‘White Powder’ mail
Envelopes of apparently harmless white powder with threatening notes arrived in the mail on Mon. April 30 at seven Manhattan locations including 100 Gold St. where Mayor Bloomberg’s mail is processed before it gets to City Hall, police said. Some of the notes to various banks read, “This is a reminder that you are not in control. Just in case you needed some incentive to stop working — Happy May Day.” Police conjectured that the envelopes were part of the Occupy Wall St. May Day demonstration. But an OWS press team member said he didn’t think anything like that had been planned for the demonstration.
Thieving women
Two women attacked a victim, 31, outside Starbucks at 482 W. Broadway at Houston St. around 11:40 p.m. Fri., May 18, hit her in the face and made off with her cell phone, police said.
A woman walked into a department store at 575 Broadway near Prince St. around 2 p.m. Fri., May 25, grabbed four blouses and a pair of men’s shorts and attempted to walk out without paying, police said. A security guard challenged her, but she slapped his face, dropped her belongings and fled.
A man and a woman, who entered Burberry at 131 Spring St. around 5:30 p.m. Sun., May 20, made off with a handbag valued at $1,295, police said. A surveillance tape showed the woman moving the bag from one end of a display table to the other and the man putting it into her handbag.
Soho mugging
A visitor from San Francisco told police he was walking on the northeast corner of Sixth Avenue and West Broadway around 3 p.m. Tues., May 22 when two strangers grabbed him. One of them pushed him against a building and took his watch while the other was the lookout. Police soon arrested Anthony Bullard, 42, but the accomplice, identified as Samuel McDaniel, 44, escaped.
Three witches
Three women accosted a victim, 64, at Canal and Church Streets on Saturday morning, March 31 and convinced her to let them bless her money and jewels against evil spirits, police said. The victim went home, put her jewelry and money in a bag and brought it to White Street between Sixth Avenue and West Broadway, where she agreed to meet the suspects, who took the bag, waved it around and returned it. The suspects, described as Asian women between 40 and 50 years old, told the victim not to open the bag until April 24. But she opened the bag a week later to find newspapers and a bottle of water instead of her money and jewelry, police said.
Ferry area mugging
Two suspects approached a victim on the southwest corner of Whitehall and South Streets around 12:46 p.m. Wed., May 23, punched and kicked him and made off with his cell phone. Police arrested Pershala Polcolla and Geanpierre Ferrer, both 18, and charged them with robbery.
From the back of the chair
A patron of Le Pain Quotidien, at 100 Grand St. at Mercer St., hung her handbag on the back of her chair around 4:30 p.m. Thurs., May 3 and discovered it was gone a few minutes later. She reported the theft on Thurs., May 24 after she learned that an unauthorized credit card charge of $2,449.69 had been made at the Helmut Lang boutique at 93 Grand St.
A patron of Hale and Hearty Soup, at 90 Pine St., hung her bag on the back of her chair at noon on Fri., May 25, and felt someone bumping her but ignored it until she discovered the bag had been stolen. She learned later that HSBC Bank had refused a credit card charge, but American Express had paid three charges, including $1,300 at Bed Bath & Beyond and MetroCard charges of $75 and $140.
Motorcycle, scooter thefts
A man, who parked his 2007 blue-and-white Suzuki motorcycle near the northeast corner of Front and Beekman Streets around 9 p.m. Tues., May 22, discovered it had been stolen when he went to retrieve it around 11:15 a.m. the next day.
A woman, who parked her motor scooter in the rear of 125 Maiden La. around 12:30 p.m. Fri., May 18, returned a half hour later to find it had been stolen, police said.
Ride-by grab
A thief on a bicycle riding past a woman on the northeast corner of West Broadway and Chambers Street around 11 a.m. Sat., May 26, grabbed the handbag hanging on her shoulder, with a laptop and an iPad in it, and fled, police said.
Out in the open
A woman, 35, told police on Thurs., May 24 that she was shopping at T.J. Max, at 14 Wall St., around 3:50 p.m. on Sat., May 12 when she discovered at the checkout counter that her wallet, with $40 in cash, had been stolen. She said she left the wallet on top of her shopping cart.
— Albert Amateau
