Police Blotter

Downtown Express photo by Clayton Patterson

Chin on the scene
City Councilmember Margaret Chin arrived to check on the scene of a three-alarm fire on Essex between Stanton and Rivington Sts. on Thursday evening Feb. 4. Chin had been nearby at the Nightlife Forum at P.S. 20, at 166 Essex St.

Police Blotter

Big pot bucks
Special narcotics prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan is prosecuting four people arrested in two related cases involving $1.1 million in a Little Italy apartment and a significant amount of high potency hydroponic Canadian marijuana.

Daniel McGehean, 32, of 153 Mulberry St., where much of the money in shrink-wrapped bundles was found, and Richard Doyon, 27, of Quebec, were arrested in December and charged with illegal money trafficking relating to the sale and processing of marijuana high in T.H.C., marijuana’s active ingredient.

At the same time, Dehran Duckworth, 41, a drummer in the band, Narhed, and Richard Burke, 38, a real estate agent, were arrested for possession and sale of marijuana.

On Dec. 16 as part of a continuing investigation, detectives stopped McGehean and Doyon as they were rolling suitcases and bags on wheels from the Mulberry St. apartment to a nearby car. The detectives found a total of $750,000 in bundles and a warrant search of McGehean’s apartment uncovered another $360,000, a shrink-wrapping machine and a money counter, according to the charges.

While tailing McGehean, agents observed Duckworth pick up a duffle bag from an E. 12th St. apartment and deliver it to a parked car on E. 21st St. where Burke was sitting. Agents arrested the two suspects and found five pounds of the high-octane pot.

McGehean pleaded not guilty at his Feb. 8 arraignment but Doyon failed to appear and was believed to be a fugitive. Duckworth and Burke were released pending their arraignments next week.

Subway robbery
Edward McCollum, 19, and Jamal Williams, 20, were arrested in the Rector St. station of the No. 1 train during the early hours of Tues., Feb. 2 and were charged with pulling a victim’s coat over his head as the southbound train they were in was leaving the Christopher St. station around 3:30 a.m. The suspects rifled the victim’s pockets but found nothing except for the waiting officers who arrested and charged them with robbery.

— Albert Amateau