New busts in Bx. bank lobby slay
Two more women have been arrested for fatally beating a nursing assistant in the lobby of a Bronx bank, police said Friday.
Francis Morales, 21, and Chanell Arroyo, 20, were both charged with murder and robbery in the death of 44-year-old Tamara Sinclair.
Cops grabbed Arroyo on Wednesday and Morales on Thursday. A third woman, Reign Harney, 21, was arrested on Feb. 27 on the same charges and ordered held on $250,000 bail.
Sinclair, a former Miss Jamaica contestant, was at TD Bank on White Plains Road near Pelham Parkway South on Feb. 11 when Harney banged on the glass door, demanding the victim let her in, authorities said. Harney’s attorney claimed she was trying to retrieve a forgotten bank card.
A rattled Sinclair (inset) refused to open the door. She crossed the street to a Bank of America, where Harney, Morales and Arroyo attacked her, knocking her to the ground and kicking her as they stole her cell phone, police said.
Sinclair filed a police report on Feb. 17, relatives said. Three days later, she went to the hospital complaining of an ankle injury but left because she was worried about having to pay a large hospital bill.
She was found dead in her home the next day, apparently from a blood clot caused by her ankle injury, authorities said.
Relatives said cops responded to the initial attack, but never took a report.
Authorities said Sinclair refused medical treatment and didn’t want to file a report on the day of the attack. In court papers, however, Sinclair told police her ankle may have been broken. The NYPD is now investigating the initial response.
Arroyo was ordered held on $250,000 at her Wednesday arraignment. Morales was ordered held on $150,000 bail at her Thursday arraignment.
All three women are due back in court on Apr. 13.