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April 18, 2012
Crime Report: A Busy Week of Purse — And Copper — Thefts
The Local [Fort Greene/Clinton Hill]
by Kyle Thomas McGovern
When you look up "lame-brained" in the dictionary, the first definition reads "entering one of Bruce Ratner's malls with $7,000 in your purse."
It was a very busy week for the 88th Precinct, with a number of assaults at the notorious Tillary Street women’s shelter, several thefts at the crime-riddled Atlantic Terminal and Atlantic Center malls and a couple of thefts of copper, the semi-unprecious metal whose increasing value has driven a mini-crime wave.
Burgled At Burlington
A thief swiped a pocketbook from a shopper at Burlington Coat Factory in the Atlantic Center Mall on April 14. The 51-year-old woman told police she left her purse unattended in her shopping cart at 6:30 p.m. but it was not there when she returned to it.
She lost $7,000, a passport, a wallet and a birth certificate.
Bust Buy
A grifter disguised as a Best Buy employee tricked a man into handing over $1,200 for nothing on April 9.
The 25-year-old man told cops that he was shopping at the Guitar Center in Atlantic Terminal Mall when a stranger outfitted in the telltale blue uniform said he could get the man three iPads for half price. The man met with his new contact outside the Best Buy and gave him $1,200 for the coveted tablets.
The supposed Best Buy worker went into the electronics store and never came back. It’s the second time this year that the exact same scam has gone down.
Targeted
A pickpocket preyed on a woman in the baby section of Target in the Atlantic Terminal Mall on April 12, stealing her purse.
The 29-year-old woman told cops that her bag was inside the shopping cart, but it was not there when she tried to pay at the register at around 9:15 p.m.
The crook got away with a digital camera, a Samsung phone and a Bank of America card, which the scoundrel tried to use about a half-hour earlier.
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Posted by eric at April 18, 2012 10:41 AM