One phone arrives, another departs
A transit theft occurred aboard a southbound R train when a pickpocket took a woman’s cell phone near the Brooklyn Bridge stop — where another phone had been recovered earlier in the week.
The device was swiped at 5:30 p.m. on Sun., Jan. 27 on a Brooklyn-bound train. The victim, 24, reported to police that she entered the subway at a station on 34th St. and 6th Ave. While on the train, she slid her $340 iPhone in her right jacket pocket. When she put her hand back into her pocket about five minutes later in the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall station, it was gone.
While her phone was offline when she attempted to track it, she did speak to the man in possession of her phone — but did not get it returned.
On Mon., Jan. 28, another woman, 33, walked into the First Police Precinct to report over $1,000 in missing property, including her cell phone. She said that she had left her bag unattended at the M1-5 Lounge at 52 Walker St. on Fri., Jan. 25 at about 11:30 p.m. Her pocketbook was stolen along with the other contents of her bag, mostly makeup, her $450 LG Mach cell phone, $150 iPod Nano and $50 skull earbuds.
Her credit cards and monthly MetroCard were also stolen. She cancelled the cards, but the smart phone turned up on its own at the N/R station at City Hall-Brooklyn Bridge with no unauthorized usage.
iPhone abducted
An iPhone was snatched from out of its user’s hands on the street on a recent Sunday.
The 23-year-old Downtown resident reported to police that her iPhone 4S was grabbed from her fingers while she was walking down the sidewalk on the corner of Church and Walker Sts. at 4 p.m., Sun., Jan. 27. The thief was described as male, 5’11” and about 195 pounds. The $320 iPhone still had active service and a ‘find my phone’ app, but had not been recovered by press time.
Starbucks pickpocket
Hands full of coffee, one woman could do nothing as her assailant bumped into her and slipped her cell phone from her pocket.
The 32-year-old woman was inside Starbucks at about 3 p.m. on Fri., Jan. 25 when someone picked her pocket. She was on her was on her way out of the 195 Broadway location when she felt contact and immediately realized what had happened. She reported it to police, but the thief was already gone.
The $400 iPhone 5 was offline and could not be tracked. Video surveillance was available but unable to be immediately viewed as the Starbucks manager was not on the scene.
No “pop” in CVS robbery
Police arrested a man after he attempted to rob CVS by pretending he was carrying a gun.
The defendant, Michael Williams, 25, was arrested on Sat., Jan. 26 when police say he tried to purloin miscellaneous items from a CVS drug store at 129 Fulton St. An employee of CVS reported that Williams attempted to leave the store at about 10:30 p.m. with miscellaneous goods totaling $478 concealed in a white plastic bag.
When confronted by the store manager, Williams, according to police, reached into his rear waistband and stated, “Don’t make me pop it off in here. Don’t make me pop it off in here.”
The defendant then rushed at the manager and tried to punch him, but missed, police said. He reportedly pushed the manager a few times and then dropped the bag of stolen merchandise and fled the store.
A police officer had witnessed the scene and was coming to intervene when Williams fled. The officer pursued and caught the suspect.
Turnstile theft
An unzipped bag proved too tempting of a target to ignore as its owner made her way into the transit system, police reported.
On Wed., Jan. 23 at 8:30 p.m., a 22-year-old woman entered the Fulton St. subway station at Fulton and Nassau Sts. to get on the J train. Her bag was unzipped as she approached the turnstile. Just before she entered it, she reported that a man reached into her bag and took her wallet, fleeing back up the stairs and into the street.
The thief got away with a $300 pink Miu Miu wallet, $24 in cash, the woman’s credit cards and driver’s license.
Less Wallet
An unattended wallet was stolen from a convenience store on Saturday when it was left on the cashier counter.
The woman, 22, told police that she had left her wallet on the counter while shopping at Less Less on 83 Chambers St., at about 5:50 p.m. on Jan. 26. When she came back for it five minutes later, it was gone. Video surveillance subsequently showed that another woman, about 40, took it from the counter. The victim canceled her debit card and there was no unauthorized usage.
Auto theft
A resident of Woodmere, N.Y. had her car stolen while working Downtown last month.
The victim, 39, told police that she parked her car, a 2010 Acura MDX, on the corner of West and Warren Sts. at about 1:30 p.m. on Thur., Jan. 24. When she came back at about 3 p.m., she saw that her gray SUV, valued at $30,000, was missing. Police reported that there was no sign that the vehicle had been broken into and stolen. A tow pound check and a check with the city Marshall turned up no results.
— Kaitlyn Meade
