FASHION FIENDS HIT TRIBECA — TWICE
A gang of six robbers apparently hit two different clothing stores in Tribeca in two consecutive days, bagging more than $18,000 worth of apparel in broad daylight, police say.
On Friday Mar. 18, a group of six men walked into Patron of the New, a men’s and women’s boutique on Franklin St., around 12:15 p.m. and grabbed armfuls of clothes off the hangers, according to a police report.
Before leaving with the loot, which included at least 28 pairs of jeans and several shirts and sweatshirts worth a whopping $14,570, one of the perps reportedly couldn’t suppress a snide comment, telling a cashier “You don’t think we going to pay?” before confirming the worker’s apt suspicion, according to a report.
The same man also mysteriously left behind his own green cowboy hat before making a getaway, police say.
In a separate incident around 3:15 p.m. the next day, another gang of six walked into the American Apparel store on West Broadway near Thomas St., and cleared out several racks before bolting, according to a report.
This time the stolen clothing, worth a total of $3,673, included everything from bodysuits to slit skirts, police say.
The police reports did not specify whether any employees attempted to stop the thieves, and police are not treating the two similar incidents as related.
DRUNK riding
A straphanger woke up with more to regret than just a hangover after falling asleep on the subway last weekend, police say.
The inebriated Lower East Sider boarded a Brooklyn-bound 1 train at 181st St. in Upper Manhattan in the wee hours of Saturday Mar. 19, only to find that his pockets had been emptied by the time he woke up at the Chambers St. stop around 4:10 a.m., according to a report.
In addition to his $50 wallet, the subway sleeper is also missing a $749 iPhone 6S Plus and $40, according to police.
CAFÉ VISIT: $5,000
As if Starbucks wasn’t expensive enough already, a visitor from California left one of the chain’s cafés in the Financial District missing $5,000 after both her bags were stolen from behind her chair, police say.
The theft at the 195 Broadway location, which occurred around 2:15 p.m. on Monday Mar. 14, cost the 64-year-old L.A. woman two Louis Vuitton purses worth $1,500 and two designer glasses totaling $1,600, as well as an $800 Louis Vuitton wallet, an $800 iPhone 6 Plus and $200 in cash, according to police.
SEAFOOD SWipe
A burglar hauled in a boatload of clams when he cleaned out three safes at a seafood restaurant in the Financial District last week.
The fishy fiend stole $8,000 in cash from Luke’s Lobster on South William St. sometime after 9:40 p.m. on Wednesday, Mar. 9, in what may have been an inside job, according to police.
An employee told officers that the store was safeguarded by two roll-down gates secured by two locks, and a deadbolt on the back door, as well as locks and passcodes on the restaurant’s two cash-register safes and drop safe.
The worker suspected that the heist might have been engineered by a disgruntled former colleague who was fired three weeks prior, but did not turn in his key to the drop safe located in the basement, and also knew the combination for the cash registers, according to a report.
But police say there were no signs of a forced entry, even though the ex-employee does not have keys to the outside padlocks, which were changed after he left.
gunpoint grab
A Soho magazine store was robbed at gunpoint in broad daylight last week, with the thief shouting “Give it up, motherf—–!” at an employee before making off with $300 in cash, police say.
The brazen bandit, who wore a black baseball cap, jeans, and sneakers, walked into the Magazine Bazaar at 80 Varick St. around 12:25 p.m. on Wednesday, Mar. 9, and held a gun to the head of a 33-year-old worker there, according to police.
After grabbing the cash, he ran out of the store and fled south on Varick St., according to a report.
Motocrossed
A man had his sports motorbike stolen while at work in Battery Park City, police say.
The 2008 red Ducati 848 was parked in front of 325 North End Ave. from 9 a.m. on Friday, Mar. 11, but was gone by 9 p.m., when its owner came out of work and wanted to drive home, according to a report.
— Yannic Rack
TRUCK CRATE CLEANED OUT
Four bags of money went missing from a delivery truck near City Hall, police say.
An employee of Canteen Vending Services, a New Jersey-based vending machine supplier, told police that he parked his truck at the corner of Barclay St. and Broadway around 2 p.m. on Friday Mar. 11 to make a collection.
While he was loading the truck, a passer-by reached in and snatched one of the crates inside, which held four bags containing cash totaling $1,050, as well as a Motorola handheld device worth $1,200, according to police.
— Yannic Rack
