Benz ‘zipped’ away
A clever thief used a fake credit card to get a Zip Car ID, and used that to steal a 2015 black Mercedes Benz sedan worth at least $38,400, according to police.
Police say the ID was used at a Manhattan Parking Group garage at 225 Rector Place in Battery Park City on Fri., Dec. 4 at 2 p.m. The police don’t know where the luxury car is now, but the last known location was Amityville in Long Island.
Pain at Au Bon Pain
“Pain” is French for “bread” and a thief definitely got their dough, stealing $4,500 in cash from an Au Bon Pain in the Financial District.
The manager at the 111 Fulton St. location told police that she locked the door at 11 p.m. on Wed., Dec. 2, after the restaurant closed. The owner came in at midnight and had noticed the door open, but didn’t realize a theft had taken place, according to the police report.
The manager noticed the $4,500 was missing when they came in the next morning at 5:45 a.m. to open the restaurant and checked the safe. Police say there was damage to the door or the safe.
‘Lush worker’ busted
Cops say a “lush worker” — a thief who preys on people sleeping or passed out on the train — was having a successful night until police caught him in the act.
On Sat., Dec. 5 at 3:30 a.m., an officer watched as the 26-year-old suspect allegedly reached into the pocket of a sleeping straphanger to grab his $100 Blackberry on the E train at the World Trade Center station in the Financial District. The suspect then stuffed the phone into his right jacket pocket, according to cops, and the officer arrested him on the platform.
Besides the most recent victim’s phone, cops also found three other cellphones as well as multiple IDs and credit cards, according to the police report.
Watch your wallet at the watering hole
Three people had their wallets swiped while they drank in separate incidents last week in Lower Manhattan.
In the first, on Wed., Dec. 2 at 1:45 a.m., an Irish tourist placed his $1,200 jacket — with his wallet in the pocket — on a barstool at Clinton Hall at 90 Washington St. in the Financial District, police say. A thief snatched the jacket and the wallet, which had several credit cards and a 100-euro note, according to police, but the victim was able to cancel his credit cards before the thief could make any unauthorized charges.
The second victim wasn’t as lucky. A woman was having dinner at Lazy Point at 310 Spring St. in Hudson Square on Fri., Dec. 4 at 1 a.m., according to the police report, when a thief went into her purse and grabbed her wallet. She told police her credit cards were used at several places before she could cancel them.
In the third incident, a woman from New Jersey put her wallet on a barstool while she was drinking at Burger & Barrel at 25 Houston St. in Soho on Sat., Dec. 5 at 6:30 p.m., police say. The thief grabbed the wallet and then immediately used the cards at nearby Blue Ribbon Brasserie at 97 Sullivan St.
— Dusica Sue Malesevic
