Second choice
A robbery victim wouldn’t give up her ring, so the thief settled for some cash.
On Tuesday Jan. 12, a man — described as 5-foot-6 — went into Ayouwan Grocery on Church St. in Tribeca at 10:55 p.m brandishing a knife, according to the report. He first demanded a gold ring from a 53-year-old woman. When she refused, he said, “Give me money.” Police say a male employee, 61, then opened the cash register and handed the suspect $750.
Smartphone snatch
Smartphone envy can be motivating: two men ripped off three of them — worth over $2,000 — from an AT&T store, police say.
An employee told police it took the two thieves one minute to come into the store at 217 Broadway on Saturday Jan. 16 at 4:18 p.m., pull the three cells from their security wire and jet. Police say they snatched a $650 iPhone 6S, a $750 iPhone 6S Plus and a $714 Samsung SG Edge.
Bike bandit busted
It’s a story that starts out sad, but ends happily.
On Monday, Jan. 18 at 8:20 p.m., an employee for Fiat Café made a delivery at 50 Greene St. in Soho, police say. When he returned to where he parked his bike, he was just in time to see someone stealing it and riding away.
The police report did not say how the alleged thief was eventually caught, but a 44-year-old was arrested, and the $1,500 black electric delivery bicycle was recovered.
Snags at Starbucks
Last week, two women fell prey to thieves at two different Starbucks locations in Lower Manhattan, police say.
In the first theft, a 43-year-old woman told police that she left her purse open on a stool next to her on Tuesday, Jan. 12 at 2 p.m. at a Civic Center Starbucks at 233 Broadway. When she got ready to leave, she reached into her purse for her MetroCard and realized that her wallet was gone. The thief used her various credit cards to buy five monthly MetroCards for a total of $587.50 in unauthorized purchases.
Two days later on Thursday Jan. 14 at 6:10 p.m., a woman, 28, told police that she took her eyes off her purse for a moment when she was at a Starbucks at 125 Chambers St. in Tribeca. When she returned to her bag, a thief had snatched her $50 wallet that had her school ID, MetroCard, credit cards, and $50 worth of Indonesian currency.
— Dusica Sue Malesevic
