LIU looting
Locker break-ins at Long Island University are quickly becoming a weekly occurrence in the 88th Precinct’s police blotter.
This time around, a thief forced his way into a 28-year-old’s locker at the school’s University Plaza gym on Oct. 14, taking a MacBook and some textbooks.
The victim said he secured his property inside the locker at 8:45 am, but when he returned an hour later, the locker was open and empty.
This is the third time in three weeks that a locker in the college gym was ransacked, police said. Ironically, the college was recently named by an online magazine as having the third safest campus in the country.
Lobby looters
Five masked thugs held up a 26-year-old inside an Adelphi Street apartment building on Oct. 17.
The victim was exiting the lobby between DeKalb and Lafayette avenues at 9:45 pm when the thieves pulled a gun, demanding the man’s cash and cellphone.
In vino villainy
A burglar broke into The Greene Grape on Fulton Street on Oct. 11, taking a safe containing $2,000.
The thieves covered a security camera outside the store at S. Portland Avenue at 5:04 am — surprising the owner of the wine store as he watched the camera’s video feed on his laptop computer.
The wine shop owner immediately called 911, but, despite the quick warning, the thieves forced open the door and swiped the safe before cops arrived.
Two on one
A thuggish duo jumped a 44-year-old man on Myrtle Avenue on Oct. 12, robbing him of $7,500.
The victim was approaching a Chase Bank between Vanderbilt and Clinton avenues at 10:15 am when the thieves grabbed him.
After claiming to have a gun, the perps rifled the victim’s pockets, taking his money.
iPod rob
A knife-wielding music lover swiped a teen’s iPod on Oct. 12 following a fierce exchange on a Manhattan-bound B train.
The train was nearing the Atlantic Avenue station at 3:30 pm when the thief pulled his blade, demanding his teenage victim fork over the music player.
“Give me the iPod and nothing will happen,” the thief said before grabbing the item and exiting the subway car.
Vandy villain
A brute jumped a 26-year-old woman on Vanderbilt Avenue during a furious Oct. 14 confrontation.
The victim was walking between Greene and Gates avenues at 11:05 pm when the thug grabbed the woman from behind.
He put the woman in a headlock and punched her repeatedly until she gave up her bag, which contained some cash, credit cards and an iPhone.
Not sporting
A burglar broke into a Lafayette Avenue building on Oct. 15, where he removed $200 in fishing and tennis equipment, but didn’t get too much time to play with his balls.
A fishing kit and 12 tennis balls were among the thief’s haul following the 11:40 am break-in between Washington Avenue and St. James Place. But the thief was arrested shortly after the heist.
Book worm
A crew of thieves bum rushed a 15-year-old at the corner of Vanderbilt and Greene avenues on Oct. 15, taking their victim’s bookbag.
The victim was walking home from school at 3:25 pm when the thieves threw him against a wall. They then ran off with his bookbag, which contained an iPod, cops were told.
Clinton break
A thief took a laptop and a PlayStation 3 console from a Clinton Avenue apartment on Oct. 12.
The tenant told police that he had left his home between DeKalb and Lafayette avenues at 11:40 am. When he returned at 6:40 pm, he found his front door open and his belongings gone.
Text take
A thief grabbed a cellphone from a 17-year-old girl who was texting at the corner of St. Felix Street and Lafayette Avenue on Oct. 13, but didn’t get far with his prize.
The victim was communicating a friend at 2:50 pm when the thief snatched the phone from her hands and ran off — only to be apprehended a few minutes later.
Wallet grab
A thief snagged a wallet from a 33-year-old woman’s handbag as she shopped in the crime-ridden Target at the Atlantic Terminal Mall on Oct. 13.
The woman’s bag was hanging off a baby carriage inside the Flatbush Avenue store between Hanson Place and Atlantic Avenue at 2 pm when it was rummaged through.
The sticky-fingered thief made several charges on the woman’s credit cards before the theft was reported.
Dancing fiend
A snake made off with a 27-year-old woman’s handbag on Oct. 17 as she danced the night away at Moe’s on Lafayette Avenue.
The victim said she left her bag on a chair inside the lounge between S. Elliott Place and S. Portland Avenue before hitting the dance floor at 12:38 am.
When she returned to her seat to catch her breath, her bag was gone, police were told.
