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Crime Watch

Paul Bisceglio — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 17:35:08 +0000

MATTRESS SWIPE
An Amsterdam Avenue resident lost her mattress and $5,000 on Nov. 28 when someone broke into
her apartment. According to a young woman who reported the theft, the 53-year-old resident came home and found her mattress missing. There were no signs of forced entry into her apartment, but she had not given anyone permission to enter. Upon further inspection, the woman realized that money had been removed from her room as well. Police canvassed the area and found the mattress in the one of the building’s stairwells. The money has yet to be recovered.

CAMERA SNATCHER

A young woman’s camera was stolen from the subway on Dec. 2. The 21-year-old West 103rd Street resident was riding on the C line at 12:30 p.m., seated next to the train’s doors. She had a camera bag with her, which she placed on the floor. At the 72nd Street Station, a man in a white hooded jacket snatched her bag and jumped off the train right as the doors closed. He then ran out of the station. Unable to pursue the man, the woman got off at the next stop then returned to her neighborhood to report the crime. The camera that was stolen, a Nikon D90, was worth around $1,200. Along with the lens, bag and other accessories, the woman lost roughly $1,500 in valuables.

CRUEL INTERRUPTION
A woman’s cellphone was snatched in mid-conversation on Dec. 2 by an unknown thief. According to the 34-year-old victim, she was walking along West 61st Street at about 7 p.m. and talking on her iPhone, when all of a sudden a man came up behind her and grabbed her left arm. He twisted the phone out of her grasp, then took off down the block away from the woman. The thief remains at large.

GROUP MUGGING
A deliveryman was robbed by four thugs on Dec. 1 in the West 79th Street Boat Basin. The 25-year-old Upper West Side resident was dropping off a routine food delivery around 5:30 p.m. in the boat basin when four men approached him. One perp flashed a knife and told the deliveryman to hand over all his money. As the victim surrendered $250 in cash, another perp took his bike, then the four muggers fled to Riverside Park. The victim was uninjured, but police have been unable to identify the criminals.

TEEN TOUGH GUYS
A teenage boy was mugged by two other teens on West End Avenue on Nov. 29. The 15-year-old victim was walking down the street at 5 p.m. when he was approached by the two perps. One asked the victim for his phone. The victim refused, so the perp pushed him to the ground. “Should I shoot him?” asked the second thug, and the wounded victim handed over his Galaxy phone and Monster Beats headphones. The perps fled the scene, and remain at large.

STOLEN CHECK FAIL
A man was arrested after he attempted to cash a stolen check on Nov. 30. The 32-year-old walked into a bank on Broadway with the check at noon and handed it over the counter, hoping for an easy $2,500. The tellers inspected the check, however, and realized that it was not his and that he had no permission to cash it. Police were notified, and the man was arrested for attempted larceny.

Crime Watch

Paul Bisceglio — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 17:31:12 +0000

HEADPHONE HEIST

A 40-year-old man and a trio of teenage girls were arrested on Saturday after attempting to rob an electronics store on Lexington Avenue. At around 1:45 p.m., the perps entered the store and removed six pairs of studio headphones worth almost $2,000. Police caught wind of the heist and pursued the robbers, and during the chase one perp pushed an officer to the ground to divert him, injuring his right hand. When the police caught the robbers, the officers found that they had wire cutters and booster bags in their car. Police recovered the headphones and arrested four of the crooks, but an unidentified fourth female accomplice escaped the scene and is still at large.

PIZZA PLACE ROBBERY

A pizza place on Second Avenue was robbed on Saturday. The burglary took place around 2 a.m., when an unknown perp broke the front window with a brick and climbed in. The perp swiped an iPad and a cash register with $1,500 cash, together worth roughly $2,000. Security cameras inside the location and at neighboring buildings picked up a few of the perp’s physical details, but the perp remains at large. The store’s owner did not recognize the robber from the cameras’ images.

ROAD RAGE

An angry driver punched and spat on another young driver when the two got in an argument over a turn. According to the victim of the attack, she made a right turn into the other motorist’s driving lane at Madison Avenue and East 59 Street around 1 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 7. The motorist was not happy with being cut off, and managed to get into a shouting match with the victim, though the exact details of the altercation were not given in the incident’s report. The cut-off motorist punched the 22-year-old driver while she was in her car, then spat on her and drove off. The victim was unable to give the driver’s physical details, but reported his license plate number to the police after the attack.

CELLPHONE SWIPE

A teenage girl lost her iPhone on Tuesday, Nov. 2, to an agile thief. The girl was walking around Third Avenue and East 95th Street and took out her phone to make a call at about 10:30 p.m., then all of a sudden a man ran by and snatched the device. The thief fled east on 95th Street then bounded up north along Third Avenue. The victim could not identify the man, though mentioned that he was around 20 years old and 5’5”.

Crime Watch

Paul Bisceglio — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 21:48:19 +0000

PART HIT MAN, PART SPAMBOT

A 50-year-old West End Avenue resident reported to police last Thursday that he received repeated e-mails from an unknown man threatening to kill him. In the messages, the perp explained that someone had offered him $2,000 (half given in advance) to execute the Upper West Sider, and that the resident could only subvert his pending demise by paying the perp $1,000. Concerned for his safety, the resident reported the threats to the FBI, who told him to go to local authorities. Police filed the case as attempted grand larceny.

