By Carol Tannenhauser
There was an attempted burglary early Thursday morning at Kouzan Japanese Restaurant at 685 Amsterdam Avenue between West 93rd and West 94th Streets, an NYPD spokesperson told the Rag.
At 1 am, police responded to a commercial alarm and found Kouzan’s front-door glass shattered and the alleged burglar inside. Ray Saltes, 67, was arrested and charged with burglary, criminal mischief (for breaking the glass), criminal possession of stolen property (money), criminal possession of a controlled substance, and petit larceny. The stolen property was recovered.
Saltes was described by the police as being homeless.
(Thanks to Cecilia for the tip.)
Re: “Saltes was described by the police as being homeless.”
Well, he’ll have a warm place to sleep and three meals a day at Rikers….oooh, silly me! I forgot that D.A. Bragg (a.k.a. “Nothing-to-brag-about Bragg ‘) will have him released so he can again:
1. endure the coming winter on the street;
2. scrounge for food;
3. and probably rob again, as no one will hire a felon..
That he was homeless and that desperate should illicit more of a humanistic response, but I always forget how awful people actually are, when hiding behind their keyboards. What a disgrace.
I hope you’ll be as gracious if/when someone smashes in your door and steals your, what I assume is, hard earned money and property. It’s easy to be generous and “humanisitic” when the victims of crime are not you or yours.
There are many law abiding ppl who don’t resort to stealing from others and damaging their property. Economic hardship should not be seen as a get out of jail free card. The city provides so many well funded free services to help ppl in need. Just read Gale Brewer’s weekly email. And when does personal responsibility kick in? Both for the individual and whichever social services agency is responsible for overseeing their welfare? Maybe Manhattan isn’t the best location for someone who continues to struggle despite being afforded help and cannot find their way? It’s pretty warped that the solution is to place them somewhere with unlimited stealing potential and then just do nothing. NYC is not a free store .
November 7th is just a month away.
ATTENTION!! November 7th is NOT Election Day!
Election Day is Tuesday, November 8th !!
And, for-the-record, November 7th is NOT one of the Early Voting Days
I wonder if he is from one of the local shelters, the ones that Gale Brewer so generously puts in our neighborhood.
Btw, I called her office regarding the efforts she is making to prevent putting so many shelters in our neighborhood- no response. I guess she is busy mandating composting.
We are continuing “perceiving” high crime as per recent report it is not high, it is all in our heads:
https://patch.com/new-york/upper-west-side-nyc/teenage-tourist-sucker-punched-upper-west-side-report?utm_source=alert-breakingnews&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=alert
https://nypost.com/2022/10/01/nycs-financial-district-is-now-blighted-with-crime-vagrants/
https://nypost.com/2022/09/30/message-from-democrats-where-emt-alison-russo-elling-was-slain/
Blind party allegiance and voting is killing choices in primaries and general elections. the entire political leadership and judicial arm really need to look in the mirror and ask themselves if they are being duly citizen-centric in their programs or do they have pet agendas that they are prioritizing – disgusted!
You guys know that when you adopt the “throw ’em in a hellhole like Rikers before they’re even convicted” approach, pretending that you care about their wellbeing in the same breath is obviously hypocrisy, right?
Again, for the easily confused, bail reform is not about not being punished for your crimes, it’s about rich people not being able to buy their way out of the arbitrary pre-trial detention inflicted on everyone else.
You know that when you adopt the “let’s release the criminals on the law-abiding population because we’re too lazy or incompetent to fix Rikers (or DHS, or other services, etc.) despite billions of tax-dollars per year” in the same breath as talking about civil rights is obviously hypocrisy, right?
Again, for the easily confused, bail reform appears to be entirely about not being punished for your crimes, especially when arbitrarily releasing both first-time, non-violent offenders (where it can at least be excused), as well as violent felons and recidivists who promptly proceed to incur more bodily harm and death on other humans.
Bail reform is literally about not being held in prison prior to trail simply because you are *accused* of crime without some compelling justification. What you call “arbitrary release” is commonly known as “innocent until proven guilty.” Old-fashioned folks might call that a bedrock principle of our justice system. If you or a loved one were arrested for a crime, you would damn well insist on this for yourself, and rightfully so. Why do you think you’re entitled to better treatment than the poor and minorities of this city?
