Gabriela Pochinki Faces Jail Time Over Cell Phone Converasation

by Amy Judd | October 23, 2009 at 09:04 am

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Gabriela Pochinki, an Argentine opera star, could face up to 90 days of jail time for starting a fight over a cell phone conversation in a Manhattan cafe.

She was speaking loudly on her cell phone in the restaurant and when the manager asked her to quiet down, and she apparently yelled at her and pushed her.

"She really shoved her. She pushed her away, even as she turned away," said a coworker of the manager whom Pochinki allegedly pushed in the Nice Martin restaurant at The Lucerne hotel on W. 79th St.

Gabriela Pochinki was with her daughter having lunch when nearby patrons complained she was making too much noise by having a three-way speaker phone conversation.

The manager, Jeanette Josue asked Ms. Pochinki to quiet down but only got a dismissive wave from the singer.

"Get out of here. I'm not leaving," Pochinki told Josue, according to the general manager.

It was only on the fourth time that Gabriela Pochinki acknowledged the manger and pushed her; it was caught on the surveillance camera of the restaurant.

The cops arrived and charged Ms. Pochinki with misdemeanour theft and trespassing as she supposedly didn't pay her bill either. She is due to be arraigned today in Manhattan Criminal Court and could face a jail term of 90 days.

Gabriela Pochinki has not commented on the matter.

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