October 6, 2007 / Brooklyn news / Police Blotter / Brooklyn Heights–Downtown

Pepper spray is cover for heist

By Harry Cheadle

for The Brooklyn Paper

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A group of three thugs stole $7,500 worth of designer jackets from a Washington Avenue clothing boutique after using pepper spray to create a diversion on Sept. 24.

The perps entered the store, which is between Flushing and Park avenues, at 4 pm and one pulled out a can of pepper spray and doused the customers and the sales clerk. The hoodlums took advantage of the chaos and stripped the racks of jackets that are worth $200-$300 each.

The victims were able to clear their eyes in time to see the robbers, loaded up with the jackets, get into a green van and drive away. They took 28 True Religion jackets and six APC jackets, merchandise worth a total of $7,450.

Rough rob

Two men assaulted and robbed a woman walking home early on Sept. 28, hitting her with a beer bottle and breaking her necklace, cops said.

The woman was walking on Pacific Street near Boerum Place at 1 am when two men came from behind her and threatened, “Give me your money, b—h.”

They didn’t wait for an answer, but struck her on the arm with an empty beer bottle, shattering it. They also tore her necklace off her neck and rifled through her pockets, stealing the $150 she had before fleeing on foot.

Family affair

A family of four walking home from dinner was ambushed by a trio of muggers on Sept. 29, and one of the children was punched and knocked down.

The mother, father and two daughters were on the corner of Sands and Jay streets when the three perps — one a sizable 6-foot-2, 220 pounds — surrounded them and demanded money.

They targeted the older girl, who is in high school, punching her and stripping her of her backpack. The rest of the family apparently didn’t suffer any injuries.

The thieves got away with the bag containing $50, a Metrocard, and SAT preparation books.

Duane robbed

A popular chain drug store on Court Street was robbed of $3,000 worth of medicine on Sept. 25 after a thief sneaked in through the security door.

The pharmacy was closed for the night, but the perp somehow got in through the security gate at around 8:30 pm. He took diabetic supplies and medication worth $3,000 and escaped without being seen.

There is a security tape of the store that has yet to be reviewed.

Stoplift

Here’s an idea: if you’re going to try to shoplift $2,000 from a discount department store, leave the drugs at home.

That wasn’t what a 22-year-old perp did on Sept. 24, when he was caught shoplifting from a Fulton Mall department store near Gallatin Place. He entered the store around 8 pm and gathered $2,000 from the racks and shelves, attracting the attention of store workers, who alerted the cops. The cops arrested the young man as he tried to walk out of the store without paying, records show.

He was also carrying a small Ziploc bag of marijuana, leading to a drug charge, too.

Fainting spell

A woman fainted in a subway station early on the morning of Sept. 29, and an opportunist stole her from her purse.

The woman was waiting on the platform for the G train at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station at 3 am when she felt lightheaded and collapsed.

When she woke up, her bag had disappeared, along with $40, her Samsung cellphone, and her Fashion Institute of Technology ID card.

Delinquents

A pair of teens stole a woman’s cellphone in a subway station on Sept. 27 after she asked them nicely to move.

The 53-year-old woman was walking down the stairs to the station on Joralemon and Court streets when the two teens — one a hefty 5-foot-6, 200 pounds, the other a skinny 5-foot-10, 160 pounds — blocked her way, cops said.

She asked them to please move and they complied, but they followed her down to the gate, where they snatched her Blackberry and ran off.

Grab and dash

A pair of thieves didn’t have much technique, but they managed to steal $2,000 worth of cellphones from a Fulton Street store on Sept. 28.

The duo walked into the cellphone store near Hanover Place around 6:30 pm. According to witnesses, they wasted no time making threats, merely snatching four phones off of the display counter and booking it out of the store and down the street.

The phones stolen included a $900 Blackberry and an appropriately-named T-Mobile Dash.

©2007 Community Newspaper Group