Cops raid car service
Police from the 76th Precinct are attacking the neighborhood’s car break-in problem on both ends.
Investigators executed a search warrant at the Cobble Hill Car Service near the corner of Court and Douglass streets on February 2 after learning that workers were allegedly both buying and selling stolen electronics such as portable GPS devices. It’s believed that the electronics had been taken from cars in the neighborhood.
Police said that one car service employee was arrested, charged with criminal possession of stolen property.
The raid took place after several undercover buys were held at the local business, officials said.
Generation gap
two young children — ages 13 and 9 — were arrested last week after they swiped a purse from a 78-year-old woman.
Police said that the thieves, who were not named because of their age, approached the senior at the corner of Hoyt and Union streets at 11:30 a.m. on January 30.
The duo asked the woman for the time. When she stopped to check, they grabbed her purse and ran off.
But they didn’t get far, officials said.
Responding officers found the two children after a canvass of the neighborhood and brought them back to the scene of the crime, where the senior positively identified them as the thieves. The woman’s property was recovered, police said.
Deliver us from evil
A 50-year-old scam artist was arrested last week when he was caught allegedly collecting donations for a charity he didn’t belong to.
Officials alleged that Ellis Carson was found going up and down Union Street near Hoyt Street, claiming to be a representative for the “God Love We Deliver” charity. He was collecting money for the unfortunate, he said.
When Police Officer Oscar Morales caught him coming out of an apartment building at 3:47 p.m. January 26, he reportedly had $75 and four signed checks from donators, even though he had no ID linking him to the charity.
A quick call to the charity showed that Carson was not working for them, said officials, who charged Carson with criminal impersonation, criminal possession of stolen property and petit larceny.
Pizza pluck
A 14-year-old coming home with a pizza was robbed of his dinner as he entered his Columbia Street apartment building, police said.
Cops were told that the teen had just entered the lobby of the building between Lorraine and Bush streets at 10:50 p.m. on January 23 when a black male and a Hispanic male confronted him.
“Give me the pizza,” one of the thieves demanded as he punched the teen in the face.
When the teen tried to run off, the thieves grabbed him and threatened to shoot him.
Fearing for his life, he handed over the $31 pizza to the thieves, who were last seen looking for a place to consume their spoils.
Cops are asking anyone with information regarding this incident to come forward.
Calls can be made to the 76th Precinct at (718) 834-3211. All calls will be kept confidential.
Moonshine marauder sentenced
The man convicted of raiding Red Hook’s Moonshine Bar and considered a suspect in raids of other neighborhood watering holes has been sentenced to thirty years in prison, prosecutors said.
The gavel fell on 28-year-old Luis Rodriguez on February 1 after a teardrop tatoo on his face gave him away.
Police said that Rodriguez and an accomplice raided the Moonshine Bar, 317 Columbia Street, back on September 30, 2007 taking money from the cash register and a customer after tying the victim up in the back.
A few weeks later, Rodriguez showed up to have a drink at the Bait and Tackle Bar, 320 Van Brunt Street. A bartender recognized Rodriguez’s tattoo, which was noted on a sketch posted right outside the bathroom.
Cops called to the scene arrested Rodriguez, and accomplices Jose Rivera and Carmen Garcia, Rodriguez’ common-law wife.
Rivera was later arrested after his DNA was linked to a gun and a masked found after one of the heists. Garcia had also been indicted, charged with criminal possession of a weapon.
War on warehouses
A recent gunpoint robbery inside a neighborhood warehouse has been connected to a number of other heists in the area, police said.
On January 11, two black males armed with handguns entered a warehouse on Centre Street between Smith and Court Streets and robbed a 43-year-old man inside.
Police said that cops have connected the thieves to four similar robberies in the nearby 78th Precinct in Park Slope and the 72nd Precinct in Sunset Park.
Officials said that the thieves robbed a Butler Street warehouse near Third Avenue on January 7, where they stole money from a female employee. They also held up three warehouses in December and November — on Fifth Street in Park Slope on December 30, a 48th Street location on December 18, and a 13th Street warehouse on November 27.
Cops are asking anyone with information regarding these two men to come forward.
Calls can be made to the NYPD CrimeStoppers hotline at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
Trader Joe’s take
A sticky fingered thief made off with a woman’s wallet as she shopped in Trader Joe’s on Court Street.
The woman told police that the wallet was plucked from her shopping cart as she perused the aisles of the popular grocery store at 11:45 a.m. on January 22.
Whoever took the wallet used the credit cards to purchase “numerous” unlimited MetroCards at an area train station, officials said.