May 26, 2007 / News / Police Blotter / Brooklyn Heights–Downtown

It’s just business for well-suited con

By Lilo H. Stainton

The Brooklyn Paper

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A man in business attire and a black hat, and toting a briefcase, burst into a boutique on Livingston Street, near Flatbush Avenue, on May 19 and threatened the employees if they didn’t give him money, police said.

A 29-year-old worker told cops that the man came in at 10 am and insisted, “Don’t move. Give me all the money, or else it won’t be good.”

Instead of testing the visitor’s commitment, the employee turned over $75, and the man ran off on Livingston Street.

Cops described the thief as a 50-year-old, 5-foot-6, 150-pound black man, dressed in all black and carrying the case.

Charity hit

It was a fundraiser — even for the thief.

A man swiped a designer purse with nearly $1,500 in goods from a charity benefit while the owner was putting the finishing touches on the May 19 event, police said.

The 53-year-old victim left her bag in an empty room, where one door was locked and another one not, inside a St. Francis College building on Remsen Street, near Court Street. Sometime between 5:30 and 10:30 pm, someone snatched the red purse, valued at $500 alone, with an iPod, cellphone and wallet, which held credit cards, a $75 personal check and $50 in cash.

Also stolen was a pair of African carved wooden bowls, worth $200 together.

Italian stallion

An 80-year-old ladies man had his mojo crushed when someone stole $4,000 from a secret stash inside his refrigerator on May 16, police said.

The senior was entertaining two women inside his apartment on Atlantic Avenue, near Henry Street, around 2 pm. When he checked his refrigerator, where he kept a safe and other valuables, he found the door ajar and the cash — along with a savings account passbook and a one-carat diamond engagement ring — gone.

Lothario told cops that he did not suspect the ladies.

Playground heist

A woman put her purse down inside the park at the foot of Washington Street in DUMBO on May 12 and, moments later, saw a trio of thieves disappearing with her bag, police said.

The 33-year-old wandered into the park, near the corner of Plymouth Street, at around 7:30 pm. Moments later, she saw the thieves run off with the bag, which contained a video camera, an iPod, a digital camera, a cellphone, her European ID and $100.

Boutique bust

A clothes-horse is on the loose, it seems.

A suspect known to merchants in Park Slope stole 10 pairs of jeans — worth $1,500 — from a Smith Street clothing shop on May 17, police said.

The sticky-fingered shopper wandered into the boutique, near Congress Street, at around 5 pm. The clerk was helping another customer when the thief snatched the denim duds from a table near the door and dashed out, cops said.

There was no description of the thief available. But employees at the store said vendors in the 78th Precinct, which includes Park Slope, have been robbed by the man before.

Chain reaction

Police nabbed a man who tried to swipe a pendant valued at $8,000 from a Willoughby Street jewelry store on May 19, police said.

The faux-shopper wandered into the store, near Smith Street, at 5 pm, and asked to look at the costly item, with its heavy chain. Once the jewelry was in hand, the man tried to run. Instead, he was restrained until Police Officer Washington Mosquera came and arrested the 28-year-old man, who tried violently to resist being handcuffed, Mosquera said.

Doggone Jag

Talk about a return to reality.

A Brooklyn Heights woman came back from vacation to find that her Jaguar was missing from a State Street garage, police said.

The 67-year-old woman left town on May 1, at 5:30 pm, and returned at noon on May 19. When she went to check on her car, at the garage near Willow Place, the 2002 green luxury vehicle had disappeared.

©2007 The Brooklyn Paper