PBA President Stops Criminal at His House

By BRADLEY HOPE, Staff Reporter of the Sun
January 17, 2007

A career criminal knocked on the wrong door in Queens yesterday, police and union officials said.

At about 9:30 a.m. Anthony Genovese, 40, knocked on the door of the president of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, Patrick Lynch, in the Bayside section of Queens. He told Mr. Lynch's wife that "he had dropped his keys in the sewer, his wife was pregnant, and he needed $5 for his landlord." She immediately called her husband, telling him about the "suspicious man."

When Mr. Lynch returned, he stopped the man and a woman he was with, Laurie Kernahan, 37, as they tried to leave in a car. Officers who responded to a radio call from Mr. Lynch discovered that the two were riding in a stolen vehicle.

Genovese, who has 21 prior convictions — including 11 felonies — and Ms. Kernahan were charged with grand larceny of an automobile, criminal possession of stolen property, possession of burglar's tools, and trespassing. Genovese was also charged with operating a vehicle without a license. Police are also investigating whether the two were involved with a pattern of burglaries in the area.