FAMILY JEWELS TAKEN
A West 83rd Street woman returned to her apartment on Tuesday, Jan. 15, to find her jewelry rifled through and her most valuable items stolen. The thief only took diamonds, gold and some heirloom pieces, leaving all her costume jewelry behind, she reported. Her son slept through the whole incident. They live in a doorman building, and the robbery victim said she has always considered it so safe that she had neglected to lock her door. Not anymore. Later, some neighbors told her that they had seen a suspicious man walking in the halls, and that he had rung some doorbells, only to say he had the wrong apartment when someone answered. They reported the man to the doorman. All in all, the woman says she lost about $4,000 worth of jewelry.

CREDIT CARD CROOK ARRESTED
Last Saturday, officers observed a 31-year-old man purchasing home goods at a furniture store using forged credit cards. Upon being confronted, the perp resisted arrest and tried to throw away the evidence in an attempt to feign innocence. He was arrested nonetheless and charged with grand larceny. His victims live outside New York City, and have been informed of the credit card thefts.

OVER 20 GRAND STOLEN FROM BANK ACCOUNT
An 83-year-old man reported over $22,000 stolen from his bank account recently. The man was in his apartment at West 64th Street when he received a call from his bank citing the suspicious activity. The perpetrator used fake checks, and the victim’s money has not been recovered. The withdrawal could have occurred anytime between Dec. 1 and Jan. 2. No arrests have been made yet.

TAKING THE IVORIES
A Yamaha piano was stolen out of a 28-year-old musician’s apartment on Riverside Drive. The victim traveled to Korea on Jan. 5 and returned on Jan. 10 to find his piano missing. The perpetrator, when found, will be charged with grand larceny.

GUARD ATTACKED AT BRANDEIS
On a recent Wednesday morning, a 19-year-old man attempted to walk through the metal detectors at Brandeis School on West 84th Street. When the security officer told him to wait, the defendant became loud and threatening. The perp then attempted to walk through again, and struck the security officer, a 37-year-old male, in the chest and face. The man was arrested for attempted assault, and his victim was taken to the hospital for precautionary measures.

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.

Oh, the iRony
An Irish tourist was visiting the Upper West Side Apple store, perusing the laptops, when she became a victim of theft. An unknown man snatched the woman’s white iPhone 4, worth $500, from her unzipped purse. She told police that she couldn’t cancel her cell service until she returned home to Ireland.

Apartment Assault
A man entered his apartment on West 62nd Street to drop off groceries last Tuesday night to be greeted at the elevator doors by a man known only as “Calvin,” his ex-wife’s new boyfriend. The two got into a verbal altercation and Calvin whipped out a knife and stabbed the man in the left side of the chest. Calvin got away but is wanted for felonious assault, and the victim was taken to Cornell Medical Center for treatment.

Loose Laptop
Last week, a man reported that $300 cash and a $1,200 MacBook were stolen from his West 72nd Street apartment. He told police that the apartment was locked and there were no signs of forced entry, but that someone could have gained entry through his unlocked window.

Missing Rings
An 81-year-old woman reported to police that several rings and a green stone had gone missing from her dresser drawer. She said that she had last seen the items, which she valued at $3,850, about eight weeks ago, and that the only person who might have had access to them was her home health aide, who has been working for her for seven months.
Successful Stick-Up
Last Friday morning, a man walked into a Sovereign Bank branch on Broadway, sauntered up to a teller and slipped a note requesting $10,000 in cash. The perp indicated that the teller should be quick about it and not include any dye packs in the loot. He was able to grab $2,000 in cash and flee on foot down Broadway. Police conducted a search and canvas but didn’t find the suspect, who is described as a 6-foot-1 black male in a blue baseball cap.

Suspicious Entry
A legal assistant working at a commercial building on West 77th Street reported a suspicious break-in at her office. Last Wednesday, she left the building at 12:30 p.m., locking the door behind her, and returned around 7 p.m. to find UPS packages sitting behind the locked front door, to which no one else was supposed to have access. She also noticed strange markings around the lock on the door; upon searching inside, she discovered a set of keys on a fifth-floor table. The woman told police that she suspects that the phantom burglar stole documents from a biomedical research office on the second floor of the building in connection with legal action between that company and a pharmaceutical company.

Polite Thief
A woman dining at a Chinese restaurant on Amsterdam Avenue last Saturday was about to leave, forgetting her purse, when a nice young man stopped her outside the door and returned it to her. The woman quickly checked her belongings and ascertained that $75 cash and her debit card were missing. The man denied taking anything from the bag, then promptly hopped on a bicycle and sped off. Another man who worked at the restaurant told the woman that he had seen the first man lift items out of the bag inside.

Illustration by Evan Soares

Gadget Bonanza

A Chambers Street electronics store was broken into on a recent Sunday morning by a group of enterprising thieves. According to police, the perps, who remain at large, successfully and carefully removed the glass from the front door of the shop and proceeded to steal around $25,000 worth of electronics. Their loot included four iPhones, two iPads, 20 Blackberry phones and 29 Samsung phones. They would have nabbed more as they attempted to break open the register, but unfortunately for them they couldn’t pry it open.

The Unlucky Tourist

A French man on vacation was going down the stairs to the subway at Broadway and Park Place when he felt someone approach him from behind. While the man was holding his son, say police, a thief snagged the tourist’s bag, which was on his shoulder. Stolen items included a $50 Nokia cell phone, a $600 Canon camera, a $700 Apple iPad and $350 in cash.

If the Shoe Fits

Last week, a shoe store on Fulton Street was the victim of a giant theft. An employee reported to police that a “customer” had asked to use the bathroom Friday morning, but on the way to the loo, he gained entry to the storage room. The thief piled 20 pairs of shoes, worth roughly $360, as well as 6 cans of shoe polish into a black plastic bag and took off. Fortunately for the store, the man, 52, was arrested by police.

A Gang of Three

Usually, or at least we have always assumed, people are mugged under the cover of night. But a report of a daytime theft recently came out of a Downtown precinct. A 53-year-old man was walking out of the train station at Varick and Canal one recent afternoon when three unknown men, each around 6 feet tall, hovered over him and reportedly said “give me your money.” The unlucky guy had only $5 on him and was subsequently punched and kicked to the ground by the group, though they did take his Lincoln bill.

Streetway Robbery

At 4 a.m. on a recent Saturday, a 38-year-old man was sitting in his car, which was parked at Park Place and Church Street, when he was robbed at gunpoint by an unknown male suspect. According to police reports, a man approached the car and proceeded to show the handgun he was carrying. He demanded the guy in the car give him his wallet and other valuables. The victim reported to police that throughout the whole ordeal the man with the gun had a cigarette in his mouth. He eventually made off with a $5,000 gold necklace, $380 in cash and the victim’s $100 cell phone.

One-Hit Wonder

A Soho clothing store recently reported a one-off theft to police. According to reports, a man was seen walking around the store during the day and an employee saw him touching a $1,100 leather roadster jacket. While unobserved, the man ran off with the jacket.