Slickter's Scammed by Shady City Data Clerk

By Alicia Cruz

The Black Urban Times

When something seems too good to be true, it's because it probably is. Or, in the words of Judge Marilyn Milian, "Producción barata de las cosas a ser costosa!" (the cheap comes out expensive)

They thought they were getting a real hookup, and now, thanks to a shady clerk, they're on the hook with additional fees and fines.

Karen Frazier wrote over $20,000 in bad checks with her parking ticket-fixing scam, which she ran out of a Brooklyn Bodega, the Manhattan District Attorney's office said.

Frazier, 43, worked for the city’s Department of Finance as a data clerk handling traffic summonses issued to commercial vehicles. She would meet ticketed motorists at the bodega, where she assured them she'd “take care” of their tickets in exchange for them paying her half the amount of their actual fine.

In actuality, all Frazier did was doctor record of the ticket, pose as the vehicle owner while attempting to get the fee reduced. If she was successful, she'd simply "pay" the fine with a rubber check. Duped ticket holders then went online to see if their fines were paid, and since Frazier would have doctored the paperwork or paid with a bad check, it appeared the fine was paid...until her check bounced. 

Prosecutors say Frazier pocketed the loot of twenty ticket owners, then left them high and dry. She pleaded guilty in October 2010 and is facing a year in the slammer for the ruse.

A probe, led by the city Department of Investigation uncovered Frazier's racket and led to her guilty plea to charges of fraud, official misconduct and tampering with public records, said DOI commissioner Rose Gill Hearn.

Washington Heights Miscreants Exploded Drano Bombs Near School

By Alicia Cruz

The Black Urban Times

Homemade Drano bombs brought fireworks to a Washington Heights neighborhood in June after a group of miscreants placed the plastic bottles filled with Drano and bleach near Public School 178 on Ellwood Street in Washington Heights.

Neighbor Valarie Castillo, 20, told the New York Daily News that she heard the blast near the school beginning Friday night around 11 p.m.

"It sounded like fireworks. I thought it was little kids playing because I heard kids running," said Castillo.

Another resident of the neighborhood, Justine Thomas, 38, told the News that the "pranks" were going too far.

"Usually around the Fourth of July we deal with that," said Thomas, mother of two daughters. "Now when we find out it's something haz-mat has to come and dispose of, that's a little scary."

Police say they believe children are responsible for the explosive prank that did not injure anyone, but left residents terrified. Fire and bomb experts from the New York City Police Department arrived at the school to find 20 exploded bottles laying around the outside of the building after a custodian working inside of the school dialed 911 to report an explosion. He told police he heard one of the bombs burst against a door Sunday morning around 11 a.m. and when he looked outside he "noticed all these bottles and saw a white substance," the Daily News reported.

Police have no suspects in custody, but are investigating the dangerous prank.

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The Carters on Their First Anniversary

By Alicia Cruz

Senior writer

theblackurbantimes.com

The Carters were spotted out this past weekend doing a little shooping and eating in Nueva York. Beyonce aka Mrs. Shawn Carter was looking quite casually sexy in her second skin jeans pants, burgandy jacket (and accessories to boot).

Her suspenders give her that classic 'buppy' look and those 6-inch YSL stilettos are stunning. Her fitted un-buttoned shirt tops that look off with s-e-x-y!

Hubby and music mogul Jay-Z rocked a black leather bomber with blue jeans and a crisp white tee shirt. The Carters were spotted in Nueva York having a bite to eat at Pastis on Ninth Avenue in Manhattan.

Photos courtesy of: http://theybf.com/

NYC Nightclubs Turn Into NYC Fightclubs

Foto courtesy of: Iudici for News

BY Barry Paddock AND Jonathan Lemire
A night of revelry turned terrifying for nine people who were injured during violence at two city clubs early Sunday, police said. Four employees were stabbed at a glitzy Chelsea club and five people were shot in front of a Staten Island hot spot, police said.
The trouble at Club Promenade on W. 28th St. began after a patron objected to leaving at closing time, police said. Employees were trying to get a raucous crowd to disperse from the club at 4:30 a.m. Abdul Taylor, 35, of Queens, pushed back, cops said.
When the club's bouncers and coat check staff tried to force him out, Taylor pulled a knife and began slashing, police said. Clubgoers ran screaming from the two-story dance hall as other employees called 911. Taylor, of Long Island City, was charged with attempted murder, assault and criminal possession of a weapon.
A 35-year-old Club Promenade employee was stabbed in the stomach during the melee and his 45-year-old colleague was slashed in the torso, officials said. A 28-year-old staffer was cut in the leg and another employee, also 28, was slashed in the arm. They were all in stable condition at St. Vincent's Hospital.
Club Promenade managers refused to comment, but neighbors said the club often attracts a rowdy crowd.
"There is always noise on this street," said neighbor Caroline Asher. "We've had [problems] in this club before."
On Staten Island, cops were sent to The Lion's Lair on Bay St. just after 3 a.m. after calls about a disorderly crowd. Gunshots were heard as police arrived, scattering the group of revelers.
David Walters, 35, who works at a nearby Tompkinsville deli, said it was a quiet night until the shots rang out.
"People kept saying 'Move! Move!' and 'Run! Run!,'" Walters said. "The streets were filled with people all trying to get away. They said someone had a gun. People were scared."
A 20-year-old woman and a 24-year-old man were each hit in the leg and taken to Richmond University Medical Center in stable condition. Before sunrise, three more victims walked into area hospitals and reported that they had also been grazed by bullets outside the club, police said.
No arrests have been made, but police recovered two handguns near the dance hall.

New York City Rescue Mission looking to expand aid to homeless

BY CHRISTINA DOKA
In addition to a one-year residential program, the New York City Rescue Mission on Lafayette and White Sts. in Manhattan serves 400 free meals a day to the needy.

Roberto,who has cerebral palsy, grew up around staggering alcoholics and drug addicts because he felt that his own limp and speech impediment would blend in. He says that he suffered so much physical abuse in foster homes that he preferred sleeping on the streets.
But Roberto, now 41, has a new outlook. He recently graduated from the New York City Rescue Mission's one-year Residential Program, which gives 20 homeless men a chance to live there, study the Bible and turn their lives around.
These days, he says, "caring for others is my main option."
People like Roberto have found refuge at the faith-based mission since the three-story outpost opened at Lafayette and White Sts. in 1982.
Besides the Residential Program, the mission takes in nearly 100 men a night and provides nearly 400 free meals a day to growing lines of hungry individuals and families.
Yet despite a recession and a drop in donations, the organization is planning to expand.
"We think there is a demand for it - and we ask God to help his people to help us," said Joe Little, the mission's spokesman. The mission has already raised more than half the $398,500 needed to renovate cramped second- floor dorms and offices. Work will start next month with the hope that the rest of the money will become available.
And there are plans to help some of the city's 35,000 homeless who stay at shelters.
Next year, the mission hopes to offer emergency beds for women and children, as well as expand the men's Residential Program by adding three more stories to its building, said Little.
The mission has been trying to fulfill these dreams since 2001, when the city authorized it to expand its facilities and community outreach. But fund-raising plans stalled due to a recession.