Luis Peroza, 39, and Gerald Barth, 55, were charged in a New York State Supreme Court indictment (see below for specific charges).
Said Bragg in a statement: "Ray's Candy Store is a beloved staple in the East Village community, and the attack on its owner is deeply upsetting to everyone who has ever visited this local institution. In addition to this alleged assault, these defendants are also charged with attacking two other strangers on the street within mere hours."
As we first reported, Ray and his employee Gabe Thorne were attacked outside Ray's Candy Store around 3 a.m. on Jan. 31 when the pair went outside for some fresh air. A man, who police later identified as Peroza, struck Ray with a belt with a rock attached, causing a black eye and gash on Ray's temple. Gabe was hit across the chest.
The suspect threatened to kill Ray, per the police report. All this apparently happened because Ray and Gabe declined an offer to buy seltzer water from Peroza and his accomplice, later named as Barth.
According to the NYPD and media reports, after the assault at Ray's, Peroza and Barth showed up outside a deli on Avenue C, where they allegedly attacked a second victim. Per the Post:
They blocked their second victim's path and demanded, "Give me your money!" authorities said.That's when Peroza hit the victim with "an unknown object, causing a deep, bleeding laceration" to his head and "a broken orbital bone, and substantial pain," according to the complaint filed by Manhattan prosecutors ...
Later on Jan. 31, Barth allegedly struck a 51-year-old in the head on Avenue B with an unknown object after the man declined his request for a cigarette. Barth reportedly then left with the victim's smartphone. The victim suffered several fractured facial bones and had a tooth knocked out.
This EVG post has a timeline of the events leading up to the suspects' arrest.
Both defendants remain in custody at Rikers. Peroza is due back in court on May 10; Barth on March 6, according to public records.
Luis Peroza, charged:
- Assault in the First Degree, a class B felony, three counts
- Robbery in the First Degree, a class B felony, two counts
- Attempted Robbery in the First Degree, a class C felony, two counts
- Robbery in the Second Degree, a class C felony, one count
- Attempted Robbery in the Second Degree, a class D felony, one count
- Assault in the Second Degree, a class D felony, one count
Gerald Barth, charged:
- Assault in the First Degree, a class B felony, three counts
- Robbery in the First Degree, a class B felony, two counts
- Attempted Robbery in the First Degree, a class C felony, two counts
- Robbery in the Second Degree, a class C felony, one count
- Attempted Robbery in the Second Degree, a class D felony, one count
- Assault in the Second Degree, a class D felony, one count
I'm glad Bragg finally found (or was forced into dealing with) a case that merited his attention & action.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame that multiple people had to be assaulted so violently that they could have died - AND for 1 of those people to be a very well-loved 90-year-old - AND for this case to have gotten ENORMOUS publicity in the media, to move Bragg to DO SOMETHING.
Look at the damage they caused: multiple broken facial bones, concussion, broken jaw ... these are all *extremely* horrific injuries. In my career as a licensed health care professional in NYC, I can say quite honestly that some people who have injuries like these are never fully healthy again. For instance, this could cost someone their eyesight in the future, or move them towards the kind of dementia that concussions are known to cause, among other things.
IMO these men should have been charged with attempted murder, b/c they certainly didn't care if their victims lived or not, but anything that will keep these guys locked up gets a thumbs-up from me.
👍
DeleteThankful the DA finally some what threw the book at one of these people. Feels like an attempted murder charge could have been in the cards too, no?
ReplyDeleteSet the example and throw the book at them both. Let this be a start to letting criminals know Manhattan is not going to put up with these actions anymore and there will be consequences like spending years behind bars
ReplyDeleteThanks for this information!!!!
ReplyDeletePlay stupid games. Win stupid prizes. Hope these two cowards rot in prison.
ReplyDeleteUntil I hear the criminals are serving a long sentence behind bars, I'll withhold applause.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the sentiment "...letting criminals know Manhattan is not going to put up with these actions anymore and there will be consequences like spending years behind bars"
ReplyDeleteis rooted in reality. Violent people are not stopping to think about whether they will end up in Rikers. Harsh penalties don't serve as a deterrent. I don't have the answers either. I do hope Ray and the other victims don't suffer terrible long term consequences.
