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Vance Advocates for a Change in Misdemeanor Arrests

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. told West Village residents last night that he is proposing new legislation that would allow people convicted of eight misdemeanors to be charged with a felony on the ninth arrest. 

Citing the January conviction of Naim Jabbar, Vance said that aggressive prosecution is needed to crack down on recidivism. According to Vance, Jabbar worked a midtown "eyeglasses scam." Jabbar was infamous for bumping into pedestrians and dropping his glasses, which Vance said were already broken. Jabbar would get angry and demand money their repair. Police arrested him over 40 times on various misdemeanor charges.

Vance told a crowd of about 100 at the Manhattan 6th Precinct community meeting that there are career criminals who specialize in misdemeanors because the longest sentence they can receive is a year in jail. "Criminals are skilled in committing offenses in the misdemeanor range," he said. "Judges don't pay too much attention to their cases and criminals are gaming the system."

Nineteen of Jabbar's 40 convictions were for fraudulent accosting. The longest sentence he'd ever received for that charge was five months. But that changed after his July arrest. Instead of being charged with the usual misdemeanor, hia crime was written up as a robbery disguised as a street con. Jabbar was convicted of a class D felony. 

"Now he's doing three and a half to seven years upstate," Vance said. 

Vance said the proposed legislation that will cut down on recidivism."Sentences for a felony conviction ups the ante," Vance said. "Now criminals have no disincentive to committing misdemeanors."

Vance also told West Village residents that his office is seeing a big rise in cyber crime and identity theft. The DA's office works on roughly 200 to 300 cases a month. "Cyber crimes are the crime scene of the 21st century," he said.

In the past, the DA's office treated cases of stolen credit cars as a "one-off crime." But now, the crimes are more thoroughly investigated. Vance said his office views these cases as the tip of national and international organized crime rings. 

"People arrested for using stolen credit cards are often recruited by crime organizations from abroad who make malware for the purposes of identity theft," he said. "They are turning that information over to local thieves who turn that money off shore."

Vance said his office works closely with local precincts, identifying the priority recidivist offenders. He gave a shout out to Assistant District Attorney Heather Pearson of the Crime Strategies Unit. When a serial offender is arrested, Pearson gets an email alert and ensures that the judge receives the individual's full dossier.

"We're focusing on the bad actors and prosecuting them aggressively," Vance said.

 -Sherry Mazzocchi

 

Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Comes to the Village

 
Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance speaks Wednesday at the 6th Precinct Community Counsel meeting at Our Lady of Pompeii Church. According to Compstat, eight women have been raped in the 6th Precinct so far this year--a 100 percent increase over last year at this time. Rape is the one category that shows an overall increase since 1990.

Get Notified

Sign on the corner of NE corner of 23rd and Seventh Ave.

NYC is finding new avenues for advertising city services.  This sign, plastered right on pavement on the NE corner of Seventh Ave. and 23rd St., is great for pedestrians. But there should also be a phone number to call for emergency services in case you are hit by a bike messenger while reading instead of looking both ways.

Pita Hut on 23rd Street Shuttered

Pita Hut, a family operated business, which had been serving the Chelsea neighborhood for at least 16 years has closed.  The Pita Hut served up excellent Middle Eastern specialities and shots of fresh juice along with other vegan and vegetarian options. I often stopped in after a work out at the gym. The store has been closed since mid-April. The closing adds to the shortage of economically priced, locally-owned businesses in the Chelsea area. We will miss the Pita Hut.

Verizon Wireless Service Outage on 14th St.

 

Can you hear me now, Verizon? It's me, your customer.....

Verizon Wireless customers were cursing at their computers today. A call to the ISP resulted in a long wait while a crackly pre-recorded voice advised that Verizon customers were experiencing service outages on the East Coast, including “14^th Street.”

A conversation with a customer service rep did not restore service. A trip to S’nice to use their WiFi didn’t provide any relief either. They must use Verizon as their carrier, although none of the tattooed, but pleasant, staff could say for sure.

Verizon’s website could use a little customer assistance itself. After scrolling down their New York Customer Tips page, the link to New York Customer Service numbers lead to a blank page. Thanks for that, Verizon. I’ll just deduct the cost of that Starbucks latte from my bill.