Police say this tomato-top stole two bags of chips from a Spring St. shop, and is wanted in connection with three subway robberies.
HUNGRY REDHEAD
Police say a hapless, knife-wielding mugger with a distinctive red dye job had a snack attack at a Spring St. store last week.
He was caught on camera at the Spring Iconic Sweet Shop near Sullivan St. at around 7:15 p.m. on Wednesday Feb. 3 when he grabbed two $1.49 bags of Cheetos and tried to flee, according to police.
A shop employee tried the stop the crimson-coiffed culprit, earning himself a painful kick in the leg, which caused him to fall and cut his finger, police said.
Police say the suspect — described as in his 20s, 5-foot-10 and 150 pounds, with distinctive red hair — is wanted for questioning in connection with three subway robberies last week:
A man was slashed with a knife on a northbound C train on Jan. 31 by a redhead who unsuccessfully attempted to take his phone.
On Feb. 2, a man awoke on a northbound 4 train to find a similar-looking perp cutting open his pocket with a razor. When the man tried to restrain the would-be thief, the scarlet scoundrel punched him, but still fled empty handed.
Aside from the double-dose of chips, police believe the ruby rapscallion’s only success came a short time after that Feb. 3 caper, when an individual matching his vermillion description snatched an iPad from a woman on a northbound C train and fled.
HARMONIC DIVERSION
A visitor from New Hampshire might not be inclined to return to New York anytime soon, after his car and more than $11,000 worth of stuff — including 20 harmonicas — were stolen in Soho.
Police say the 51-year-old victim parked his light blue Toyota Prius in front of 35 Wooster St. around 7:15 p.m. on Friday Feb. 5. But when he returned later to get his wallet, the $14,000 sedan was gone.
In addition to the car, the man is missing a $4,000 Apple laptop, $250 portable speakers, a $150 acoustic guitar, 20 harmonicas worth a total of $450, $2,500 in cash and clothes worth $4,000.
DOUBLE CAR THEFT
It was a bad night out in Soho for two Staten Island men who both had their cars looted in the same night last weekend, according to police.
Cops say the first vehicle, a black 2011 Lexus RX, was parked in front of 6 Greene St. from 10:45 p.m. on Saturday Feb. 6 until 3:15 a.m. the next morning.
When the 46-year-old owner returned after a shift of taking pictures at the Haus NYC nightclub nearby, he noticed that the rear passenger-side window was broken, and a leather jacket and photo equipment worth more than $3,700 were missing from the car, according to police.
Less than an hour later, at 4 a.m. on Sunday Feb. 7, a partygoer attending the same nightclub returned to his 2015 Infiniti sedan parked a block away, at 15 Wooster St., only to find one of the windows had been smashed as well, police say.
The 20-year-old victim told police that he was missing almost $3,000 worth of designer attire, including a $700 Michael Kors bag, a $1,500 Luis Vuitton bag, a $300 Michael Kors wallet and a $400 Burberry jacket.
It was not immediately clear whether police believed the two incidents were related.
GUILTY PLEASURE
A Long Island man cleared out a locker at a Downtown gym — and afterwards headed straight to the strip club across the street, according to police.
On the afternoon of Friday Jan. 29, the suspect broke into the locker of a Bronx man working out at the Equinox gym on Murray St., according to a police report.
The man scored a designer outfit worth more than $350, as well as a Metrocard and two credit cards — one of which he unsuccessfully tried to use at the New York Dolls club directly across from the gym, police said.
The creepy crook checked in at the gym’s front desk and was ID’ed from the information he provided, although there has been no arrest yet, police said.
SUBWAY KNOCKOUT
Two men knocked out a teenager on a northbound A train in the early hours of Monday morning, after they stole his wallet and threatened him with a knife, police say.
The 19-year-old victim was on his way to his home in the Bronx just after midnight on Monday Feb. 1, when one of the perps took the teen’s wallet out of his pocket just before the train pulled into the Fulton St. station, according to police.
When he took a step towards the pickpocket and asked, “What are you doing?” the second mugger pulled out a gravity knife and held it to the victim’s neck, according to the report.
The teen told police that the knife-wielding criminal then grabbed his arm and punched him in the head, knocking him out cold.
According to the report, when the train reached 190th St. he woke up — without his wallet, which contained a green card, social security card and $160 in cash.
RANSOM CALL
An executive at the ratings agency Moody’s was conned out of $2,000 by a man in Mexico who threatened to kill his son, according to police.
On the afternoon of Wednesday Jan. 27, the 48-year-old man received an unsettling call at his office on the 28th floor of 7 World Trade Center from a man demanding the victim wire the funds to Mexico City, police said.
“Unless you follow my instructions, I will kill your son,” the caller told the father, according to a police report.
Police said the father withdrew the cash from a nearby cash machine and wired the money to Mexico City via Western Union.
No further information about the incident was available, but police are still investigating the call.
TASTEFUL THIEF
A well-dressed robber is on the loose in Lower Manhattan after he stole a custom-made suit from the backseat of a rental car, police say.
The car, rented by a man from the Lower East Side, was parked at the northwest corner of Greene and Broome Sts. on Saturday Jan. 30, according to police.
When the driver returned to the vehicle from a shopping trip that evening, he noticed the backseat window was smashed and the $2,400 suit, from bespoke tailor H. Freeman & Sons, was missing, according to a report.
