Dapper ‘Brando’ thief
A thief with a taste for theatricality and fine design has been plundering a Soho interior design store, an employee reported.
The worker told police that on multiple dates, a man would enter Poltrona Frau at 145 Wooster St. and then leave while she was distracted. She described him as male, 5’7”, of medium build and well-dressed in a long, dark coat with a fur collar and a dark fedora. He identified himself as “Brando.”
On March, 20, she reported to police that she had noticed store merchandise was missing and that she believed the theft had occurred the previous day sometime between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. No camera footage was available. The missing items were red and blue vases of Baccarat crystal each valued at $1,650, as well as a Woods of Euphoria Decanter of Baccarat crystal valued at $1,000 and a $3,300 leather item by Rodolfo Dordoni.
Starbucks snatcher seized
A temporary resident of Manhattan was taught a lesson in caution when she nearly lost her passport at a local Starbucks.
Police arrested a 48-year-old man for allegedly snatching a woman’s bag from the FiDi coffee shop’s floor at 195 Broadway. The victim, 19, said she had set her bag on the floor at about 2:28 p.m. on Thurs., March 21, while she went to make a purchase at the register. When she returned two minutes later, she discovered that someone had taken her bag, containing $400 in valuables, her German passport, driver’s license and bank card.
At 2:32, the defendant was observed on the Cortlandt St. N/R train subway platform with the victim’s missing bag, where he was arrested by a police officer and charged with grand larceny.
Man flees mugger
A man was robbed on the corner of Broome St. and Sixth Ave. in the early hours of Saturday morning.
At 1:50 a.m. on March 23, police say the man, 40, was approached from behind by another man just after he got out of a cab on the northeast corner of the Soho intersection and walked toward Greenhouse. The stranger demanded that the man give him his shoes and watch. When he was refused, he punched the victim in the left eye, causing a laceration and swelling.
The victim said he then fell to the ground and his cell phone, a $600 black Blackberry Bold, fell off of his belt and onto the street. He got up and ran as the mugger approached him again, leaving the phone behind. It was not recovered.
Bicycle stolen
A woman reported that her bicycle had been stolen out of a parking garage where she had locked it.
The woman, 28, said that it occurred sometime between 9 a.m. on Jan. 15 and 5 p.m. on Jan. 31. She did not report the theft until almost two months later, on Sat., March 23. She told police that she had locked her bike inside the Quik Park 24-hour garage at 311 West Broadway, between Canal and Grand Sts. for safekeeping. When she returned for it, the bicycle was missing.
An employee at Quik Park was able to obtain video footage. The stolen gear (a Specialized Sirrus Comp Slate bicycle, a Sirrus Sport Black and an ABUS City Chain) totaled $1,644, plus a $14 bike lock.
Shoulder grab
A purse snatcher got his hands on her pocketbook, but she didn’t keep all her eggs in one handbag.
The woman, 38, told police that someone took her pocketbook from off of her shoulder on the corner of Greenwich and Morris Sts. at about 1:45 p.m. on Fri., March 22. She did not get a good look at the thief, who fled south down Greenwich St. toward Battery Place, but described him as male, about 5’7”, 190 pounds, wearing a gray jogging jacket. No cameras captured the incident. The snatcher only got away with $20 in cash and the title to her car.
I’ll call you
Her ex was a sore loser.
A 27-year-old-woman reported to police that her ex-boyfriend stole her cell phone after she refused to let him into her apartment. The two were in a taxi on their way home from a bar at 3 a.m. on Sat., March 23, when they got into a verbal argument, the woman said. Her ex got out of the cab with her and wanted to enter her apartment near Broome St. and W. Broadway. When she refused, he snatched her white, $200 iPhone out of her hand and ran north on Broadway towards another cab.
The woman walked into the precinct the same night to report the theft. No arrests were made at time of report and the victim said she would call the precinct with tracking information.
—KAITLYN MEADE
