Crime Watch

An Unfriendly Encounter A man was using an ATM near Lincoln Center at 2 p.m. last Thursday when a younger man approached him. The perp, who was wearing a hoodie and holding his hand in his pocket to indicate that he may be armed, said, "I need $100, give me $100." The victim felt sufficiently threatened and complied, even though, as he later told police, he knew the thief. According to the victim, the 21-year-old left his state benefits card behind when he fled the scene. The victim waited to report the crime because he told police that he had tried to settle the matter personally, which evidently did not work out. Eyewear Raid Last Wednesday around noon, a group of five men swarmed a Sunglass Hut store on Broadway, working together to steal 17 pairs of frames before the store employee could do anything to stop them. The quintet made off with pricey models from Prada, Burberry, Gucci and a slew of Ray-Bans, worth a total of $3,435. A Deathly Raid When a 74-year-old man was taken to the hospital from his home by paramedics in December, he asked them to make sure to lock his apartment when they left. But when his friend checked on the apartment for the still hospital-bound man, he discovered the door unlocked. The victim instructed his friend to search the apartment to see if anything was missing. Unfortunately, that was the case; the thief got away with a gauntlet of depressing items, including $600 the man had been saving for funeral costs as well as a $500 burial suit. The total ghastly haul was worth $1,340. Bad Luck at Local Hotel In two separate unrelated incidents last week, guests of a popular Upper West Side hotel were robbed when they weren't in their rooms. In the first case, a woman visiting from the Comoros Islands (a small cluster off the southeastern coast of Africa) came back to her room after going out to discover a bag of jewelry that had been in her luggage was missing. The bag contained eight items worth a total of $1,225, including an opal necklace with a gold chain and a pair of emerald earrings. The next day, security cameras caught an unknown perpetrator entering the room of a man from Scarsdale and taking $5,784 worth of computer equipment and personal items, including a MacBook Pro, a passport, expensive sunglasses and a $849 copy of Photoshop and Final Cut Pro software. Drugged Out Drugstore Robbery Three men were arrested after they teamed up to rob a Duane Reade on Columbus Avenue last Thursday at 1:30 p.m. The trio grabbed $2,574 worth of merchandise, including Mucinex, Crest Whitestrips, Prilosec and several allergy meds, and strolled past the open registers without even a glance back. When the store employees called the cops and the three were apprehended, police found a crack pipe in one of the men's front pockets, as well as other drug paraphernalia in a red duffle bag they were carrying. Kid Escapes Mugging Another potential victim of a grab-and-go iPhone theft was able to thwart his would-be attacker last week. The perp approached the 12-year-old victim on the street and asked for the time. The victim checked his iPhone, told him the time and put it back in his pocket, but the man followed him for several blocks on West 77th Street as the kid walked to school. At one point, the impatient thief grabbed the boy's sweater, and when the kid asked if he was about to be mugged, the perp told him, "Yes, I'm going to mug you." He wasn't as prescient as he thought, however; the kid squirmed free and made a dash for his teacher, who was able to confirm the story to police.