Police are seeking assistance from the public to locate six individuals they suspect are responsible for 10 necklace robberies across two boroughs this month.
The robbery spree allegedly started on Aug. 5 in SoHo, when two individuals on a red moped approached a 27-year-old woman walking down Thompson Street at about 1:45 a.m. One suspect allegedly ripped the woman’s necklace off her neck and snatched an earring from her right ear before fleeing the scene. The woman was not injured, and the pair fled on the moped, according to police.
A week later, just a couple blocks away at Sullivan and Houston streets, two people on a moped approached a 24-year-old woman and pretended to have a gun before snatching her necklace and fleeing on the moped.
Cops suspect these individuals are part of a crew responsible for eight other robberies across the city since then, all involving necklaces, with the perpetrators using mopeds. They have also branched out beyond their SoHo base, allegedly stealing necklaces in Midtown and even finding their way to Flushing, police said.
Their victims consist of eight women and two men, ranging between 17 and 60 in age, and in most cases they sustained no injuries.
Two victims did sustain some injuries. A 17-year-old girl was scratched when the perpetrators took her necklace, but she refused medical attention. In the most recent case, on Aug. 21, a 24-year-old woman was allegedly tackled by two robbers on Mott Street, who proceeded to steal her necklace and flee on a moped. The woman sought medical treatment at NYU Langone Hospital.
In one incident, on West 47th Street in Hell’s Kitchen on Aug. 18, the perpetrators were unable to steal the necklace before fleeing into the night.
Police have not identified any of the suspects but believe the robberies are part of a pattern of crimes.
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.
