90th Precinct
Southside–Williamsburg
Scheme shut down
A manipulative thief tried to get a woman to hand over a large sum of cash by telling her in a phone call to her Keap Street home on May 10 that they had kidnapped her son and were removing his fingers.
The victim told police that she received the call in her apartment between S. Third and S. Fourth streets at 12:30 pm from a man who demanded that she send $1,000 to keep her son alive.
“We have your son,” the man on the phone said. “If you don’t give us $1,000, we are going to kill him.”
Someone else came on the phone and said that they were cutting the son’s fingers off and then another voice screamed.
Then they told the woman to go to Western Union branch and wire them the $1,000. The victim instead called her son, who told her that he was at work and still had all his fingers.
Bag swipe
Someone stole a woman’s purse after she left it under a table at a Meserole Street bar on May 9 to go to the restroom.
The victim told police that she set her purse under the table at a the watering hole near Graham Avenue at 1 am and headed to the loo. When she came back 10 minutes later, her bag, which contained her laptop and Lithuanian passport, was missing.
Some friend
A woman’s acquaintance turned on her and stole her money while they were trying to get a cab on Flushing Avenue on May 9.
She told police that she was between Humboldt Street and Bushwick Avenue with her friend at 12:08 pm when he suddenly went into her purse and grabbed $1,000 in cash out of it.
He then threw her purse on the ground and ran away. She told police that she does not know where he lives or where he hangs out.
Train of pain
Someone grabbed an iPad of a guy’s bag before he got off the train at the Mercy Avenue subway stop on May 2.
The victim told police that he looked in his bag just after he stepped off the subway at the J and M train stop at 4:15 pm to find his bag open and his iPad missing. He told police that the train was crowded and he never felt anyone open his bag.
Scoot out
A brazen robber stole a child’s scooter on Gerry Street on May 8.
The 11-year-old victim told police that she was riding her scooter between Throop Avenue and Broadway at 3:25 pm when an older kid came up to her and demanded she handed over her wheels.
“Give me your scooter,” he said. When the victim said no, the robber grabbed it out of her hands and rode away.
Power of scream
A robber tried to steal a teen’s money on Harrison Avenue on May 7, but was scared off of the victim started screaming.
The 16-year-old victim told police that he was near Wallabout Street at 10 am when a bully grabbed him by the arm.
“Walk with me and give me your money,” the would-be robber said.
The victim started screaming as loud as he could and the coward ran off towards the Marcy houses.
Screwing around
Police arrested a man who they said tried to break into a woman’s Wallabout Street apartment on May 6.
The victim told police that she saw the man try to open the back door of her apartment between Lee and Marcy avenues with a screwdriver at 12:40 am. Police arrested the man and charged him with burglary.
— Danielle Furfaro
