Three teen perps surrounded a Jersey City man on Bergen Street in broad daylight on May 5, knocking him to the ground and stealing his Blackberry device, cops said.
The 30-year-old victim told police that he was walking between Fourth and Fifth avenues at around 3:40 pm when the three hooligans approached.
“Give me what you got,” one said, while his two accomplices barred the man’s path.
When the victim refused to comply, the men got violent, knocking the pedestrian to the ground and hitting him on the head with a chain, causing him to bleed.
At this point, they rifled his pockets, found the mobile device and fled down Fifth Avenue. Cops are hunting for the ringleader, a 5-foot-7, 140-pound 16-year-old with short, close cut black hair. The victim did not get a good look at the two other perps.
Compute this!
At least three homes were burglarized for computer equipment last week.
On May 6, a Fifth Avenue man told cops that someone had busted into his apartment, which is between 11th and 12th streets, while he was out from 11 am to 5 pm. The crook got a laptop.
Two days later, a St. Johns Place man told cops that he lost two computers and a Canon camera when he was out of his apartment, which is between Seventh and Eighth avenues, from 7 pm to 8:25 pm.
And a Park Place woman told cops that someone had broken into her apartment, which is between Fifth and Sixth avenues, sometime after 7 pm on May 8 to steal a fancy monitor, $35 in coins and an engraved iPod. She discovered the crime when she came home on May 10 at 7:30 pm.
Unholy crime
A Carroll Street church was hit for the second time in as many months on May 5 — but this time, the would-be thief couldn’t get inside, cops said.
Church officials told police that when employees showed up for work at the cathedral between Third and Fourth avenues at 6:45 am, they discovered that an air conditioner had been tampered with by a would-be burglar, who left before gaining entrance, despite a broken alarm system.
It is unclear whether the thief in the earlier break-in was successful.
Wheely bad
At least two cars were stolen — and two more broken into — on Park Slope streets last week. And a bike was taken from a Fourth Avenue hallway. Here’s a roundup:
• A 1999 Honda Civic was swiped from its parking space on Fifth Street between Eighth Avenue and Prospect Park West overnight on May 10. The 33-year-old owner told police that he had left the car there at 10 pm, but it was gone by 8 pm the next night.
• A Staten Island woman’s 2003 Chevy was stolen from its space on Seventh Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues on May 5. The 36-year-old told cops that she’d parked the truck there at 2:30 pm, but it was gone when she returned just after midnight.
• A cigarette distributor lost more than $2,500 in smokes on May 9 when he left his delivery van on Fifth Avenue for only 10 minutes, cops said.
The worker told police that he’d parked the truck between 12th and 13th streets at 3:30 pm. When he got back, 52 cartons of cancer sticks were gone. Because of the rain, cops said they could not take prints.
• The bike owner told cops that someone broke into his apartment building, which is at Sixth Street, early on May 5. He got back to his apartment at 6:30 am after a jog and found his $100 Schwinn missing from the hallway.
Rinky dink
Three exercisers were ripped off in the morning of May 7 after parking their cars in the Wollman Rink lot before enjoying a walk in the park.
A man who left his brand new Cadillac Escalade in the lot at around 8 am returned two hours later to find that the someone had picked the lock and taken $860 and a Razr cellphone — and a credit card that was later used.
About 45 minutes later, a jogger parked her 1999 Infinity in the same lot. She returned less than two hours later to find the driver’s-side window smashed and hundreds of dollars in property — including a fancy ring and an iPod — stolen.
Also at 8:45 am, a man had parked his old Ford Explorer in the lot and went for a jog. When he returned two hours later (nice jog!), he found the doors unlocked and $40 and lots of credit and ID cards missing.
Check republic
There was a spate of identity thefts in Park Slope last week, cops said. Here’s a roundup:
• A Butler Street cleaning company reported on April 19 that the business’s credit card was stolen and used to buy $94.22 worth of gas at a Third Avenue.
• A 58-year-old St. Marks Avenue woman told cops that someone had opened a Mastercard in her name seven years ago — and rung up an impossible $102,071 in merchandise before a collections agency finally contact her on May 7.
• A Ninth Street man told cops on May 9 that his Visa card was used by a thief to buy Metrocard after he lost it when he was “out on the town” six days earlier.
• A St. Marks Avenue man told cops on May 6 that someone had opened two credit card accounts in his name and run up $6,000 in charges before he figured it out.
• A well-respected local fertility clinic was ripped off of more than $50,000 when an unknown perp drafted two checks on the company account sometime between Feb. 11 and May 7, cops said. As in all ID theft cases within the 78th Precinct, officer Tony Shy is investigating.
Burger-larized
A thief stole a woman’s purse while she was enjoying a meal at a popular Sixth Avenue ale house — known for its burgers — on May 8.
The Eighth Avenue woman told cops that she was in the restaurant, which is at the corner of Fifth Street, at around 6:45 pm. When she looked for her Marc Jacobs bag a half-hour later, she discovered that it was missing — as was its contents, including a fancy digital camera, a leather wallet, a cellphone and makeup.
Her Armani jacket was also swiped, she said.
Lack of guidance
Cops in the 78th Precinct are seeing a rash of thefts of satellite-guided map devices from area cars.
At least six such “GPS” systems were taken from autos in Park Slope last week. And other cars were broken into by thieves looking for such devices.
“People think that if they take the [device] off the dashboard, they’re safe,” said one cop. “But the thieves still see the mount, so they know it’s in the car — and they break in anyway.”
Such digital maps are valued at anywhere from $100-$400, cops said.
And in many cases, drivers lost additional equipment, including cellphones, Bluetooth headsets and radar detectors.
“Use your common sense,” the officer said.