November 3, 2007: Vol. 30, No. 43

Two men were robbed a knifepoint by an unshaven thief on Union Street on Oct. 26, cops said.

The two victims were near the corner of Sixth Avenue at around 10:15 pm when a 5-foot-10 man approached and pulled out two knives, cops said.

The first victim, 22, handed over $40 and the second, age 25, gave up $10 before the suspect, described in police reports as a white Hispanic man in his early 20s wearing a white hoodie and looking like “he hasn’t shaved in a few days,” fled eastbound on Union Street.

Canceled perp

Cops collared a perp who tried to buy postal money orders using a credit card that belonged to someone else on Oct. 23, cops said.

The 19-year-old pulled out the fraudulant plastic inside the Van Brunt station on Ninth Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues at around 4 pm and tried to use it to buy two $850.85 money orders.

The clerk figured out that something was wrong when the perp tried to use the other person’s identification, too.

Fresh fruit

A woman’s wallet was stolen out of her bag while she shopped at the farmers’ market in Grand Army Plaza on Oct. 20.

The 30-year-old victim told cops that she was in the popular greenmarket at around 1:50 pm and was “sampling food” when she “felt herself being bumped.”

Moments later, when she looked for her Kenneth Cole wallet, it — and the $40 inside — was gone.

Sick bird

Someone took $5,000 in designer jeans from a Seventh Avenue boutique at around closing time on Oct. 21.

The manager of Bird, which is between 14th and 15th streets, told cops that she didn’t notice who took the 50 pairs of jeans shortly before 6:30 pm.

Cops are investigating.

Nearsighted

A local optical store fell for the oldest trick in the book, allowing a perp to ring up close to $1,200 in designer eyewear on a cancelled credit card, cops said.

The suspect entered Park Slope Optical, which is on Flatbush Avenue between Bergen Street and Sixth Avenue, at around 3:30 pm on Aug. 24, and proceeded to pick out two Prada frames and two Dolce and Gabbana frames.

When it came time to pay, the criminal pulled out a credit card, which was promptly declined by the in-store machine.

That’s when the perp called her bank and gave the clerk a supposedly valid authorization code, cops said.

The clerk processed the sale with that code — but it turned out to be false.

The store noticed the crime almost two months later, when the bill came. The card was registered to a Queens woman.

Burgs in burg

At least three apartments were robbed last week, cops said. Here’s a roundup:

• Two laptops — an Apple and an IBM clone — were swiped from an Eighth Avenue apartment on Oct. 22. The 25-year-old victim told cops that the crime must have occurred between 8:40 am and 8:50 pm when he arrived back at his first-floor apartment, which is between Sixth and Seventh avenues.

• Two more laptops — again, an Apple and a PC — were taken from a Seventh Avenue apartment on Oct. 25, cops said.

The 23-year-old tenant said she was not in the apartment, which is between Seventh and Eighth streets, between 10:30 am and 5 pm.

• One Dean Street apartment was robbed while the tenant was in the bathroom on Oct. 25.

The 45-year-old victim told cops that she heard noises downstairs at around 2:15 pm, but when she checked it out, she discovered only that her laptop and $200 was gone and the basement door of the building, which is between Fourth and Fifth avenues, was unlocked.

Wheely bad

At least three cars were stolen — and one broken into — in the neighborhood last week. Here’s a roundup:

• A woman told cops that she had parked her 2000 Mercury Sable on Ninth Street, between Second and Third avenues, at around 7 pm on Oct. 24. But by the next morning, it was gone.

• A man’s 2000 Econoline van was stolen from its parking place on Fifth Avenue sometime after 6 pm on Oct. 26.

• The man told cops that when he returned to the spot two days later, the van — a Ford model beloved by hipsters and construction workers alike — was gone.

• A rental car agency was robbed of an almost new Chevy Impala, which had been parked near the company’s Warren Street office.

The manager told cops that the Chevy had been parked between Third and Fourth avenues on Oct. 19 at around 8 am. When he needed the car again — on Oct. 26 — it was gone.

• A Nissan was robbed of its airbags on Oct. 24, cops said.

The victim told police that he’d left the car on Fourth Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues at around 8 am. When he returned to the car just four hours later, he found it stripped of its supplimental restraint system — which is worth $1,155 on the black market, cops said.

©2007 The Brooklyn Paper