Mall maul
Not a week goes by without a purse snatching in the Atlantic Center and Atlantic Terminal malls. Here’s this week’s bad news:
• A thief snagged a purse from a woman’s shopping cart as she shopped at the Flatbush Avenue Target on Jan. 18. The 36-year-old shopper remembered seeing her bag in her shopping cart at 3:15 pm.
• Someone plucked a handbag from a 62-year-old woman’s cart inside Marshalls on Jan. 22. The woman turned her head away from her cart for a “couple of minutes,” beginning at 2:36 pm, when the bag was taken.
• A crook slipped a purse off a baby stroller that a 28-year-old woman was guiding through Target on Jan. 22. The woman didn’t notice that the bag was missing until 3:10 pm.
Nearly raped
A sex fiend tried to rape a 25-year-old woman near the corner of St. Felix Street and Hanson Place on Jan. 19, but scrambled away when his victim started yelling for help.
The woman was nearing the corner at 1:30 am when the suspect grabbed her from behind and tried to rip off her clothes.
But the cowardly thug ran off once his victim cried out — leaving the woman unharmed.
Hot potato
A thief snagged an iPhone from a straphanger at the Atlantic Avenue train station, but ended up dropping it during the fierce exchange on Jan. 20.
The 33-year-old was texting on his smart phone as he entered a Crown Heights-bound 4 train at 10:20 pm, giving the thief a chance to grab the phone from his hand.
The phone slipped from the thieve’s grasp, allowing the victim to retrieve it.
Trailed to jail
A 16-year-old tried to hold up a man on Lafayette Avenue on Jan. 19 — but ended up getting arrested after he foolishly followed his victim to a nearby business.
The victim said he was near S. Oxford Street at 12:15 pm when the thief approached and said, “Empty your pockets.” The victim ignored him and walked into a convenience store at nearby Cumberland Walk.
The thief followed suit, only to end up running from the store after an employee called 911.
iTheft
A thief obsessed with Steve Jobs broke into a Carlton Avenue apartment on Jan. 18, taking an assortment of i-devices.
The 41-year-old tenant said he was asleep when the thief sneaked into his apartment between Willoughby and DeKalb avenues at 12:30 am, taking two iMac computer notebooks, an iPhone and a PlayStation 3 game console.
Thief thwart
Two sticky-fingered goons tried to rob a 32-year-old man on Adelphi Street on Jan. 20, but ended up with nothing.
The victim was talking on his cellphone as he neared Greene Avenue at 1:15 pm when the thieves crept up behind him, trying to snake the wallet out of his victim’s back pocket.
When the victim turned around to brush the thieves away, one of them tried to take his phone — but botched that attempt as well.
Burglar bust
A thief broke into an Irving Place home on Jan. 22, but was arrested after the homeowner caught the 31-year-old crook rifling through his things.
The thief used a hammer, screwdriver and a large knife to get into the home, which is between Gates and Putnam avenues, at 12:30 am.
Car thefts
Several cars in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill were broken into this past week. Here are all the dirty details:
• A thief lifted two Coach purses — plus a navigation system, a laptop computer and an assortment of checks — from the trunk of a car on Fulton Street on Jan. 16. The 35-year-old car owner told cops that she left the car between Clinton and Waverly avenues at 10 pm and returned two hours later to discover the theft.
• A goon broke into a 1998 Honda Civic at the corner of St. Felix Street and Hanson Place on Jan. 19, taking a laptop computer.
The theft took place after 3 pm.
• Someone smashed his way into a 2011 Chevrolet on Ashland Place on Jan. 20, taking a cellphone and a laptop computer. The car was left on between DeKalb Avenue and Fulton Street at 2:30 pm.
