Crime watch
The PittsAn unattended bag led to unintended consequences for a man from Pittsburgh. At 20 minutes after midnight on Saturday, August 6, a 31-year-old man placed his briefcase by a bar stool in the Mexican Festival Restaurant at 2672 Broadway. He walked away from the stool for a couple of seconds, leaving the bag unattended, when an unknown woman passed by the stool, taking his case with her and leaving the establishment. The items stolen were an iPad Pro valued at $7,000, a Duluth Trading Company briefcase priced at $300, an anthology of opera arias valued at $22 and another valued at $25, five Pilot pens worth $10, five Tricondengy priced at $15, and a binder worth $20, making a total of $7,392.
The Scam’s the LimitAn area resident was lured into a scam by the promise of a higher credit card limit. At 10 a.m. on Monday, July 25, a 30-year-old woman living on West 91st Street contacted somebody on Instagram who claimed to represent a company called Votigo and said that if she mailed in her debit card with her PIN number to an address in Calumet City, Ill., they would give her a card with a higher limit. Just two days later, on July 27, two unauthorized check transactions were made to her account. She was blocked by a user named “tonymoney gang” on Instagram, making her realize that she had been scammed. She then closed the card. The unauthorized checks were valued at $2,779 and $2,671, totaling $5,450.
Fake TakeAnd the ID thefts just keep on coming. At one minute after midnight on Monday, August 1, a 78-year-old woman living on West 95th Street was alerted by a phone call from her bank that an unauthorized fake check had been cashed on her account by an unknown person at an unknown location. The woman subsequently closed the account. The amount stolen came to $4,859.
Crack CrookPolice caught up with an armed robber recently. At 8:07 p.m. on Tuesday, August 2, 32-year-old male area resident was walking to a nearby store when he was approached from behind by a 23-year-old man at the northwest corner of Amsterdam Avenue and West 105th Street. The thug then pulled out a 9 mm handgun and asked the victim for all the money in his pocket, along with his chain and ring. The victim refused and ran towards his building at 902 Amsterdam Avenue. He called police, who were at first unable to locate the bad guy. Later, however, police arrested Kashawn Fashaw and charged him with robbery. At the time of his arrest, he was found to be in possession of a clear glass crack pipe with residue. The items stolen and recovered were a white metal chain valued at $200 and a white metal ring worth $50, for a total of $250.
Lemon AideA home aide apparently helped herself to a client’s property. Sometime between 10:30 a.m. on Friday, July 22 and 9:00 p.m. on Friday, July 29, a home aide named Olympia Patterson was alleged to have removed property from the residence of a 77-year-old man living on West 86th Street. The victim told police that the aide had a key to the apartment with permission to enter the premises but not to remove his belongings. The items stolen were a green jade pendant with 18k gold valued at $1,000, plus gold earrings, bracelets, and pendants worth $2,400, along with $600 in cash, making a total of $4,000.