Checked Out
A man reported to police that he had been ripped off five times over the course of several months, a fact he only recently discovered. The victim found out from his bank that an unknown person had written five unauthorized checks from his account and cashed them, to the tune of $32,221.77. The man said that three of the checks were real and had been stolen from him and two others were forged based on his real checks.

Ex-Employee Ambush
A 24-year-old man, a former employee of a diner on Columbus Avenue, staked out his old workplace last Friday. He knew that another employee would be in the lobby of the building with cash around 5 p.m., and he waited until that time, then knocked the employee to the floor, stealing four envelopes with $2,400 cash in them as well as blank business checks. The man was arrested attempting to flee on the subway.

Music School Mayhem
A teacher at a local music academy returned to her office from a weekend away to find the place in disarray. Drawers and cabinets were left open, books were moved or missing, and all the computers were unplugged. Whoever scrambled the office made off with a USB drive and about $500 in cash. The victim found that a side door that leads to a room with unlocked windows next to scaffolding had been tampered with. It was an unfortunate case of déjà vue for the victim, as her very same office had been burglarized three years before.

A Hefty Bonus
A disgruntled ex-employee of a local building management company took his revenge on his former employer in the form of stolen cash. The victim reported to police that he had recently fired the suspect after he repeatedly demanded a cash bonus from his boss. When he was let go, the suspect said, “I will find a way to take the money.” It turns out that he did. He had been previously given access to the company’s business checking accounts in order to help pay bills. After he was fired, he went to the bank and withdrew $200,000 from the accounts, which the bank verified, before his access could be changed.

Basement Burglary
A 19-year-old woman came to a party in a friend’s basement on West 77th Street late Saturday night. She brought her Dooney & Bourke bag and placed it on the floor in a corner, with a t-shirt and jeans draped over it. After a few hours of basement-party fun, she noticed the bag was missing. The partygoers searched for it, but only found her clothes deposited in another spot. The pricey designer bag also contained some makeup, ID, cigarettes—and $7,000 in cash.

iPad Snatch
A 33-year-old man told police that he was walking on the grounds of the Amsterdam Houses on Saturday morning when two men in their early twenties, one wielding a black handgun, approached him. The perp carrying the gun told the man, “Don’t say anything. Give me the iPad.” The man handed over his iPad, worth $799, and the two robbers darted into 217 W. 63rd St. in the housing complex.

Designer Thief
Two men entered the Sunglass Hut at Broadway and 79th Street Friday afternoon seeking designer shades. One of the employees in the store at the time, a 29-year-old woman, recognized the men from a previous crime. As the men approached, the employee and a co-worker told them to get out. But that didn’t dissuade them—the men began to grab multiple pairs of sunglasses from a rack near the door, snatching $1,520 worth of shades, all of them by Gucci and Prada. When the co-worker tried to take the glasses away from the culprits, one of the men pushed her away. The two men fled on foot out the door.

Forged Checks
Someone cloned a 68-year-old man’s checks from his checking account and used his personal information to transfer funds from one account to another, the man told police on Friday at 11 a.m. The forged checks totaled $26,000, and the man doesn’t know the people who deposited them.

Street Attack
A 45-year-old woman told police that a heavyset woman wearing a black do-rag hit her with an unknown object just after 4:30 a.m. on June 20, causing a small cut to her neck. The woman was removed to Roosevelt Hospital for treatment. Police said the woman was uncooperative and hostile, telling inconsistent stories.

Mystery Mace
As a 63-year-old Asian man walked on West 74th Street between Columbus and Amsterdam avenues on Friday evening, a 39-year-old man sprayed him with an unknown substance in a pink bottle, causing pain and swelling to his eye and the left side of his face. The older man was taken to Roosevelt Hospital and the perp was arrested that same day.

iPhone Grab
A 14-year-old boy was walking southbound on the east side of West End Avenue between West 77th and 78th streets on the evening of June 20 when two unknown men approached him. The taller of the men asked the boy, “Can I see your phone?” The men surrounded the boy, who told police that he was fearful for his safety. The boy handed his iPhone to one of the men and continued walking southbound without looking back. He didn’t notice in which direction the robbers fled.

Picture of a Crime
When a Japanese tourist paused to take photos on the southeast corner of Central Park West and West 66th Street on the evening of June 17, he didn’t realize that placing his black Tumi bag on the ground next to him would cause a problem. As he snapped a shot, someone picked up his bag, containing a $325 Gucci Wallet, $800 in cash, Japanese currency and a Japanese passport, and immediately fled.