Bail reform has *nothing* to do with whether a person is ultimately convicted or the length of their sentence. That its opponents have to lie about this constantly speaks for itself.
Guess what – I don’t care about their welfare.
Want to avoid Rikers? Stay out of trouble.
That’s called reality.
Tell it to Kalief Browder’s family.
“For the easily confused…”. I think most UWSers are educated enough. Stop your condescending comments, Sarah, everyone had enough.
Well, I don’t know. Right below here is someone saying that bail reform is ” entirely about not being punished for your crimes.” (He’s hardly the first one in WSR comments to say such things, either.) So…you tell me. Is he confused? I suppose he could just be lying.
In other news, Ray Saltes will be found recuperating and napping on the 1 train later today. Stay tuned.
NYPD actually caught him in progress? He must have been very slow.
When WSR reports about a crime, do you always identify the alleged perp’s address? If a criminal is attached to a shelter and uses that address to secure the array of city provided free benefits isn’t that their home? Many street dwellers actually do have city provided housing, whether or not they choose to use it each night. “Homeless” has become this catchall phrase to describe a host of situations and distract from the issue at hand. Alleged thief broke the law and destroyed someone else’s property. Does it matter where he leaves his stuff each night?
Update: Saltes was released less than an hour later with no repercussions whatsoever. So look for him tonight around 93rd/94th streets as he breaks into another establishment knowing full well he will be let free again. Thanks NYC brass for making this city less safe.
Just curious….How and where is this release information available?
I’d like to see sympathy for the business owners and no excuses for the person who committed the “alleged” crime.
67?
That’s pretty old to be throwing your body against the pistons of the machine known as society; maybe his body is all he has left. I’ll guess he must be pretty desperate.
Homelessness will do that to you.
Anyway, he’s earned his three hots & a cot.
I’m glad no one was hurt.
Could someone answer two questions on this:
1. Assuming this was his first offense (perhaps I am being naively optimistic), what is the penalty for these crimes if he is found guilty.
2. Again assuming this was his first offense, would he be held, released with bail, or just released with a lesser slap on the wrist until his trial.
No penalty, in both cases, and regardless of whether your assumptions are true. He just walks.
Welcome to modern-day NYC.
No follow up on him by law enforcement??
For those that are so against bail reform, it also makes fiscal sense for this reform. Bail is for the express purpose of making sure the accused shows up at their court appointments. When someone is held without bail, it is not that they are being denied bail but they are being denied release, and those rules are still the same. But if someone is arrested, and held with a bail they cannot afford, and then is found not guilty, they can then turn around and sue the city for wrongful imprisonment, which costs taxpayers millions. Now, if they are not held in jail because there is either no bail or bail they can afford, there is no way to sue for false imprisonment. Jail sentences are for convicted offenders. Why should I be able stay out of jail because I have money, but someone who is poor can do the same thing and is stuck in Jail until trial?
I’ve said it several times here – the solution to all of this is to hire more judges and get those who are arrested to trial asap. That way those who are guilty can be put away quickly and not bother us anymore, and those who are innocent can move on with their lives.
I think that what people want in terms of bail is that those who have committed serious offenses or have committed several somewhat serious offenses should not be walking the streets while awaiting trial. We should trust our judges to make this determination. This is not a violation of their rights. Them being out is a violation of my rights. Yes, judges make mistakes, but I will give them the benefit of the doubt.
I wish WSR would focus some attention on other forms of criminality, rather than on stories like this.
Why do landlords who neglect their property so that they result in injuries or death to tenants and passers-by alike only face, at the most, civil proceedings for their crimes?
Corporations engaging in wage theft affect far more people than a homeless person breaking into a restaurant.
What about corporate polluters who continue to contribute to 1000s of deaths and serious ailments?
I’m amazed how much journalistic focus is given to petty crimes at the expense of other far more serious crimes.
Yeah corporate polluters. That’s something that New Yorkers worry about every day. Not the possibility of getting shoved on the subway tracks by a nutjob. Corporate polluters.
I don’t really expect that type of reporting from a local neighborhood blog. You need WSJ not WSR.