Laptop snatches
Greenpoint burglars went after laptops this week, heisting computers and other electronics from at least three residences. Here are the shocking details:
• Crooks ransacked a Huron Street apartment overnight on April 5 and took two laptops, a camera, DVD player, iPod, and speakers from the apartment, which is between Franklin Street and Manhattan Avenue.
• Thieves broke into a Withers Street apartment on April 7 and took cash, television, laptop, camera, watch, and rings between 11:30 am and 11:30 pm. The apartment is between Manhattan and Graham avenues.
• Burglars raided a Kingsland Avenue apartment on April 7 — while the victim was out to dinner between 7:45 and 11:15 pm. Upon return, the tenant discovered his laptop, camera, jewelry, clock, Nintendo Wii and video games gone from the residence, which is between Frost and Richardson streets.
Misdirection
A mugger pulled the old distraction ploy, asking a 24-year-old woman for directions before snatching her purse in a violent April 11 robbery.
The crook confronted the victim on Jackson Street near Kingsland Avenue at around 4 am and told her he was lost. But before the woman could offer her help, the thief grabbed her purse and tried to pull it from her grasp.
The victim held onto her handbag — which contained cash, credit cards, a camera and a passport — until the attacker kicked her in the stomach and dashed towards Woodpoint Street.
T-mobbed!
Thieves waited until the T-Mobile shop on Manhattan Avenue was busy before they heisted nine phones from the store on April 6.
The crooks jacked the cells at around 6:40 pm — while the two employees were occupied with other customers in the store, which at the corner of Meserole Avenue.
MTA mystery
Crooks snatched a diesel engine from a Metropolitan Transit Authority lot on Quay Street.
The thieves broke into the lot, which is at the corner of West Street, and heisted the machine — valued by police at $9,000 — between 2:45 pm on April 3 and 7 am on April 7.
It is unclear whether part of the coming fare hike will be allocated to cover the loss.
— Ben Muessig