Crime Roundup: Knifepoint Robbery and Trouble at a Local Strip Club

Brooklyn Men Charged in Knifepoint Attack

Two Brooklyn men are due back in court on Tuesday to face robbery, menacing and weapons possession charges after allegedly robbing a man at knifepoint in Ridgewood.

Edgardo Marquez, 23, of Bushwick and Charles Roberts, 22, of Bedford-Stuyvesant, were arraigned on August 25 in Queens Criminal Court after being arrested in connection with the robbery of a man on 61st Street near 60th Lane at about 4:30 that morning.

According to police, the trouble started when the victim tripped and fell while walking near that intersection. Roberts pointed a knife at his chest and demanded money while Marquez, armed with a meat clever, acted as a lookout. The victim handed over $20, which Roberts pocketed before the pair fled the scene.

The victim immediately reported the incident and members of the 104th Precinct responded to the scene. A short time later, Officer Eric Velez spotted the pair just several blocks away in St. Felix Park (Evergreen Park), still in possession of the stolen money and knives used in the robbery, according to a criminal complaint filed against them.

Bail was set at $20,000 for Marquez and $10,000 for Roberts.

Man Claims Bouncer Assaulted Him; Video Showed Otherwise

A Hollis man has been charged with filing a false police report after telling police he was roughed up by bouncers who ejected him from a Maspeth strip club. Surveillance video showed the man actually injured himself on his car door, according to authorities.

Khuram Murtaza, 34, of 191st Street, was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on August 25 on charges of third-degree falsely reporting an incident just after midnight that morning outside Rouge Gentlemen’s Club on 58th Street.

When Officer Jaewon Kim of the 108th Precinct arrived at the club, Murtaza told him that he had suffered a lacerated nose during an assault inside the nightclub. However, the club manager told officers he kicked Murtaza out of the establishment and saw him smash his own face against a parked car. Officer Kim reviewed the surveillance video, which backed up the bouncer’s story, according to the criminal complaint filed against Murtaza.

Murtaza also was arrested earlier this year at the intersection of Myrtle Avenue and Woodhaven Boulevard near Forest Park for criminal mischief, according to published reports.