Crime Watch
A woman came up to a man on the street, hugged him -- and picked his pocket. At 6 PM on Saturday, November 2, an unknown woman came up to an 80-year-old man at the northwest corner of East 60th Street and Third Avenue, hugged him -- and surreptitiously removed his wallet from his front pants pocket. The woman pretended to act friendly with the victim, stating that she knew him. She then fled southbound on Third Avenue. At the time of the police report, there were no transactions on the man's stolen cards. Items taken were a man's wallet valued at $200, $600 in cash, and various credit cards.
Counterfeit to Be Tried
A man was arrested after trying to sell counterfeit DVDs to a plainclothes officer. At 2:15 PM at Tuesday, November 5, a 60-year-old man unwittingly offered counterfeit DVDs to a plainclothes officer in a chain donut store on East 86 Street. The counterfeiter's pitch: "One for five dollars!" The man was found to be in possession of multiple counterfeit DVDs, and the Motion Picture Association of America was duly notified. The defendant was arrested on November 5 and charged with trademark counterfeit.
Unwitting Target
Unauthorized credit cards were opened in a woman's name. At 9 AM on Tuesday, October 29, a 30-year-old woman living on East 70th Street received a letter from Target's fraud department stating that a credit card had been opened in her name. The woman replied that it was unauthorized. It seems that after she signed up for an identity card, she discovered that numerous additional unauthorized credit cards had been opened in her name throughout New York City. $1,000 had been charged to the Target card without her permission or authorization, as well as $467 charged to a Children's Place card.
Hammer Whammers
Two men smashed a display case and stole jewelry from a store on Madison Avenue. At 4:36 PM on Sunday, November 3, an unknown man rang the doorbell to enter the jewelry store. An employee let the man enter, and the man held the door open for a second man. Both men then displayed hammers and shouted to the store's two male employees, "Do not move! Do not move!" The second man smashed a display case door with a hammer, opened the display, and took items, while the first man wrestled with the first employee. Both men then wrestled with both employees before running out of the store heading northbound on Madison. Police searched the area but could not find the two thieves. Items taken were two rings valued at $10,000 and one bracelet priced at $5,000.
Skeevy Skeleton
A man in a skeleton costume stole another man's phone. Ten minutes after midnight on Friday, November 1, a 29-year-old man from Queens was walking on the northeast corner of Madison Avenue and East 62nd Street when an unknown individual dressed in a skeleton costume took the man's phone and fled the scene. The stolen phone was a black iPhone 5 valued at $749.