The great pill heist
Two pill-popping thieves stole more than $1,500 in over-the-counter drugs from a pharmacy next to City Hall on Jan. 8, police said.
An employee of Duane Reade, at 250 Broadway, told cops that the suspects walked in around 8:30 p.m. and headed straight to one of the aisles near the pharmacy counter. They reportedly placed a large plastic bag on the floor and proceeded to load it up with the drugs — 29 bottles of Advil, 21 of Zantac, seven of Prevacid, three of Zegrid and two of Zyquil — before dashing out of the store and fleeing the scene.
The suspects are still at large, and both are described as black males, one at around five-foot-eight and 160 pounds, and the other at around six-foot and 195 pounds, police said.
Bike locks busted
Two unfortunate bicyclists fell victim to a lock-breaking thief who stole their rides on Jan. 12, police said.
A 26-year-old man and 40-year-old woman told cops that they rode over to a gym at 121 Fulton St. around 4 p.m., and locked their bikes up together across the street, chaining them to an overhead scaffold. But when they came back outside around two hours later, the bikes, collectively valued at nearly $4,000, had vanished, along with the lock and chain.
Police canvassed the area in an attempt to find the missing bikes, but their search came up empty.
Subway snatches
Two Downtown subway riders were recently targeted by slick wallet thieves along the No. 2 train line, police said.
One woman, 41, told cops she was coming in from Brooklyn on Jan. 9, around 12:30 p.m., and originally went downstairs to the Court St. R train station before remembering that train is currently not running across the East River. She then exited and instead took the No. 2 from Clark St., but almost immediately after the doors closed at the train pulled away, she realized that her wallet was gone. The woman reported the incident to police after resurfacing in Manhattan and coming out of the Wall St. station.
Then on Jan. 12, another woman, 33, said she was boarding an uptown No. 2 train at Fulton St. when she felt her bag being jostled by an unknown man, who apparently came away with her wallet. Once she realized that the property was gone, she tried confronting the thief as he got onto the train, but he simply ignored her, switched to another car and disappeared, police said.
Bus sleeper
In other mass transit news, another woman was victimized by an opportunistic criminal after she fell asleep on a city bus on Jan. 6, police said.
The woman, 35, told cops she got on a southbound X-28 bus at W. 42nd St. and Broadway around 5:30 p.m., after which she began dozing, eventually waking up around 20 minutes later at the Chambers St. and Broadway stop. Once she came to her senses, she noticed that her $900 Hermes handbag — along with the scarf and cosmetics it contained — was gone. There were no witnesses, police said.
A Lot Less cash
A woman had her pocket picked inside a discount store in the Financial District on Jan. 9, police said.
The victim, 59, said she was shopping in Lot Less at 95 Fulton St. around 1 p.m. when she was bumped into by an unknown woman. Later, when she was about to pull out her credit card to purchase something, the unfortunate shopper realized that her wallet with about $60 was gone — presumably into the hands of the aforementioned bumper.
Fortunately, though, the woman was able to cancel all of her cards before any unauthorized purchases were made.
Nightclub theft
And yet another woeful woman had an unhappy end to her day after leaving her purse unattended in a Soho nightclub early on Jan. 11.
The woman, 30, told cops she was inside S.O.B.’s, at 204 Varick St., around 12:30 a.m. when she decided to hit the dance floor. But she left her bag sitting on a chair for that 20 minutes of action — and when she came back, it had disappeared. There were no witnesses, police said.
— SAM SPOKONY
