Taxi driver Gurmeet Singh, charged in rape, says he picked up hookers, record shows
A taxi driver charged with raping a passenger blamed the DNA match that nailed him on back-seat hanky panky with prostitutes, court papers revealed. “I did not rape anybody,” Gurmeet Singh, 40, told police, according to the criminal complaint. “Sometimes I pick up women, call girls, off the street and have sex with them.” His statements were made public when the married father of two was arraigned in Brooklyn Criminal Court Wednesday morning. He was ordered held on $1 million bail. Read More: Daily News
Profanity-laced rants revealed in McDonald’s beatdown case
Sustaining skull-crushing, bone-breaking, contusion-causing beat-downs at the end of a metal hamburger grill scraper did not stop two irate McDonalds customers from giving cops a screaming, booze-fueled, profanity-laced ear-full once in custody, according to police statements released this morning. “Why don’t you love me the way I love you?” Rachel Edwards, 24, of Brooklyn, who has just suffered multiple cuts and bruises, shouts at one point to sweetheart Denise Darbeau, who has just suffered a cracked skull and broken arm, according to the lengthy statements. Read More: New York Post
Van der Sloot pleads guilty to killing Peruvian woman
Joran van der Sloot pleaded guilty in a Peruvian court Wednesday to killing a young woman in Lima in 2010, clearing the way for him to be sentenced Friday morning. Prosecutors are seeking 30 years in prison for the 24-year-old Dutchman, who is also the prime suspect in the disappearance of American teen Natalee Holloway in Aruba in 2005. Read More: New York Post
Bandit in pile of trouble
The “Dapper Bandit” was busted yesterday in a heap of dirty laundry. Dana Connor, who has been knocking off banks since the ’70s, was captured by the FBI and NYPD while hiding out in his brother’s Brooklyn apartment, sources told The Post. Federal agents bashed in the front door with a sledgehammer and stormed into the three-bedroom East New York apartment at 12:45 p.m., the sources said. The spiffy 52-year-old thief ran into one of the bedrooms and crawled under a mountain of soiled clothes in a futile attempt to hide, sources said. Searching room to room, agents spotted a lump in the clothing, dragged Connor out from under the pile, and whisked him away for questioning, sources said. Read More: New York Post
Zuccotti barriers dropped
The barricades surrounding Zuccotti Park were removed last night — and around 200 Occupy Wall Street demonstrators quickly returned to the lower Manhattan park. The surprise move came a day after the New York Civil Liberties Union and other groups sent a letter to the Department of Buildings saying the barricades were against city zoning laws. The NYPD said the barricades were removed because they “were not needed.” The barricades were put in place following the November mass eviction of thousands of OWS protesters who were camping out in the privately owned park. Read More: New York Post
Bomb kills Iranian nuclear scientist, state TV reports; Tehran accuses Israel, CIA
Two assailants on a motorcycle attached a magnetic bomb to the car of an Iranian university professor working at a key nuclear facility, killing him and another person Wednesday, state TV reported. The slayings suggest a widening covert effort to set back Iran’s atomic program. The attack in Tehran bore a strong resemblance to earlier killings of scientists working on the Iranian nuclear program. It is certain to amplify authorities’ claims of clandestine operations by Western powers and their allies to halt Iran’s nuclear advances. Read More: Daily News
Bejeweled in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, slammed for selling swastika look-alike earrings
A Brooklyn jewelry store came under fire from politicians Tuesday for hawking earrings that look like swastikas. The Bejeweled shop in Greenpoint has sold out of all but one pair of the controversial accessory — studs that closely resemble the Nazi symbol. “It’s totally outrageous,” said City Councilman Steve Levin (D-Greenpoint), who called on Bejeweled to stop selling the earrings. “They should be sensitive to what that symbol means to Jews around the world.” Read More: Daily News
