By Jeremy Walsh
The 104th Precinct has a problem with burglars, but other major crimes were down for the year in Glendale, Maspeth, Middle Village and Ridgewood.
Some 441 homes and businesses had been broken into through Dec. 27 in the precinct, a 15.7 percent increase compared with the 381 break-ins reported for the same stretch of 2008.
At least two homes and one commercial establishment had been broken into on 53rd Road in the last three weeks, police said. Neighborhood leaders are also concerned that the same burglars may be striking businesses on 51st and 57th avenues in Maspeth, gaining entry by climbing onto the buildings’ roofs.
Overall major index crimes were down 4.1 percent during the first 51 weeks of the year. The precinct had 13 rapes this year compared with 17 for the same period last year, down 23.5 percent, and 295 car thefts compared with 342 during the first 51 weeks of 2008 for a decline of 15.7 percent.
Grand larcenies, although they were down to 484 this year from 531 during the same stretch of 2008, actually showed a 14 percent increase from 2007 numbers.
The precinct also had a drop in the murder rate, with two Dec. 27 compared with four during the same stretch in 2008. But all four 2008 homicides occurred June 15 of that year in a fire police believe was set by Agnes Bermudez when she allegedly doused her boyfriend with a flammable liquid and ignited it during a fight in her Middle Village apartment.
Other tenants living in the building either perished in the blaze or died later at the hospital.
Police were still searching for the killers of both homicide victims this year. The first, 64-year-old Rosario Prestigiacomo, was found Feb. 10 with multiple stab wounds in his Ridgewood home after what neighbors suspected was an argument with his tenant, but police declined to characterize the motive.
The other homicide was reported Dec. 17. Joanna Malki, 42, a mother of two, was found in her home on 65th Street in Ridgewood with a single gunshot wound to her head. Malki was pronounced dead at the scene.
The city Police Department monitors homicides, rapes, felony assaults, robberies, burglaries, grand larcenies and auto thefts to compile its crime statistics.
Reach reporter Jeremy Walsh by e-mail at jewalsh@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 154.
