Shalt not steal

A Catholic high school on Clermont Avenue reported that someone stole $7,000 from its vault between June 25 and 26.

According to an employee, the cash was inside the locked safe at 2 pm on June 25, but at that time the following day, the vault was ajar and the box holding the cash was gone from the parochial school between Lafayette and Greene avenues.

In one of the greatest mysteries since the Immaculate Conception, the money was taken without any damage to the safe.

Gate-gate, Part II

The rash of stolen front gates that shocked homeowners continued last week with a Cambridge Place woman reporting someone stole her iron portal on June 26.

The resident, who lives between Greene and Gates avenues, told police the brazen theft occurred between midnight and 12:10 am.

Last week, The Brooklyn Paper reported that two similar gateways were stolen, one on the same block of Cambridge Place as the most-recent heist and another around the corner on Gates Avenue.

Wash out

A burglar hauled a washing machine from a Grand Avenue building on June 28.

Security cameras recorded the powerful perp entering the building between Flushing and Park avenues at 10:45 am, and exiting it shortly afterwards with the hulking home appliance.

Police are looking for a man with a backache.

Wins footrace

A man ran after, but could not catch, the hooligan who apparently had broken into his car at the corner of Myrtle Avenue and Prince Street on June 30.

The 62-year-old victim returned to his parked vehicle at 11 am to find the thief reach through a shattered window and take his laptop.

The man pursued the fleeing criminal, but lost him — and his laptop — when the thief entered a building in a nearby public housing development.

Foiled!

Detectives arrested a man suspected of robbing a bank on Myrtle Avenue between Waverly and Washington avenues on July 2.

The suspected bandit slipped a note to the teller at 2:15 pm that said only, “Bank robbery,” but his simple scheme fell apart faster than the plotters’ plans in “Dog Day Afternoon.”

Unsatisfied with the speed of her response, the culprit displayed a firearm tucked into his waistband and warned, “I’ll start shooting. I know you hit the alarm — just hurry up.”

Perhaps the robber should have hurried himself. He took $2,820 from the employee, but was quickly apprehended after fleeing the financial institution between Waverly and Washington avenues.

Take out

Yet another DeKalb Avenue restaurant was burglarized, this time overnight on July 2, the latest in a string of break-ins going back to the spring.

According to an employee of the eatery, which is between Clermont and Vanderbilt avenues, the restaurant was empty from 11 pm on July 2 until 11:40 am the following day, when he observed that a rear window had been pried apart and the cash register had been finagled open.

In all, the burglar got $300 and a case of beer.

Doesn’t pay

With the help of a persistent witness, police arrested a man who had violently mugged a woman in her car on Waverly Avenue on July 2.

The victim hopped into her vehicle, which had been parked between Greene and Gates avenues, at 5:21 pm, but so did a ruffian. After he climbed into the back seat, he grabbed the woman by the neck and struggled to get her purse.

Ultimately, the 28-year-old suspect seized the bag and fled, but a witness chased after him. He kept a safe distance until uniformed officers arrived to make the arrest because the hoodlum simulated that he had a gun.

Fisticuffs

Two men punched and mugged a man on the corner of Willoughby and Carlton Avenue on July 3.

The victim was prone to an easy assault because he was laden with grocery bags at 1:55 pm. The thugs walked right up to him, and one said, “Give me your wallet,” before punching the 25-year-old man in the face.

They took the billfold, which contained credit cards, ID and a subway pass, and ran into Fort Greene Park.

— Mike McLaughlin

©2008 The Brooklyn Paper