MANHATTAN

* A security guard was busted with pilfering $2,000 from the poor box of a church he was hired to protect, police said.

Heriberto Colon, 32, of the Bronx, was busted at his home on White Plains Rd. after he was caught stealing at St. John’s Evangelist Church at 1011 First Avenue.

Police said church officials noticed over a period of several months that cash was missing from the box and set up hidden cameras to catch the crook.

Colon, who was charged with burglary yesterday, confessed to detectives at the 17th Precinct station house that he had swiped the money, police said. (lcf)

* Police yesterday were investigating two bank robberies in Midtown.

The first one occurred about 1:40 p.m. Tuesday, when an unidentified man in his 40s walked into the Wachovia branch at 58th Street and Third Avenue and slipped a teller a note demanding money.

The robber fled with an undisclosed amount of cash.

About four hours later, a man in his 30s entered Commerce Bank at 43rd Street and Sixth Avenue, where he told a teller to give him money.

The teller complied, and he fled with cash.

* An ex-con has been arrested after leading police on a high-speed chase through Manhattan and The Bronx, crashing into a police car and injuring two cops, authorities said yesterday.

Jermaine Yancey, 31, of Yonkers, was being held on $25,000 bail after his arraignment early yesterday in Manhattan Criminal Court on charges of criminal possession of stolen property, assault and reckless endangerment.

The incident began about 3:30 a.m. Tuesday, when police saw Yancey driving a 1989 Mercedes Benz east on West 125th Street near Morningside Avenue in Harlem, did a random computer check on the license plate and learned the car had been stolen, sources said.

When the officers tried to pull him over, he sped toward First Avenue, where he turned left and crossed over the Willis Avenue Bridge into The Bronx, sources said.

With cops in hot pursuit, Yancey turned onto the northbound lanes of the Major Deegan Expressway, where he drove through a construction zone, slamming into barrels and cones and a police car occupied by two cops. The officers suffered minor injuries.

Yancey finally drove onto a service road and crashed into a police call box near Sedgwick Avenue.

He jumped out and ran, but was tackled by police and arrested.

State records show Yancey has two prior convictions, for criminal possession of stolen property and weapons possession.

BROOKLYN

* A 16-year-old boy was arrested for sexually assaulting one girl and sexually abusing another in a Canarsie apartment building, authorities said yesterday.

Andre Clark, 16, threatened to shoot a 9-year-old girl unless she performed a lewd act in the stairwell of the East 105th Street building about 7:30 p.m. on June 15, sources said.

As the child complied, the girl’s 14-year-old friend came by and Clark allegedly touched the friend’s leg, reached under her skirt and pulled down her underwear.

The victims fled. Clark was arrested on Tuesday and charged with sexual misconduct and sexual abuse.

* A Cypress Hills man was arrested for slugging a female acquaintance with brass knuckles, authorities said yesterday.

Sources said Richard Thompson, 21, began cursing at the 21-year-old victim at Barbey Street and Atlantic Avenue about 7:15 p.m. Tuesday.

Thompson then allegedly spit on the woman and slugged her in the face. The woman then socked Thompson back.

Using brass knuckles, Thompson hit the victim again, cutting her ear and left shoulder, sources said.

He fled, but was caught a short time later and charged with assault, menacing and weapons possession.

The victim was taken to the hospital where she received stitches to close her wounds.

* A Brownsville man was arrested early yesterday for beating and choking his girlfriend after he was told she was having an affair, authorities said yesterday.

Sources said Leon Gourdine, 43, received a 2:30 a.m. phone call from somebody who claimed his 40-year-old live-in girlfriend was sleeping with another man.

Gourdine then allegedly humiliated his girlfriend in front of his friends in the couple’s Belmont Avenue residence.

Sources said Gourdine told his girlfriend to perform lewd acts on his friends, then he spit in her face, choked and hit her.

Police arrested Gourdine on assault and menacing charges.

The woman did not suffer life-threatening injuries.

* A man was found shot to death early yesterday on an East New York street, police said.

Cops received a 911 call about 12:13 a.m. and went to Elton Street and Cozine Avenue.

They discovered a 25-year-old man lying on the sidewalk with a gunshot wound to the head.

The victim, whose name was not immediately released, was pronounced dead at the scene.

THE BRONX

* A 17-year-old boy was arrested for shooting another teen while horsing around with a gun in his Mott Haven apartment, police sources said yesterday.

The suspect, David Gaskins, was with a 15-year-old boy in Gaskins’ apartment on East 146th Street about 3 p.m. Tuesday, sources said.

Gaskins allegedly retrieved a .38-caliber gun from his drawer and started playing around with it.

The gun went off and the 15-year-old was hit in the pelvic area.

The victim was rushed to Lincoln Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition.

Police arrested Gaskins, who was charged with reckless endangerment, and possession of ammunition and weapons.