Robber sticks around
An attempted robbery was thwarted when the victim ran and returned with a police officer.
On Sun., Jan. 13, just after 3 a.m., a Staten Island resident exited the Whitehall subway station en route to the ferry terminal when he was stopped by a robber wielding a stick who demanded the man’s camera. The man, 40, ran away and notified a nearby police officer who returned to the scene to find the would-be robber waving the stick and banging it against a pole, causing a public disturbance. The man was subsequently arrested.
Frames filched
An employee at Cohen’s Fashion Optical said a quick robber ran off with expensive eyeglasses.
The employee, 47, told police that the thief entered the 33 Maiden Lane location at noon Mon., Jan. 7 and pretended to shop for glasses. The employee showed him various frames, but when she turned her back on him, he grabbed five pairs of frames and fled from the store, police said. The total value of merchandise taken was $4,480. No video surveillance was available.
Bike theft
A two-month-old bicycle theft was reported last week, when a Downtown employee told police that her bike had been stolen from outside her place of business in late November.
The woman, 41, reported that she had locked her bicycle into the bike rack at 9 a.m. in front of 165 Broadway and entered her building, One Liberty Plaza for work. When she came out, her bike, an Xtracycle valued at $1,700, was gone. There was no word on why she did not report the theft until Tues., Jan. 8.
Locker larceny continues
Another case of grand larceny was reported in the locker room of the New York Sports Club at 217 Broadway near City Hall.
The victim, a 42-year-old man, said he entered the gym on Wed., Jan. 9 and locked his belongings in a locker at about 6:30 p.m. When he returned about an hour later, the lock was gone — along with $1,650 in cash that he had left there. No arrests had been made and while there was a camera outside the locker room, police had not yet located the perpetrator.
Taxicab grab
A cab driver was only popping out to get dinner, but his quick trip cost him more than a fare or two.
The driver stated that on Thurs., Jan. 10 at 11:30 p.m., he pulled his yellow cab over at 7 Avenue of the Americas to grab a bite to eat from the deli there. He unknowingly left the right passenger-side window open. Upon returning to his car and unlocking the door, he discovered that his wallet, which had been sitting in plain view between the two front seats, had been taken. His hack license was also gone from its slot in the rear partition of the cab.
The wallet contained $1,000 in cash.
Transit crimes
One thief managed to lift an iPhone from an unsuspecting commuter while she was buying her MetroCard, but another thief was caught in the act of pickpocketing a sleeping passenger two days later.
In the first instance, the 39-year-old woman told police that she was trying to purchase a MetroCard from a machine at the Wall Street station near Broadway at about 7 p.m. on Fri., Jan 11. She had her bag open and a man approached from behind and removed her iPhone from her bag and fled up the stairs into the street. The thief managed to get away without being seen and the woman could not use tracking software to locate the $200 device.
On Sun., Jan 13, at about 2:40 p.m. a police officer observed a 46-year-old man reach into the front pants pocket of a passenger who fell asleep on the train. The Queens resident had fallen asleep on the train. At the Chambers St.-World Trade Center stop, the thief, 46, had pulled the victim’s phone out of his pocket and put it into his own jacket pocket. Luckily, the officer saw the incident happen and arrested the man — and returned the victim’s $400 iPhone 4.
– Kaitlyn Meade
