Alleged granny mugger arraigned on separate charge

SALEM – A 30-year-old Lynn plumber already facing charges for severely beating an 89-year-old great-grandmother in front of her Eastern Avenue home last fall and also stealing a purse from another woman a week earlier, pleaded innocent to new charges involving a burglary incident where he allegedly stole a safe.Nicholas J. Christian, of 7 Hammond St., Lynn, appeared for his arraignment Thursday in Salem Superior Court pleading innocent to breaking and entering in the nighttime, larceny of property more than $250, receiving stolen property more than $250 and malicious destruction of property before Judge Howard J. Whitehead.At the joint recommendation of the prosecutor and defense, Whitehead set $10,000 cash bail on the case and continued the matter to June 30 for a pretrial conference.In the meantime, Christian remains held at the Middleton Jail.The new set of charges arise out of an incident in Lynn Nov. 17 when he, along with Michael Curley, 32, allegedly burglarized a property on Western Avenue, reportedly stealing a safe that contained personal items, but no cash.Police investigators say the two suspects were seen leaving the building on video surveillance carrying the safe.When police searched Christian’s apartment in late November following the alleged beating of the elderly woman they recovered the safe from his basement apartment.Christian is also facing charges for the Nov. 15, 2010 mugging of 89-year-old Geneva Sozanski, who sustained a black eye, multiple bruises and a head gash as a result of the brutal attack in front of her home at 538 Eastern Ave.Sozanski told authorities she was walking on the sidewalk near her home around 1:15 p.m., when a man jumped out of a black car and yanked on her arm to get her pocketbook.She fell to the ground and the robber took off with her purse.Police arrested Christian a few days later following an investigation.In addition to the safe, when police searched his basement apartment they reportedly found a pocketbook in a trash bag, wallets, rosary beads and a store receipt bearing Sozanski’s name as well as personal items and keys belonging to another woman, Diane Keith, a 35-year-old Eastern Avenue resident who reported her purse stolen on Nov. 7.Christian’s attorney Cathleen E. Campbell contends that, with no witnesses in those two incidents, the descriptions provided are insufficient to warrant the indictments involving either the Sozanski or Keith cases.But Assistant District Attorney Kim Faitella maintains the property was found in his basement apartment and he even had a key that belonged to Keith.Christian has pleaded not guilty to the charges involving those two cases and is held without bail on those matters pending his trial.