INSIDE JOB
Expensive jewelry worth more than $50,000 disappeared from the offices of a media company in the Financial District, cops say.
A worker at the XO Group told police that the seven pieces — including earrings, rings and a $25,300 necklace — were stolen from a storage closet at the company’s offices on the 25th floor of 195 Broadway between 3 and 4 p.m. on Friday Apr. 8.
The thief apparently opened the closet with a key and cut open the parcel that contained the valuable merchandise, according to a report.
Police said that up to eight employees would have had access to the package.
TAKING TOOLS
Burglars hit two Lower Manhattan construction sites last week, stealing more than $5,000 worth of tools in one case, police say.
On Saturday Apr. 9, someone broke a locked gate to get into the building site at 52 Wooster St. at 4 p.m., leaving with a hefty tool set, including three Bosch demolition hammers worth $2,100, a water valve worth $1,200 and a $965 saw, according to police.
Six days later, on Friday Apr. 15, a witness told police that he saw someone stealing tools from the construction site at 66 White St. at 4:30 p.m.
The civic-minded observer said he chased the perp up White St. and onto Broadway, but to no avail. Still, a police report noted that his intervention seemed to have saved the construction company some money: the thief left all of his loot behind when he fled the building through a window.
NOT FOR SALE
A Duane Reade customer in Tribeca left the store with an unusual item last week when he grabbed the car keys of an employee and took his SUV for a joy ride around the neighborhood, according to police.
The key-snatcher saw his chance when the worker put his jacket on the pharmacy counter of the Greenwich St. store at 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday Apr. 12, cops say.
The perp grabbed the keys out of the jacket and fled. So, when the victim went to get his car around 15 minutes later, he ended up searching in vain for his white Chevrolet Suburban, according to police.
A police report noted that a license plate reader caught the car near Broadway and Exchange Pl. while the employee was still at work.
RAVENOUS RAIDER
A hungry burglar used a stolen credit card to treat himself to dinner at a burger joint last week, police say.
The thief cleaned out a locker at the New York Health & Racquet Club at the corner of Pearl and Whitehall Sts., between 8 and 9 p.m. on Tuesday Apr. 12, while his unsuspecting victim — who left his stuff unlocked — was working out at the gym, according to a report.
The stolen loot included a $500 laptop and a $100 wallet with two credit cards, one of which was used a short while later at the Smashburger eatery on William St., police say.
DRIVE-BY BEATING
Two men from Staten Island were arrested for allegedly beating and robbing a Brooklyn man in the Financial District last week, cops say.
Witnesses told police that the men, aged 33 and 37, assaulted the victim as he was sitting on the passenger side of a truck at the corner of Whitehall and South Sts. at 3 p.m. on Tuesday Apr. 12, according to a report.
The two allegedly managed to steal two cellphones from the victim before fleeing, but were caught and arrested later that same day, according to police.
BANK JOB
The risk doesn’t always match the reward.
A man robbed a Tribeca bank branch in broad daylight last Friday Apr. 8, threatening a cashier and ditching a dye pack as he made off with a measly $530, cops say.
Around 1:50 p.m. that day, the 50–60-year-old strode into the Santander branch in Hudson St. and walked up to a teller, police say.
The robber, sporting a grey goatee, sunglasses and a white sweatshirt and sweatpants, then placed a black plastic bag on the teller ledge and told the woman behind the glass, “This is a bank robbery. Do what I’m telling you to do, or I will hurt you. I only want 50s and 100s,” according to police.
He fled the bank northbound on Hudson St. with the cash, and police later found a dye pack discarded in front of 112 Hudson St., according to a report.
— Yannic Rack
