April 12, 2008: Vol. 31, No. 15

A man in a business suit stealthily snatched more than $13,000 of photo equipment from a photographer during an April 1 shoot at a wedding hall on Ross Street.

The crook casually grabbed an unattended bag containing a $5,000 camera, three top-of-the-line lenses, and two high-end flashes at around 9:50 pm, cops say. He escaped from building, which is between Wythe and Bedford avenues, before the photographer realized his equipment was missing.

For keeps

A crook snagged six cellphones from a display in a Graham Avenue electronics store on April 1.

The sneaky thief pocketed the goods between 4:30 pm and 5:30 pm, dismantling two separate alarms for each phone that he stole, cops say. The crook escaped from the shop, which is at the corner of Debevoise Street, with five Blackberries and a T-Mobile cellphone, worth a total of $2,500.

SK8ER boy

A skateboarder snatched an iPhone on April 5 — then used his board to get away.

The crook grabbed the phone from a man on a Manhattan-bound J train at around 3:25 pm. With the stolen phone in hand, he hopped off the train at the Flushing Avenue stop. The victim gave chase, following the adolescent thief through the station.

When the crook passed through a high wheel exit, he used his skateboard to jam the turnstile, halting the straphanger in his tracks and allowing the thief to make off with the popular phone.

Purse snatch

A thug used a gun to get a woman's purse, but he didn't get to keep it for long.

The thief got into an argument with a woman on the corner of South Fifth and Hewes streets just after midnight on April 6 — then he pulled up his shirt to reveal a 9-mm pistol tucked into his waistband.

When the woman saw the gun, she handed over her handbag and the thug fled towards Union Avenue. But within hours, cops apprehended the suspect while canvassing the neighborhood.

©2008 The Brooklyn Paper