Pot farm on Eldridge
Police from the Fifth Precinct raided 39 Eldridge St. on Thurs. Sept 18 and made one arrest in connection with a $1 million marijuana farm on the second floor of a five-story building with a preschool on the ground floor.
Alerted by complaints of neighbors, police found two rooms on the second floor, one whose door was hidden by a bookcase that opened electronically, with more than 400 hydroponic marijuana plants growing in an irrigation system under electric lights.
The preschool on the first floor had complained that a leak from the second floor in August damaged a classroom ceiling. Garment shops also occupy the building, which is next door to I.S. 131.
Fernando Pena, 34, was arrested for possession of a controlled substance as he was leaving the location and police were searching for other suspects.
Computer theft
A burglar made off with a computer valued at $3,950 from the management office of an apartment building at 90 Washington St. near Rector St., police said.
Crocodile tears
A shoplifter at the Prado Boutique in Soho at 575 Broadway grabbed a crocodile bag and a wool bag at about 4 p.m. Sat. Sept. 20 and fled, police said. The crocodile bag was valued at $5,700 and the wool bag was valued at $1,900. The thief, described only a white or Hispanic man, was last seen fleeing south on Broadway.
Worth St. burglars
Burglars pried open the front door of Tony’s Restaurant at 83 Worth St. during the early hours of Sat. Sept 20, but apparently left without taking anything, police said. A watchman checking a work site at 75 Worth St. at 1:50 a.m. Fri. Sept. 19 found two men inside with work tools, according to police. The thieves fled east on Worth St. and dropped the tools near Broadway before disappearing, police said. Nothing else from the site was missing.
Motorcycle gone
A man parked his motorcycle on North End Ave. at Murray St. in Battery Park City at 7 p.m. on Thurs. Sept. 18 and returned at 2 p.m. the following day to find it was stolen, police said.
Smell is gone
The sales staff at Victoria’s Secret at the South St. Seaport discovered at 10 a.m. on Thurs. Sept. 11 that a thief had made off with bottles of perfume with a total value of $1,500, police said.
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