A retired Vietnamese-American restaurateur living in Florida was indicted in Manhattan yesterday on charges of grand larceny, bribery, and "jostling," which is the legal term for pickpocketing. 67-year-old Ha Vasko, who is reportedly well-off and owns a $400,000 home in Melbourne, Florida, enjoys taking trips to NYC and robbing Chinese people in Chinatown because she can't stand the Chinese, court papers allege. "I hate Chinese people," Vasko explained to the police after her fourth arrest in March. And she doesn't hate them because she's jealous they have a "town" in NYC and Vietnam doesn't. No, she hates them because of their knock-offs.
"They sell fake stuff, take the money and send the money back home," Vasko confessed to police, according to court papers obtained by the Post. "They get benefit cards and they don't contribute anything back. So I take their money and give it to people who need it. I give it to homeless people who need it." Vasko also reportedly told police, "I want to die. I hope they electrocute me." In announcing the indictment yesterday, Manhattan DA Cy Vance did not indicate whether he would seek the death penalty for Vasko, but he did say, "This defendant is a calculating thief who robbed her unsuspecting victims of not only credit cards and cash, but also their sense of security in their neighborhood."
Vasko's spree allegedly started as early as December of last year, when she was caught after pickpocketing two people in Chinatown. Her attempt to bribe the cop who apprehended her was unsuccessful, and she was slapped with a number of charges, including bribery. This meant she had to return to NYC for court appearances, so why not get some pickpocketing done while in town? Prosecutors say that after appearing in court, she would walk up to Chinatown and get some good jostling in. In June she was busted for stealing $500 in cash from a woman’s bag at the corner of Canal and Mulberry Streets, and then again in January and March.
Because she was a repeat offender, the DA's Office’s Crime Strategies Unit (CSU) made Vasko a priority and used "intelligence-driven prosecution techniques" to bring her down. Her lawyer tells the Daily News she's "a diagnosed kleptomaniac with serious mental health problems, including lingering post-traumatic stress from the war in Vietnam." A judge suggested trying Vasko in a new mental health court that Vance started, but prosecutors opposed that; Assistant DA Rachana Pathak told the judge, "She's been seeing [a] psychiatrist for 20 years, and it's not working."
