A musclebound fitness model who came to New York to make cash dancing at a gay strip club landed in cuffs after he tried to kill his roommate who he claims hit on him, authorities said Wednesday.
Geoffrey Tracy, 25, of Gilroy, Calif., allegedly stabbed 50-year-old Gregory Kanczes 16 times after the older man tried to grab his privates, according to police and a source close to the case.
He was arraigned Wednesday in Manhattan Criminal Court on attempted murder and assault raps and held on $500,000 bond for the gruesome Aug. 14 attack inside Kanczes’ Hell’s Kitchen pad.
The victim is in critical condition at Bellevue Hospital, according to cops.
“Mr Tracy is a gentle soul, who like many attractive young men and women, fell victim to predators seeking to exploit him for his good looks and take advantage of his youthful naivete,” said his defense lawyer Thomas Kenniff.
The violent altercation occurred a few days after Tracy arrived in New York.
A strip club owner spotted pics of the hunky personal trainer online and lured him to the Big Apple with promises of easy cash dancing at a gay club.
“He told him he could make a ton of money, bought him a ticket and flew him out,” the source said.
The owner arranged for Tracy, a San Jose State grad, to crash at Kanczes’ pad on West 49th Street near Ninth Avenue.
But by the fourth night in the dingy apartment, Tracy became uncomfortable.
The victim allegedly started rubbing Tracy’s legs then moved his hands closer to his groin and confessed to molesting him as he slept, the source said.
When the competitive bodybuilder resisted the creepy advances, Kanczes allegedly blocked the front door and threatened to kidnap him, according to Kenniff.
The criminal complaint says at 4:49 a.m., Tracy repeatedly slashed Kanczes, plunging a knife in to his neck, chest, shoulder and ribs.
Kanczes ex-boyfriend, Normand La Chance, called Tracy a “hustler” and blasted his self-defense claims as bogus.
“He’s [the suspect] so muscular and Greg’s not,” said La Chance, who dated Kanczes for 12 years. “You could have thrown him and ran out the door. You don’t stab somebody.”
La Chance said that Kanczes was down on his luck and was letting grifters stay at his apartment for extra cash. “Greg’s not like that, he’s not a predator,” he added.