I guarantee you a significant number of people are deterred by harsh penalties. The ones that are not are exactly the ones that should be behind bars. Putting our hands up and not penalizing people is a ridiculous response that will do nothing to help the law abiding citizens and will just make their lives worse. What a ridiculous response.
ReplyDeleteBarth has been harassing people (mostly women) daily up and down avenue b and a, he has stood outside of Sunny and Annie’s and screamed at people and often defected in his pants and bragged about it. Cops have been called on him several times in the past year and nothing has been done. This was just a matter of time.
ReplyDeleteAs a few other people have already said, Barth was a known problem in the area who has been harassing people in Thomkins Sq. park for years. I'm really sorry it took him finally being caught for a violent crime to be taken off the street. An attack against Ray of all people !!!
ReplyDeleteOne less zombie on our streets, but there are too many left.
I'm not looking forward to the streets in the East Village this summer...
First and foremost, best wishes and sympathy with Ray and the victims. - Second, one may wonder, how did the perpetrators, one of them well known for menacing behavior as much as displays of misery, spiral so far out of sanity to commit such heinous, violent acts? Policing hasn't prevented it. To the contrary, militarized brutal, and corrupt policing terrorizes minorities, violates human rights, and civil rights of law abiding citizens. Do we perhaps spend far too much on an existing police institution instead of investing more in mental health outreach, social work, community building?
ReplyDelete@10:00am: As to your second point: You think NYC does NOT spend enough time, or have enough outreach efforts, etc. that someone who WANTS help couldn't get it??? Seriously?
ReplyDeleteReality check: You CAN'T help some people b/c they DON'T WANT TO BE HELPED. (Some are very busy "helping themselves" to everything we law-abiding people work for!). They don't WANT to change. They don't want to be better members of society. With mental illness and/or addiction, you are always going to see out-of-control behavior towards others, b/c the addicts just want their next fix, and the mentally ill cannot control themselves. That means the rest of us are sitting ducks for whatever the worst of these people feel like doing to us.
Some people LIKE being thieves (so much easier than working for a living), some people don't want to be "helped" (for whatever reason, rational or not), and some people are totally out-of-control in such a way that they will reject any "help" AND they will defy the police (especially knowing, as ALL criminals in NYC are aware) that getting arrested means ZILCH at this point.
Some people are what used to be called "bad seed" - and there is no shortage of people doing awful things all around this country. Trump normalized shitty, infantile, "I want it NOW" behavior, and Bragg is a softy in a job that requires a tougher person than he is.
What can *we* law-abiding people do about it? I'd say voting out Bragg and Adams would be a good start, but that's years from now.
I honestly don't have any hope that NYC will be better any time soon, and I genuinely fear what this summer is going to bring, b/c it's clear that the baddies & the crazies are in charge. Now add in all the teens and even pre-teens who think it's fun to assault & rob people "just for fun".
Our current "officials" are spineless wimps who will not protect us.
I have not felt this hopeless about NYC ever before in my life - and I've lived in this community since the 70's.
Trump has nothing to do with this.
Deletemore police, less whining.
ReplyDelete@1:55pm: I disagree with you. Trump, with a huge public bullhorn on a national level, boasted about "I can get away with anything; there are no consequences for lying, cheating, etc." - and thereby promoted those behaviors. He basically praised himself (and by extension, anyone else who behaves as "cleverly" as he thinks he is) for being able to get away with non-stop BS.
ReplyDeleteAnd if you think that didn't rub off on a shitload of people all across this country, then you haven't been following the news for the past few years.
@1:55PM: Trump is quite relevant, since he's spent years BOASTING about all the crap he's gotten away with, and how "successful" that makes him; what a "genius" he is.
ReplyDeleteHe legitimized dishonesty at the highest levels, and now we're living with the results of the drip-drip-drip of his audacity & his inability to tell the truth, to accept responsibility, or even to care about anyone other than himself.
Trump is the high-visibility poster-boy for what we see happening on the streets of NYC, namely: people do whatever they effing want but it's never, ever their fault! As in: if you didn't want to get mugged, you should have stayed in your apartment. If you're out on the street, you're seen as fair game by the losers who are out there with their weapons, ready to beat you up for any reason or for no reason at all.