Cops have cracked down on thieving apartment-hunters who were scouring the area for more than low-priced flats.
Officials said that the duo – one of whom had been arrested as this paper went to press – have shown up at four area residents’ homes pretending to be potential tenants. They then pulled guns on the landlord as she showed them the apartment for rent and robbed her of her property.
Police said that the two suspects were responsible for at least four robberies stretching back to September 11.
The most recent robbery took place on October 1, when they robbed a Bensonhurst landlord as she showed them her vacant apartment and then rooted through her home, officials said.
In one of the robberies, the two thieves held up another tenant – a new mom – who was asked to show the two strangers a vacant apartment in her 18th Avenue building near 71st Street.
The new mom had her baby with her when she opened the apartment for the two strangers and had a gun stuck in her face.
The thieves ordered her to take them to her apartment where they ransacked the place of $3,000 in cash, a cell phone and some jewelry.
They then locked the woman and her baby in the closet as they fled.
No injuries were reported.
Last week, investigators connected all four robberies to David Lee, 34, and Charles Lee, 38. It was unclear if the two men were related as this paper went to press.
Officials said that Charles Lee, a resident of East 15th Street in Midwood, was taken into custody on October 4, charged with four counts of robbery.
Police were still looking for David Lee as this paper went to press.
Anyone with information regarding this man’s whereabouts is urged to come forward.
Calls can be made to the NYPD CrimeStoppers hotline at (800) 577-TIPS.