerian money exchange program. Instead, she did not earn anything, and was over $8,250 in the hole, according to officials. The Shore Road woman told police that she was contacted via e-mail about the money exchange program, where she was asked to mail money to an address in Nigeria, in exchange for money orders that worth more than she sent over. However, when she went to deposit the money orders, she was told that they were worthless, officials said. Police are investigating. *** THIEVES BREAK INTO 3RD AVE. STORE: Cops are looking for a group of thieves who broke into a store at 6919 3rd Avenue the day after Christmas. Officials said that the thieves broke into the store sometime after 11:30 p.m. on December 26 by forcing open the roll down security gate. The thieves then entered the store, where they took $400 in cash and $1300 in money orders. Police are investigating. *** SURPRISE VISIT: A thief broke into an area business last week, not knowing that the merchant was still inside the building doing some last minute paperwork. The victim, the owner of Paradice Meat Corporation, located at 6720 5th Avenue, said that he had closed up the store the night of December 28 and went to a downstairs office when the suspect threw up the roll down gate. The suspect ran right for the register, taking $300 from the register. Before the victim could realize what had happened, the thief ran out of the store and fled 5th Avenue in an early model Chevrolet. Cops are currently looking for the thief. *** TRYING TO CATCH THE VERY EARLY EDITION: Thieves broke into the Gidar Newsstand and Grocery, 7024 3rd Avenue last week, taking several thousand dollars in cash, cigarettes and phone cards. The owner of the store told police December 19 that he discovered that someone had clipped the locks to his security gate at about 6:30 a.m., when he was preparing to open the store for business. Once surpassing the security gate, the suspect bashed in the store’s front glass door to get inside, officials said. Police were told that $800 in cash, $2,000 in lottery tickets, $1,800 in cigarettes and $700 in phone cards were taken. Cops are asking anyone with information regarding this break-in to call the 68th Precinct at (718) 439-4211. All calls will be kept confidential. *** A THIEF WITH TASTE: A thief broke into a Dyker Heights home last week, removing two mink coats and over $15,000 in jewelry, officials said. Police said that thief entered the home, located on the 1200 block of 81st Street, by kicking in a basement window sometime after 5:30 p.m. on December 20. The homeowner, a 66-year-old woman, returned just before 9 p.m. to find that someone had taken her minks, valued at $10,000 and the jewelry. Cops are investigating. *** COPS: HELP CLEAN UP GRAFFITI WHILE EARNING SOME GREEN: As the ongoing war against graffiti vandals continues, cops are now offering up to $500 in reward money to anyone who can offer them information that can lead them to anyone who commits graffiti vandalism. The hefty reward is part of the city’s new push to rid New York of graffiti vandals. Graffiti is one of the leading quality of life complaints brought to police. Officials said that cleaning up graffiti is essential to the plan, to show that the community is no longer going to tolerate marred and tagged-up walls and street corners. According to police there is a perception that if a community will tolerate graffiti, they will tolerate other criminal activities, such as drug dealing and prostitution. Anyone with information about graffiti vandalism is urged to contact either 311 or 911. *** BEATEN OUTSIDE HOME: A 20-year-old woman was taken to the hospital last week after being attacked with a baseball bat outside her Avenue W home, officials said. The victim, a resident of the Sheepshead/Nostrand Houses, told police that a 5’8”, 140-pound male struck her in the head with the bat at 10:30 p.m. on December 27. The victim’s mother reportedly took the woman to an area hospital, where she was treated and later released. Police said that they are looking for the assailant, but would not say if this incident is a product of domestic violence. Anyone with information about this attack is urged to call the 61st Precinct at (718) 627-6611. All calls will be kept confidential. *** HE’S NOW OFFICIALLY UN-HIRABLE: A 25-year-old area man was arrested last week for slashing a manager at a Sheepshead Bay employment agency, officials alleged. Officials said that Nikoloz Elisabedashvyili allegedly stormed into the St. Peter Employment Company at 357 Avenue X at 1 p.m. on December 27, demanding money that he believed was owed him. During an argument with a 55-year-old manager, Elisabedashvyili allegedly hacked at the man’s neck with a knife he pulled. The manager was rushed to Lutheran Medical Center where he was treated and released. Elisabedashvyili allegedly fled the scene, but was picked up later by police and charged with assault in the first degree, officials said. *** TWO NABBED ON ROBBERY CHARGES: A dopey duo was arrested last week for allegedly trying to rob a 31-year-old Bensonhurst man with an imitation pistol. Police said that 20-year-old Forukh Baymateo and 16-year-old Konstantin Sergiyenko were both taken into custody shortly after the robbery, which took place at the corner of 64th Street and 23rd Avenue