CELLPHONE SWIPE

An unknown man stole an iPhone from an unsuspecting woman late last Thursday night at the corner of Amsterdam Avenue and West 80th Street. The thief snuck up behind the 28-year-old woman at the intersection, smacked her on the side of her head, then snatched her phone while she was stunned. The woman was unable to retrieve the phone’s serial number from her wireless provider for tracking purposes, but police nevertheless reportedly recovered video of the man, a 6-foot-tall Caucasian in his mid-30s, attempting to sell the phone at a hostel on Amsterdam Avenue. The suspect is still at large.

BACKDOOR ROBBERY

An unidentified burglar stole money and electronics from a clothing store on Columbus Avenue last Friday by sneaking in through a basement back door. The thief managed to access to the basement’s storeroom from an outside alley, then charged upstairs into the store when a young female employee opened the usually locked door to go downstairs. He locked the employee in the basement, then headed to the store’s office, where he grabbed a safe, two iPhones and an iPad with a combined worth around $2,000. No security cameras were in place to pick up the thief’s details, and he made a clean escape.

KNIFE-WIELDING CROOK

On Wednesday last week, an unidentified man burst into a chain store on Broadway between West 81st and 82nd streets and demanded the cash drawer. “Give me the money,” he said, and withdrew a knife as two employees ran away. The robber snatched the bottom part of the register, which held an unknown amount of cash, then rushed out of the store. Video surveillance showed that he was Caucasian in his mid-40s, wearing glasses, jeans, a waist length jacket and brown dress shoes.

HURRICANE HEIST

In the middle of a hurricane, probably the absolute last thing you want to worry about is someone breaking in and stealing your stuff. But that’s exactly what some rude New Yorker did to a local newsstand vendor, who returned to his kiosk on Broadway after the storm on Tuesday to find a broken lock on his front gate and thousands of dollars of merchandise missing. Gone were lottery tickets, phone cards and cigarette cartons along with $2,000 cash, together setting the salesman back over $10,000.

KEY BETRAYAL

The owner of a commercial building on Columbus Avenue got a sad surprise when he watched the surveillance video of a burglar robbing his store from the front door. In the early hours of Friday, Nov. 2, an unidentified man approached the store and used keys to unlock the main entrance and an interior security gate. Once inside, the perp put on rubber gloves and pried open the cash register with an unidentified sharp object. He then fled the scene, leaving the sharp object behind. He wore a brown hoodie that obstructed the camera’s view of his face.

CRIME WATCH

Sean Creamer — Thu, 03 May 2012 02:22:54 +0000

Leave Your Bags on Your Back

It’s nice to know people are so trusting of those around them. In New York City it’s a rare quality, but one that can cost its practitioners dearly. On the night of Saturday, April 28, a woman at a bar near 76th Street and Second Avenue had her bag stolen off the back of her chair. The unknown thief took the woman’s cellphone, wallet and a pair of Marc Jacobs sunglasses as well as her Yohji Yamamoto bag valued at $1,500. The 21st Precinct wishes to remind residents that although going to a bar usually promises a night of fun and friends, people should always keep an eye on their belongings.

Party Pooper

Throwing a house party is always fun—when it’s held at someone else’s home. One resident of the Upper East Side learned this lesson the hard way on Saturday, April 28, after an unknown partygoer stole the show.

The host was allowing people into his soiree when a party crasher made his way inside. After mingling with the other guests, the crook got to work and pocketed a Tag Heuer and a Seiko watch, each one valued at over $1,000. The thief, maybe emboldened by his new timepieces, also seized an iPod and then went for the big prize. As he made his way out of the apartment, he shoved a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black under his coat, thus stealing the life of party and giving himself something to toast with, too. So far, no arrests have been made.

Taking a Beating for Electronic Love

From Tribeca to Harlem, there are always cases of people being ambushed for their valuables, an unpleasant fact New Yorkers must deal with now that they keep pricey toys in their pockets. These crooks do not discriminate or use fair tactics, as one woman discovered last Thursday night on Third Avenue near East 95th Street. The woman was talking on her cellphone when she was approached by a group of four black men and two women, who demanded that she hand over her valuables or suffer a beating. She then made a choice that the NYPD swears up and down is the absolute wrong thing to do: She held fast to her cellphone and invited the challenge. The group punched the woman repeatedly in the face and body, while trying to get the victim to release her vise-like grip on her phone. After realizing that they were fighting a losing battle, the dastardly thugs took off down East 95th toward the West Side. The victim refused medical attention and suffered a few bruises, but she got lucky, according to police. Although these crooks quickly took off, New Yorkers should remember that while we may be some tough cookies, losing a life over a cellphone is not worth the cost.

Baggage Claim

The MTA tells you to keep your belongings in sight at all times, and this rule applies for being on the street as well. At about noon of Saturday the 28th, a woman found an ideal parking spot on East 82nd Street, but needed a way to ensure that the spot remained open to her vehicle; ergo she utilized a piece of luggage as a means to tell other motorists that this spot was off-limits. One crooked driver was not in need of her spot, but realized the potential to profit from her blunder. When the woman returned to park her car, she saw a black sedan pulling away with her luggage in the backseat of the car. The woman lost several shirts, a $400 silk dress and a box of Quaker oatmeal.