May 26, 2007 / News / Police Blotter / Park Slope

Mayhem at restaurant leads to theft

By Estlin Howard

for The Brooklyn Paper

Print this story

Share this story

Email a friend

Your name

Your email address

Recipients’ email addresses (Up to ten, separated by commas.)

digg

del.icio.us

A man and woman pulled the old distraction trick at a popular Japanese restaurant on May 16 and walked out with more than $600 in cash and goods.

The couple had entered the restaurant, which is on Seventh Avenue between Garfield Place and First Street, at around 7:30 pm. The woman created a disturbance and demanded a larger table while her male partner — who was carrying a garbage bag! — rummaged around on the floor.

The woman then left the restaurant, followed by her male companion, still toting the garbage bag.

Seconds later, a waitress noticed something amiss and said to one of her diners, “Didn’t you have a bag?” That’s when the 42-year-old woman checked and noticed that, indeed, her handbag had been taken.

The $100 handbag had contained a fancy Nokia cellphone, a wallet, various credit cards, and at least $250 in prepaid gift cards.

Beat and mug

Two thugs knocked a woman to the ground and then stole her purse and cellphone just after midnight on May 14, cops said.

The 25-year-old Clinton Hill woman was walking down Garfield Place between Fifth and Sixth avenues at 12:30 am when the two men approached from behind. One of the perps hit her on the head, knocking her to the ground, where the other thug helped himself to her bag and phone.

The pair ran off towards Fourth Avenue, cops said. The woman lost credit cards and miscellaneous papers.

Cars washed

At least three cars — all old models — were swiped off Park Slope streets last week.

In the first grand theft auto, a 31-year-old woman told cops that she’d parked her 2000 Honda Civic on Sixth Avenue between Third and Fourth streets at around 7 pm on May 14. When she returned to it the next morning, there was only broken glass where the car had been.

Later that same day, a 37-year-old woman parked her 1999 Toyota RAV-4 on Sixth Avenue between President Street and Garfield Place. When she returned to the car two days later, it was gone (though there was no broken glass this time).

Finally, on May 20, a man parked his car on 10th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues at around 7 pm. When he returned to the 1997 Ford less than an hour later, it was gone.

Maid made

Neil Young once sang that a man needs a maid. But at one area supermarket, a thief certainly made good use of one.

A woman told cops that she had given her credit card to her housekeeper to do some shopping at a supermarket on Ninth Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues on April 29.

When the maid got to the checkout line, she no longer had the card — and then suddenly remembered being bumped while she did her shopping.

She not only lost her boss’s card, but $100.

Very catty

A woman who had hung up her purse on a barroom hook returned to it a few hours later to found the bag gone.

The 26-year-old woman was at a popular bar on Fourth Avenue between Carroll and First streets at around 9 pm on May 12. She lost $60, a Metrocard with $30 on it and various credit and debit cards.

Conned Ed

Someone stole a $4,000 air conditioner recharger unit from the Con Ed plant on First Street on May 15.

The security guard at the facility, which is between Third and Fourth avenues, told cops that nothing unusual occurred that day — except for a “suspicious” green and white truck that entered the plant at around 5:40 pm.

The two men inside the truck signed in as J. Poetorreal and R. Gonzalez, and the guard let them in, even though “she had never seen them before,” cops said.

The pair left the facility three hours later with the Robin Aire Cool Tech unit in the back of their truck, police believe.

Big burg

Thieves knew which Fourth Avenue apartment to hit on May 18, walking off with close to $7,000 in jewelry and electronics, cops said.

The tenant of the unit, which is between 11th and 12th streets, told cops that sometime between 5:30 pm and early the next morning, a thief or thieves broke in and cleaned him out.

Lost in the robbery were an iPod, a digital camera, necklaces worth $1,900 and a pair of diamond earrings worth $4,000, cops said.

Bikerman thief

Someone stole a fancy bicycle from the basement of a Prospect Place house on or around May 18, cops said.

The victim told police that he rarely double-locks the basement door. That oversight apparently allowed a thief to break in and take his $500 Raleigh mountain bike sometime between 9:30 pm on May 18 and noon the next day.

Lab rat

A microbiology technician at New York Methodist Hospital didn’t need to look very hard to realize that someone had stolen her purse while she was grabbing quick breakfast on May 19.

The lab worker told cops that she had slipped out of her work area at around 1 am for a bite. When she returned, the Coach leather bag, which contained $120, a Razr phone and a nifty leather wallet, was gone.

Office fiend

A man’s co-worker smacked him in the face and stole his cellphone on May 20 — but later ended up behind bars.

The Bronx man told cops that the beating took place in front of 210 Fifth Ave., which is between Union and President streets at around 6 pm.

Just a few minutes later, the alleged perp was collared by cops and charged with robbery, possession of stolen property, resisting arrest, menacing and harassment.

Cops said the 46-year-old perp was drunk.

©2007 The Brooklyn Paper