at 8:20 p.m. on December 30. The victim told police that he was walking past the corner when the two suspects allegedly stopped him and demanded his money. The suspects put the imitation gun to the victim’s head, robbed him and ran off, officials alleged. Responding officers searching the area found the two suspects and placed them into custody, cops from the 62nd Precinct said. *** BASEBALL BRUISERS SOUGHT: Cops are investigating claims from a 24-year-old who said that he was brutally beaten by two thugs armed with baseball bats near the corner of East 12th Street and Gravesend Neck Road. The victim claimed that the two men wanted $4700 to purchase a new plasma television that they said the young man had just broken and made sure that they hit him in the body so he didn’t leave him with any bruises to the face. Police determined that whoever attacked the victim left him with a broken shoulder and a bruised arm sometime after 9:30 p.m. on December 19. The victim said that he was attacked by two men who work at a neighborhood bar after allegedly breaking the television. Police are investigating. *** GERRITSEN GRINCHES MAKE OFF WITH SCOOTER: A 28-year-old was thrown off of his scooter and robbed of his wheels at gunpoint recently as he idled in front of an Allen Avenue home in Gerritsen Beach, officials said. The victim told police that he was sitting on his scooter at the 400 block of Allen Avenue at 9:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve when he claims he was surrounded by a seven men. One of the men pulled a gun and shoved him off the scooter. The suspect then got on the scooter and drove away, officials were told. The victim, who didn’t report the robbery until December 31, described the gunman as a 5’7” dark skinned male. No injuries were reported. Cops are asking anyone with information regarding this incident to call the 61st Precinct at (718) 627-6611. All calls will be kept confidential. *** WHEELING AND STEALING: A 20-year-old mountain bike jockey is being sought for robbing a 42-year-old woman at the corner of 18th Avenue and 66th Street in Bensonhurst last week. Officials said that the suspect, described as an Asian male, rolled up to the victim as she walked away from a nearby train station at 7 p.m. on December 26. The suspect pushed the woman to the ground, took her bag and ran off, officials said. The woman, police said, was not seriously harmed. Approximately $20, a bank card and the keys to her house were in the bag when it was taken, officials said. Cops are asking anyone with information regarding this incident to call the 62nd Precinct at (718) 236-2611. All calls will be kept confidential. *** CHOKED OUT OF HANDBAG: A goon with a grip is being sought for choking a woman during a December 31 robbery in Gravesend. Police said that the unidentified suspect grabbed his victim as she waited for a northbound N train at 6:30 a.m. on December 31 when the suspect put his hands around her neck. After throttling his victim, the male grabbed her bag and ran off. He was last seen fleeing the train station, officials said. The victim, police said, was not seriously injured. *** JACKETS, VIDEO GAMES TAKEN FROM HOME: A 29-year-old Sheepshead Bay man returned home to find that someone had broken into his apartment, taking two pricey coats and his Sony Playstation. Several games, a web-cam and a number of DVDs were also taken during the burglary, which police from the 61st Precinct said occurred sometime between 8:30 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. The victim, a resident of the 2000 block of East 16th Street, told police that when he left to work, he made shore that his door was locked. When he returned home, his door was unlocked. He noticed almost immediately that his leather and suede coats were missing, officials said. Police are trying to track the thieves down. *** COPS CONTINUE HUNT FOR MURDERER: As the year comes to a close, cops from the 61st Precinct are still looking for the one who killed 24-year-old Elena Kasmynina, who was found in a pool of her own blood on the floor of a seven-story co-op at 2035 East 7th Street in Homecrest earlier this month. Police estimate that she had been stabbed upwards of ten times. Her remains were found just before 1 a.m. on December 9. Police were told by her boyfriend, Roman Pupin, also 24, that she had spent that Thursday night at class at Baruch College and said that she was on her way home just before the attack took place. Residents who lived in the building didn’t see or hear anything. When she was found, she was laying face-up. Knife wounds were peppered across her chest and body, officials said. According to published reports, cops have questioned Pupin, her boyfriend of 18 months and have let him go, believing that he has nothing to do with the crime. Residents said that the couple has just bought the studio co-op and had moved there from Staten Island. As of this writing, cops had not disclosed a motive behind the attack. Anyone with information regarding this incident is urged to come forward. Tipsters could receive up to $2,000 for information leading to the arrest and indictment of the one responsible. Calls can be made to either the 61st Precinct at (718) 627-6611 or the NYPD CrimeStoppers hotline at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
