assault-by-Rolex

[chill]

you've got to love The Post:

Russian stripper-masseuse victory in strange case of wristwatch assault

A gorgeous Russian stripper-masseuse is the big winner in an oddball misdemeanor assault-by-Rolex.

A Manhattan jury today believed Sophia Kandelaki's tale of wristwatch woe, convicting a one-legged Manhattan millionaire of clocking her in the head with his solid-gold timepiece during a midnight curbside argument on the Upper East Side last April.

"It was an interesting case," noted one female juror after the speedy conviction of Bentley-driving ex-construction-worker Thomas Hartmann.

"And she was an interesting character," the juror added of Kandelaki, 37, who'd taken the stand wearing jeans and a tube top this week, describing herself to the jury as a gunpoint kidnapping survivor, a reality star hopeful, a stripper, a private shopper, a vegan chef, a singer, a composer and an expert in "deep, inner tantric massage."

Hartmann, of the Upper East Side, is a former Long Island construction worker who lost his leg but hit the jackpot in a highly-publicized police brutality case.

A Nassau County jury awarded Hartmann more than $19.6 million after agreeing that a police detective intentionally rammed his squad car into Hartmann when trying to arrest him in 2004 on charges of harassing his then-wife.

Hartmann cashed in in 2010, after a settlement knocked that sum back by some undisclosed sum. Still, Harmann was left with a prosthetic leg and enough money to afford a Rolex, a Bentley, and a regular table at Baraonda restaurant, on Second Avenue across from his fancy new apartment.

According to trial testimony, Hartmann was flashing cash and drinking heavily at the restaurant during a dancing-on-the-table-party this past April when a ponytailed and high-heeled Kandelaki showed up with a fellow Russian pal identified only as Nikola.

Hartmann bought the women champagne; Kandelaki, who has a 2005 prostitution arrest from one of her "massages," admitted on the stand to "flirting" with Hartmann.

But once outside the restaurant, the one-legged millionaire and the tantric masseuse came to blows.

Kandelaki told jurors that Hartmann clocked her for no reason. Hartmann insisted through defense lawyer Joseph Tacopina that he struck her with his Rolex-bedecked wrist only by accident, after he became startled and lost his balance on his prosthetic leg when she reached in his pants for his giant wad of cash.

Jurors, who saw photos of the huge gash on Kandelaki's face, believed her -- in spite of Tacopina's efforts to portray her as a lying tax cheat who called 1-800-LAWYERS from her hospital bed in hopes of a big payout of her own in an ongoing civil case. Hartmann faces up to a year jail at sentencing.

"The victim wasn't on trial here," explained one male juror of the verdict.


http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/m...86oEvQ2aFQLWHJ

[TimothyNelson]

Feel bad for the man. Got hustled!

[matt4hand]

I'm not sure what I took from reading this but thanks for sharing.

[Mickey®]

I believe her. I've never been lied to by a Russian stripper (or otherwise)...never.

[TimothyNelson]

Those russian women are on the up and up just like those asian gals at the massage parlors.....

[Mickey®]

I guess I'm IBTL since I posted already.

By the way it's an Asian SPA!

[TimothyNelson]

Around these parts they just have the word "MASSAGE" in the window. I came across a website (yes, there is one) where customers "review" their experience and elaborate on -what is available- And, sure as a banana is yellow, one of them have a "very favorable" review with details. Tsk tsk!

[Lion]

Only in New York.....

[Mickey®]

Originally Posted by matt4hand

I'm not sure what I took from reading this but thanks for sharing.

Be careful swinging that arm around when saying "YOU CHANGE THE TWINS THIS TIME"

[MoBe]

Sounds like a typical lottery winner gone wrong story,only with a legal twist.

[TimothyNelson]

I won a lottery prize last weekend. Not millions, but $13,400 after 33% taxes.

Didn't find myself in a strip joint surrounded by vulture women.