LULU LOOTER
“Om” turned into “oh, no” after five women got their stuff ripped off while they were taking a yoga class in Soho.
On Sun., Dec. 13 the five women — whose ages range from 28 to 51 — stowed their belongings in the locker room at YogaWorks at 459 Broadway at 4:15 p.m., police say. All told police their lockers were locked. When they came back after class, more than $3,300 in expensive wallets and cellphones were gone, according to the report.
TOTE CHECK
A man had a very unmerry Christmas party when a thief stole not only his $3,500 MacBook laptop but a $500 USB drive with his wedding pictures on it, police say.
The 39-year-old man attended his company’s Christmas party at the Trading Post at 170 John St. in the Financial District on Thurs., Dec. 10 at 6:45 p.m., police say. He checked his bag, which also had a $200 Amazon Kindle and a $600 Amazon Fire, at the coat check.
A little more than an hour later, another man went to the coat check and said he was just grabbing his jacket. Police say the suspect then swiped the man’s bag and left.
HEAVY CHEWER
Police say a man threatened a Rite Aid employee with box cutter so that he and his confederate could get away with 95 packs of gum worth $397.21.
A man and woman went into the Rite Aid at Brookfield Place in Battery Park City, on Sun., Dec. 13 at 1:47 p.m. and the woman started shoveling the packs of gum into the man’s backpack, according to the report.
An employee witnessed the theft and tried to catch the male suspect’s eye as he made his way to leave. According to the police report, the thief then brandished the box cutter and said, “Do you want to get stabbed?” The male suspect fled with the female accomplice behind him. The employee told police she said, “What is all this about?” as she left.
TOO EASY
They say fortune favors the bold. A shoplifter walked into a Soho shop, put on a $2,580 jacket, and walked out, police say.
The theft happened at the Moncler shop at 90 Prince St. on Sat., Dec. 12 at 4:42 p.m., according to the report. Shoplifters hit the same Moncler store the next day at 5:50 p.m. An employee told police that a different thief came into the store, took a $1,820 jacket and then left. He came back again later, took another $2,375 jacket and left.
POST-OWNED
Two shoplifters employed the “distract the employee” technique to nab an $8,995 crocodile Gucci jacket from a Soho store, police say.
Two men came into Authentic PreOwned, a high-end vintage shop at 461 W. Broadway, at 6 p.m. on Sun., Dec. 6. One distracted the employee while the other removed the pricey jacket from the store’s mannequin and left, police say.
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, Long Island.
PAIN AT AU BON PAIN
“Pain” is French for “bread” and a thief definitely got some 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 no 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 on the suspect as well as multiple IDs and credit cards, according to the police report.
— Dusica Sue Malesevic
