Police Blotter

Sexual assault attempt
The attendant at a flower shop at 103 Mosco St. between Mulberry and Mott Sts. in Chinatown fought off a man who posed as a customer on Wednesday morning Aug. 25, grabbed her, threw her to the floor and attempted to sexually assault her, police said. The suspect, described as a black male in his 20s, about 6’ and weighing 160 lbs., wearing dark sneakers, knee-length blue jeans, a gray or tan sweatshirt with an S on the front and a light-colored shirt, fled on foot. The victim was taken to Downtown Hospital for treatment. Information leading to an arrest may be reported to police by phone at 800-577-TIPS or online www.nypdcrimestoppers.com or text CRIMES and entering TIPS577.

Check theft
Wayne Smith, 50, who was fired from the Museum of Chinese in America on Mulberry St. after he was identified as stealing seven checks from the museum between October and December 2008 and cashing them for $11,535 at a Chase Bank branch, was arrested in August after a subsequent theft from the museum, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office. In January 2009, the suspect broke into the museum and stole several blank checks and tried to cash them at the Chase branch where suspicious personnel challenged the transaction, according to the complaint. Police caught up with Smith on Thurs., Aug. 19 and charged him with the January 2009 burglary.

Soho boutique lift
Police arrested Tyshawn Peek, 18, and Nurdeen Vanderpool, 16, around 5:40 p.m. Thurs., Aug. 26 and charged them with stealing sunglasses and cosmetics from the Ilori boutique, 138 Spring St. The two youths, with two unapprehended accomplices who distracted shop employees, put the items in a bag and tried to walk out without paying. Employees stopped them and held them for police.

“Cat Lady” arrest
A woman walked into the Cotélac boutique at 92 Greene St. at 2:15 p.m. Wed., Aug. 25 and whispered to an employee, “Listen closely. Give me the money from the cash register. I have a gun and the man across the street has a gun,” police said. But on learning that the register was computerized and contained no cash, the woman fled. Police arrested the suspect, Shanna Spalding, 27, at the corner of Spring and Mercer Sts. The Cotelac employee identified Spalding who was carrying a fake silver handgun, police said.

Spalding, who sings under the name of Purgatory with the death metal band Divine Infamy, is also charged with several previous robberies in Manhattan and Queens where she wore various disguises, including a cat mask and a burqa.

Howard St. snatch
A woman, 25, visiting from Houston, Tex. was on the corner of Broadway and Howard St. around 8:15 p.m. Wed., Aug. 18 when a man grabbed her wrist and snatched two cell phones that she was holding in her other hand, police said. The thief fled and was last seen running west on Canal St.

Lugged luggage
A visitor from England told police a cab dropped her off at her destination at the northeast corner of South and Whitehall Sts. shortly before midnight Tues. Aug. 17 and she was about to get her bags out of the back when the driver sped off with the trunk still open. She was unable to stop him and she lost a baby stroller, electronic games, designer sunglasses, perfume, shoes, books, sneakers, shorts, T-shirts, $400 in cash and her hotel keys.

Women robbers
A Brooklyn man, 27, told police he was smoking a cigarette in front of 15 Trinity Pl. around 3:30 a.m. Sun. Aug. 15 when two heavy-set women and a third unidentified accomplice took his wallet with $2,000 in cash and fled in a cab.

Stolen bags
A woman typing on her laptop computer in the Burger King at 106 Liberty St. around 3:30 p.m. Thurs., Aug. 12 had her bag stolen from the table next to her, police said. She lost her cell phone, passport, driver’s license, some prescription medicine and $575 in cash, police said.

A Brooklyn woman told police that her bag, which she had hung on the back of her chair in McDonalds at 160 Broadway around 5 p.m. Tues., Aug. 24, was stolen.

A man, 31, visiting from Copenhagen told police he was having dinner at Bistro Les Amis, 180 Spring St. on Thurs., Aug. 26, when someone stole the laptop computer that he had slung over the back of his chair.

A Long Island woman who was having dinner at Sazon, 105 Reade St. around 7 p.m. Tues., Aug. 17 had her Louis Vuitton bag, valued at $1,200, stolen from the back of her chair, police said.

A visitor from France was in Greenhouse, 150 Varick St. around 2 a.m. Wed., Aug. 18 when someone took her cell phone. She told police it was too dark for her to identify the person who had bumped into her.

Subway pickpocket
A female resident of Beaver St. told police that she discovered at 7 p.m. Mon., Aug. 16 that her wallet had been picked from her bag while she was on a No. 5 train at Bowling Green. She remembered that a man standing next to her on the train brushed against her before she got off.

Motorcycle stolen
A man who parked his motorcycle in front of 76 Laight St. and locked it on a brake disk and on the steering column at 6 a.m. Tues., Aug. 17 returned later to find the motorcycle and the locks had been stolen.

Subway sleeper victim
A transit officer spotted a man stealing a cell phone from the pocket of a man sleeping on a train in the Fulton St. subway station shortly before 5 a.m. Sat., Aug. 14. The suspect was charged with robbery and criminal possession of weapons when a razor was found in his front pants pocket and a box cutter was found in his rear pants pocket.

— Albert Amateau