MANHATTAN

RAPE, ROBBERY SUSPECT CAUGHT

A man who allegedly robbed and attempted to rape a 74-year-old woman after pushing his way into her SoHo apartment was arrested at a subway station in Brooklyn on Saturday, police officials said.

Last Tuesday, the man, now identified by police as Ralph Gardella, 35, of 405 Berry St., entered the woman’s apartment on Thompson Street at about 9 a.m. and began strangling her until she lost consciousness, police said. When she woke up, he attempted to rape her but couldn’t, police said. He then demanded her ATM card and PIN, police said.

Police released surveillance footage from a bank in Manhattan, a bank in Brooklyn, and a footwear store, showing the man’s face clearly. Police were able to identify the man through tips from the public. Mr. Gardella has a criminal history of sexual assault, police said.

According to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, Mr. Gardella admitted to robbing and attempting to rape the woman.

Mr. Gardella was arrested as he left the subway at the intersection of 104th Street and Liberty Avenue in Ozone Park, police said. He is charged with attempted rape, robbery, burglary, and assault, police said.

– Special to the Sun

WOMAN ATTACKED IN MANHATTAN HOTEL

A 24-year-old woman was the victim of a rape, robbery, and sodomy at gunpoint in a hotel on East 29th Street, police said. The woman reported to police that she met the suspect, who called himself Derrick, on July 7. She described him as a black man between 25 and 30 years old, whom she met several days before the report in a bar in Chelsea, cops said. The woman told police that as the night progressed, she became inebriated and exchanged telephone numbers with the suspect.

On July 6, the suspect called the woman and she invited him to pick her up at the Carlton Hotel at 22 East 29th St. When he arrived, the suspect allegedly entered her room, brandished a revolver, and demanded money. The woman told police she complied and that the suspect then forced her to open her luggage. The suspect demanded the woman remove her clothing, police said.

He allegedly put on latex gloves, tied up the victim’s hands, put on a condom, and forced her to have intercourse with him. The woman reported that the suspect demanded she perform oral sex on him. Before fleeing with the woman’s $1,200, the man warned her not to report the incident. The woman was treated and released from Bellevue Hospital.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

QUEENS

FIREFIGHTERS INTERVENE IN KNIFE ATTACK

Two firefighters prevented a fatal stabbing on Corona Avenue in Queens Friday, fire department officials said.

The two men were driving in a civilian vehicle when they saw a man attack another man multiple times with a knife, officials said. They immediately pulled over, with one firefighter, Joseph Tarantini, chasing the alleged perpetrator. The other firefighter, Brian Pulsch, tended to the victim, who officials said was bleeding heavily from wounds to the legs and back.

Mr. Tarantini, who is a former New York City corrections officer, caught the alleged attacker and restrained him until police arrived to arrest him, officials said.

The victim, who was identified as a 35-year-old male, was taken to Elmhurst Hospital and was listed in serious condition on Friday. Police would not comment on his condition last night.

– Special to the Sun

STATEWIDE

MANY COMPANIES GETTING SUBSIDIZED POWER FAIL TO CREATE JOBS

More than a third of the businesses receiving subsidized electrical power under a state economic program have not delivered the jobs they promised.

Under New York’s Power for Jobs program, companies pay reduced rates for power in exchange for creating jobs. Contracts that each business signs to get the cheap power allow the New York Power Authority to terminate or reduce a company’s benefits if the business doesn’t fulfill its obligation. But when companies cut workers, the state-run power producer rarely acts, the Post-Standard of Syracuse reported in yesterday’s editions. Often, the state-run power producer continued to subsidize electrical power for corporations for years after they had eliminated hundreds of jobs.

Last year, 200 of the 573 companies receiving Power for Jobs benefits didn’t live up to their pledges, according to records the newspaper obtained through a Freedom of Information request. The authority terminated Power for Jobs benefits to just 12 noncompliant companies from 1997 through 2001. From 2002 to 2004, the Power Authority declared a moratorium on eliminating or reducing benefits

In one case, Cooper Crouse-Hinds, a manufacturer of industrial electrical products, had more than 1,100 employees in 1998 when it was awarded 5,000 kilowatts of subsidized power. In return, the company agreed to retain all of its jobs and create 45 new ones within three years.

– Associated Press

ALBANY

REPORT: FRAUD IN N.Y. MEDICAID PROGRAM MAY REACH BILLIONS

New York’s Medicaid program has been misspending billions of dollars a year because of fraud and waste, according to a year-long investigation by the New York Times. Results of the investigation appear in the newspaper’s editions today and online.

The investigation found that New York’s Medicaid program spends $44.5 billion a year, more than any other state, including California, where the Medicaid program covers about 55% more people.

New York’s Medicaid budget is larger than the entire budget of most states. It spends about double the national average, or about $10,600, on each of its 4.2 million recipients, or one in every five New Yorkers, the report says.

A computer analysis of several million records obtained under the state Freedom of Information Law found indications of fraud that had not been pursued by the state. The state has never formally studied how much Medicaid money is lost to fraud and abuse, the Times reported.

The former chief state investigator of Medicaid fraud and abuse in New York City, James Mehmet, told the newspaper that at least 10% of state Medicaid dollars were spent on fraudulent claims, with another 20% or 30% going to unnecessary spending that might not be criminal.

– Associated Press