September 15, 2007: Vol. 30, No. 36

Park Slope’s 78th Precinct experienced a mini–crime wave of burglaries last week, police reports show.

There were nine break-ins, as compared to only four during the same week last year. So far this year, there has been roughly the same number of burglaries as last year (136 to 130).

Here are the details from some of last week’s crimes:

• The movie theater on Prospect Park West, between 14th and 15th streets, was broken into after midnight on Sept. 7, and the thief got away with $600.

• A man was arrested after breaking into a construction site on Second Avenue at 15th Street, stealing three 15-foot steel beams, police said.

A witness saw the man break into the job site at around 7 am on Sept. 8, and carry the beams down the street on a dolly, according to the police report. When cops arrived, they found a hole in the fence and many of the same steel beams at the construction site.

• An Apple-loving woman lost thousands of dollars in high-tech equipment when a burglar broke into her Union Street apartment on Sept. 6, cops said.

The 27-year-old victim said the perp entered through her bedroom window sometime between noon and 7 pm, and got away with a $2,200 Apple laptop, a $2,000 Dell laptop, an iPod and thousands of dollars in gold and diamond jewelry.

• A 12th Street man lost thousands of dollars in jewelry when his apartment was broken into on Sept. 4.

The victim told cops that he was only away from the apartment, which is at Eighth Avenue from 10:30 am to 1:45 pm. But that’s when the thief broke in and took a Fossil watch, several gold bracelets, a pear necklace, gold chains and diamond jewelry.

Cops put the total value of the haul at $7,155.

• A Fourth Avenue man had $400 in quarters stolen out of his apartment on Sept. 6, cops said.

According to the 74-year-old victim, the building is under construction, so that may have helped the burglar enter at around 10 am.

Nothing else was taken from the apartment, which is at 13th Street.

©2007 The Brooklyn Paper