Brooklyn has had its first reported iPad theft — a swipe that occurred near Fort Greene Park on May 28.
The 23-year-old victim told police that he was playing on the revolutionary tablet computer near the corner of Park and Waverly avenues at 7:45 pm when someone ran up behind him and snatched the device out of his hand.
The thief was last seen running down Park Avenue toward Clinton Street, obviously looking forward to checking out his new toy.
When contacted, the victim said that he had bought the computer a few weeks ago, but this was the first time he had taken it outside.
Still, he said that he is not too bummed by the theft, which he called a “fluke thing.”
“It was insured,” he said.
Rough return
A thief was arrested after swiping a woman’s iPhone from her hand on May 27.
The victim told police that she was nearing the corner of Clinton and DeKalb avenues at 1:20 pm when a 16-year-old girl approached, asking her for directions.
When the woman pulled her phone out to check her map app, the girl thief grabbed it and ran off, but the woman wasn’t about to let her prized possession go without a fight.
After a brief pursuit, the thief turned around and swung at her victim, but missed, police were told. The teen then threw the phone at her, hitting her in the forehead, before police officers took her into custody.
A source said that the teen was disappointed in the quality of the phone because its glass screen was cracked.
Pharmacy raid
Two gunmen burst into the Ashland Pharmacy on DeKalb Avenue on May 29, robbing the place of its receipts.
Workers told police that they were minding the counter at the drug store between St. Felix Street and Fort Greene Place just after 5 pm when the thieves stormed in and pulled a revolver, demanding that an employee empty the cash from the register into a bag.
The thieves ran off with $250 and some lottery tickets, cops were told.
No direction
Two muggers pounded and robbed a friendly Fort Greene guide on May 28 — but they couldn’t get out of the neighborhood before being arrested.
Police said the suspects approached their victim on Hanson Place between S. Oxford Street and S. Portland Avenue at 3:15 am and asked him for directions to a local bar. The victim readily agreed, but the thugs followed him around the corner and attacked, beating him and running off with his jewelry, wallet, cash — even his shoes.
But they didn’t get far. When they entered the nearest subway station, they were nabbed by cops.
Tracked and mugged
A heavy-handed thug trailed a 28-year-old man for several blocks before mugging him of his wallet and cellphone on May 24.
The victim told police he was nearing the corner of Carlton Avenue and Fulton Street at 12:30 am when the thief pounced, using enough force to cause a trip to Brooklyn Hospital.
Roll-by robbery
A thief on a bike threatened to shoot a woman if she didn’t hand over her valuables on Adelphi Street on May 25 — though it is unclear if he actually had a weapon.
Not taking any chances, the 35-year-old handed over $10 and her cellphone to the pinching pedaler during the 2:50 am hold-up between Park and Myrtle avenues, cops were told.
Madiba maven
A rooftop renegade broke into Madiba on May 26, taking the DeKalb Avenue restaurant’s safe, sound system, and several bottles of booze.
Police said that the thief entered the eatery, which is at Carlton Avenue, from a rear bathroom window and exited by removing a front window sometime around 3:30 am, when a man with a thin build was spotted sitting on the restaurant’s roof, chatting on a cellphone.
Witnesses told police that the thief fled the area in a black sedan.
40-inch theft
A thief swiped a 40-inch flat-screen television during a late night visit to the Pratt Institute on May 24.
School administrators said that the $1,624 television was yanked off its wall mountings inside the Stanton Building on Willoughby Avenue between Hall and Ryerson streets sometime after 7 pm.
Pretty pinch
A jeweler selling baubles at the Atlantic Center Mall lost several pricey pieces on May 24 — and his own employee may be to blame.
The shop owner in the Bruce Ratner-owned mall on Atlantic Avenue between Fort Greene Place and S. Portland Avenue said the employee put the bling in the safe right before closing on May 22.
But when the safe was opened on May 24, six diamond rings, five chains, four pendants and four bracelets were missing.
So was the employee, who didn’t show up for work that morning — and his phone number was suddenly disconnected.
FCRC felony
In other Ratner-related news, someone broke into his company’s satellite office on Rockwell Place on May 26, swiping a $600 computer.
Cops were not sure how the thief got into the office between DeKalb Avenue and Fulton Street, although the theft occurred sometime after 4:30 pm.
Car loot
A thief broke into a car parked on S. Elliott Place on May 27, taking two computers, a navigation system and a Blackberry.
The 28-year-old motorist said that he left his 2009 Ford F150 between Hanson Place and S. Portland Avenue at 12:15 pm before running a few errands. He returned 45 minutes later to find his driver’s-side door popped open and his property missing.
