Capt. Donald Powers
May 30, 2012 By Christian Murray
Herman Oliazola just put his nose in where it didn’t belong.
The Bronx man was arrested for a Sunnyside burglary after the police saw video footage of him breaking into an apartment at 46-51 50th Street.
“We got the video of him and he was trying to defeat the camera by covering his face with a handkerchief and pulling his baseball cap down low,” said Captain Donald Powers at the police precinct 108 meeting yesterday.
But Oliazola was not careful enough. Powers said the police got a partial side image—and “one of our cops who arrested him two years ago for burglary recognized his nose, particularly his nostrils.”
Powers said they were able to locate Oliazola with the help of a Bronx police precinct, which had recently arrested him on a reckless driving charge. The cops quickly discovered Oliazola owned a “distinctive set of sneakers” like the ones taken from the Sunnyside apartment. The police were able to arrest him on that burglary as well as two others in the 108 precinct.
Powers said the precinct made a series of arrests in the past month that should help keep a lid on the number of robberies and burglaries in the precinct. He said one or two perpetrators can account for a significant jump in crime.
The police arrested Shadie Alsaidei on May 3, who was responsible for three high-profile robberies on 50th Ave and 44th Street. According to police, Alsaidei forced three men at gunpoint on April 12, 18 and 23, to withdraw money from an ATM at a nearby bodega.
The police arrested two men on May 16 relating to a residential burglary in Woodside. Powers said the police suspect the men are responsible for a number of burglaries in the 108 precinct.
Meanwhile, Powers said the police were able to arrest two men this week after they attempted to break into a Woodside house, on 51st Ave and 63rd Street, with a blow torch. Powers said the men are responsible for at least 12 burglaries throughout Queens. This incident was the only one in the 108 precinct.
The police initially caught up with one of the men, Jefferson Villarama, on Monday, who had watches, cutlery, silver and electronics in his possession. The following day the police caught the other man, Michael Natindim. Both are from Elmhurst.
Burglaries have been a persistent problem in the 108 precinct, up 24% this year. Overall, crime is up 1% in the 108 precinct this year—across the major categories.
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24 Comments
u guys r nothing i was a rape victim n u having even caught one yet,sitting on ur assess coffee n donuts.u pick-up petty cases
Thank u 108 for doing your job. Now let’s get more cops assigned to the 108 and make our neigherhood a safer place to live.
Psh! Cops shmops. Crime in an old-school Italian neighbor will do much more street cleaning than the 108th precinct. Regardless of ethnicity (Italian or Irish) neighborhood watch is the best watch… far better than police.
Make criminals think twice about entering a neighborhood. The neighborhood is iron clad.
yeah well you guys sound like BOZOS
You all should bow to me! It’s Prince Theon now
actually you guys are making fools of yourselves get a life !!!
My husband and I had an attempted robbery a few weeks ago and I think it was this same man. On the video surveillance, he also covered his face with a handkerchief and wore a black hat low over his face. The police said they found him in the Bronx, so I think it was the same person.
Be safe, Sunnysiders!
Flaring nostrils?
I’m sorry but “recognized his nose, particularly his nostrils” just made me spew coffee all over my screen!
@ He’s in God’s Hands Let he who is the perfect punctuator and typist throw the first stone at imperfect spellers. Otherwise, he is making a fool of himself.
and you guys dont even know how to spell his name lmao
lmaooo you guys are pathectic ! they will all be free =D
See… the police are doing their jobs.
And in home cameras work also.
Hopefully they will focus on the sexual predators now.
Mr. Holy/Moley: a quote from the 108th regarding the lads of 46th Street : “They are on our radar.” Gee – what do you think that means?
Kill all criminals…. Problem solved.
They need to be punished. Otherwise they’ll never respect me! They must pay the iron price
Actually, I think Holierethanthou is to blam – he has some ‘splaining to do to the Mrs.
Nice police work.
I thought those kids who hang out on 46th St. in the Gardens were to blame.
Hats off to the 108th PCT for excellent work …
Capt. Powers and the officers of the 108th Pct. should be acknowledged for their dedicated service on our behalf. Capt. Powers at the community forum approximately one month ago said that the burglaries and the street crimes people are concerned with are resolved by careful police work which typically takes time and usually when the bad guy commits another crime and is recognized. This is exactly what happened with the crew that was committing home burglaries. Thanks again Capt. Powers!
Thanks to our dedicated officers. Let the word go out: Don’t come to the 108th to commit crimes. You’ll be caught.
Good news! Thanks to good policing. Keep up the good work!
Let’s do all we can to discourage criminals from preying on our neighborhood.
Marilyn S.