Sleepy cat burglar
The owner of a third-floor dance studio at 55 Chrystie St. between Canal and Hester Sts. found a stranger sleeping at her desk around 5:30 p.m. Sat., Nov. 12 and woke him up, police said. The stranger tried to flee with a tee shirt and an empty camera case, both belonging to the studio, according to the complaint filed with the Manhattan District Attorney. When police apprehended the suspect, Hafess Folajiye, 27, he told them he got into the place by a fire escape because the front door of the studio was locked, court papers say.
High-end bag
A man and two woman walked into the Louis Vuitton boutique at 116 Greene St. near Prince St. around 5:50 p.m. Sat., Nov. 19. The women took a Vuitton bag valued at $3,050 from a display and put it into a bigger bag they brought with them while the man acted as lookout. They walked out unobserved without paying but a surveillance camera taped them, police said.
Burglary arrest
Police arrested Bruce Lopez.48, and charged him with stealing $128 and an iPhone from an employees’ room in a furniture store at 117 Mercer St. between Prince and Spring Sts. on Oct. 10. On Nov. 6, the store manager, who had confronted the suspect just before he fled the furniture store, spotted him on a train and trailed him to the Apple Store at 72 Mercer St., according to reports. Lopez stole an iPad from the Apple store and fled, according to the complaint filed with the Manhattan District Attorney. Police arrested the suspect at a nearby subway station and recovered the iPad. Lopez was charged with burglary, larceny and possession of stole property.
Not her cell phone
A woman shopping in Mystique, 547 Broadway between Prince and Spring Sts. on Wednesday afternoon Nov. 16 felt what she thought was her cell phone vibrating around 4:15 p.m. When she went to check the call she discovered that someone had stolen her wallet from the bag, police said.
Subway phone grab
A woman who got on an uptown A train at Chambers St. at 8:20 p.m. Tues., Nov. 15, took out her cell phone and lost it to a man who snatched it and fled the train at the Canal St. stop at Sixth Ave.
Looking good?
A woman who walked into the Duane Reade at 95 Wall St. at 8 a.m. Thurs., Nov.17 walked out unobserved with 46 lipstick and body tinting items without paying for them, police said. But her image was recorded on a surveillance tape.
Christmas market theft
Thieves made off with the money bag with $400 and 400 Euros from the outdoor German Christmas Market in the South St. Seaport on Fulton and Front Sts. at around 7:26 p.m. Sat.,Nov.19, police said. Jens Wohld, owner of the market, told police that one suspect distracted an attendant while the other suspect grabbed the bag from the counter.
Pulls knife
An employee of Zigolini’s Tavern, 66 Pearl St., ran into a burglar who pulled a knife on him in the basement of the place around 6 p.m. Wed., Nov.16, police said. Police were called and arrested Patrick Byrd, 59, and charged him with burglary and menacing.
Tourist’s bag stolen
A woman visiting from Blackpool, England, put her bag on the back of her chair at Champs Gourmet Deli at 71 Broadway while having lunch at 1 p.m. Fri. A half-hour later, she discovered it wasmissing.
Stolen motors
A man who parked his Vespa motorscooter at the corner of Park Pl. and Church St. at 10:30 a.m. Fri., Nov.18 returned at lunch time two hours later and found it had been stolen, A man who parked his Moped on the northwest corner of Laight and Varick Sts., at 9:30 a.m. Thurs., Nov. 17 returned at 7 p.m. to find it had been stolen.
Occupy Wall St.
Occupy Wall St. protestors and police clashed on Thurs., Nov.17 and on Sun., Nov. 20.
At the northwest corner of Broadway and Wall St. police arrested Cynthia Wilson, 20, at 10:30 a.m. Nov. 17 for assault for throwing unidentified liquid from a bottle into an officer’s eye. At 2 p.m. Nov. 17, an officer was hit by an object and sustained an injury to his thumb that required 18 stitches. At 4 p.m. police chased and arrested Brandon Watts, 20, for snatching a hat from an officers head and fleeing. At 3 p.m. a demonstrator threw a grease-covered missile that hit a police officer in Zuccotti Park. On Sun., Nov. 20 police arrested Noel Campbell, 52, at Broadway and Liberty Plaza and charged him with throwing an unknown liquid in an officer’s face. Campbell was also charged with resisting arrest.
— Albert Amateau
