Girls raid boutique
Police arrested a group of teenage girls on Thurs., June 17 in connection with two shoplifting sprees in Midtown and Nolita.
The suspects, Starasia Adams, her sister Janasia Adams, both 16, and Deja Smallwood, 17, all of Brooklyn, along with four accomplices crowded into the Tory Burch boutique at 257 Elizabeth St. in Nolita around 5:30 p.m., distracted the employees and made off with more than $1,000 worth of wallets, belts and small bags, according to charges filed by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office. Police said they recovered stolen items from Starasia Adams and Smallwood. Also arrested were Edina Padilla, Taquasha John, Lynelia Austin and Kenisha Cole.
Two hours earlier, Smallwood, Starasia Adams and Lillett Picken, 17, entered the Yves St. Laurent shop at 3 E. 57th St. along with the other suspects, distracted employees and stole more than $1,000 worth of belts and sunglasses, according to a related but separate complaint. The earlier theft was discovered after police found Yves St. Laurent merchandise on Smallwood and Starasia Adams when they were arrested for the Elizabeth St. larceny.
Teen bites officer
An off-duty court officer told police that she tried to help a Queens woman who had passed out on the southeast corner of Broadway and Canal St. around 4:47 p.m. on Thurs., June 17, when a 14-year-old girl grabbed her right arm and bit her on the leg. The court officer was in civilian clothes but was wearing her shield around her neck at the time of the incident, police said. The girl was charged with felony assault as a juvenile offender.
Mugged on L.E.S.
Three suspects punched and kicked a visitor from Boston in the lobby of a commercial building on E. Broadway and Pike St. at 10:45 p.m. Mon., June 14, police said. After the unprovoked assault, the trio ran out the front door.
Gone from stroller
A mother who parked her daughter’s stroller by a bench in Vesuvio Park at the corner of Spring and Thompson Sts, at 11:30 a.m. Thurs., June 17 while she pushed her child on a swing returned a half hour later to find her bag, which she had left in the stroller, was stolen. She lost an iPad, a cell phone, personal ID, credit cards and $900 in cash, police said.
Gone from Pier 40
A Brooklyn man, 23, left his bag at the side of the soccer field on Pier 40 at Houston St. at 9:40 p.m. Wed. June 16 while he played a game and returned at 11 p.m. to find that the bag had been stolen. He lost two cell phones, a digital camera, ID and $200 in cash, police said.
Bag picked
A woman, 25, visiting from Korea, felt her bag being jostled at 6:30 p.m. Sun., June 20 while she was on the southwest corner of W. Houston St. and Broadway, police said. The woman checked the bag and found her wallet was gone, police said. A half-hour later, two unauthorized charges totaling $1,694 were made on her credit card at the J. Crew shop in Soho, police said.
Car door unlocked
A New Jersey man, 41, parked his car at the northeast corner of Varick and Canal Streets, at 5:30 p.m. Thurs., June 17 and went to a deli two blocks away. He returned 45 minutes later to find that his wallet, which he had left on the front passenger seat of the unlocked car, had been stolen, police said. He lost his ID and $120 in cash.
Shoplift duo
Police arrested two women on Sat., June 12 in connection to two shoplifting incidents in Soho and a bag snatching from a patron of a Village restaurant one month earlier.
Robin Seabrook, 47, and Tanya Odom, 49, were charged with the 5:30 p.m. theft of more than $1,000 worth sunglasses from the Solstice Sunglasses boutique at 107 Spring St. at Mercer St.
Earlier that day, the two suspects stole four dresses from a gallery at 112 Greene St., according to the charges filed by Manhattan District Attorney’s office. The earlier theft was discovered when the dresses were found on Odom and Seabrook after their arrest in the Spring St. incident.
On May 13, Seabrook and Odom teamed up to steal a bag from a patron at Otto, the Mario Batali restaurant at One Fifth Ave., according to the charges. The defendants were recorded on a May 13 surveillance tape showing Odom kicking a bag on the floor of the restaurant over to Seabrook who picked it up, the charges say.
Subway robbery attempt
Todd Holley, 32, was arrested on June 8 in connection with the May 30 assault and attempted robbery of a woman in the subway station on Prince St. and Broadway. Police said a witness saw Holley pulling a bag away from the woman around 8 p.m. and intervened, pulling the bag away from the suspect. Holley then punched the woman in the face, the complaint says. Holley was being held pending a July 6 court appearance on charges of assault and attempted robbery.
Snatched in subway
A Bronx woman, 66, was about to insert a $20 bill into a MetroCard machine in the subway station at Broadway and Park Pl. around 4 p.m. Mon., June 21 when a thief snatched the money from her hand and fled from the station, police said.
Car break-in
A Staten Island man, 49, parked his car on Church St. at Park Pl. at 3:30 p.m. Thurs., June 17 and returned two hours later to find the driver’s side window broken and his laptop computer and Global Positioning System stolen, police said.
Stolen at club
A woman, 24, visiting from Japan, left her bag on a shelf behind her seat at The Greenhouse, 150 Varick St., around 2:30 a.m. Fri., June 18 and checked it 10 minutes later to find her wallet had been stolen from it, police said. She lost her Japanese passport, credit cards and $150 in cash.
— Albert Amateau
