Crime Watch

Sunglasses Snatch Last Wednesday, a man with exquisite taste in protective eyewear entered a sunglasses shop on Broadway. The discerning shopper selected four pairs of Gucci shades and one Prada style, then fled the store without paying for any of them. The shades were worth a total of $1,500. Checked Out A man reported to police that he had been ripped off five times over the course of several months, a fact he only recently discovered. The victim found out from his bank that an unknown person had written five unauthorized checks from his account and cashed them, to the tune of $32,221.77. The man said that three of the checks were real and had been stolen from him and two others were forged based on his real checks. Ex-Employee Ambush A 24-year-old man, a former employee of a diner on Columbus Avenue, staked out his old workplace last Friday. He knew that another employee would be in the lobby of the building with cash around 5 p.m., and he waited until that time, then knocked the employee to the floor, stealing four envelopes with $2,400 cash in them as well as blank business checks. The man was arrested attempting to flee on the subway. Music School Mayhem A teacher at a local music academy returned to her office from a weekend away to find the place in disarray. Drawers and cabinets were left open, books were moved or missing, and all the computers were unplugged. Whoever scrambled the office made off with a USB drive and about $500 in cash. The victim found that a side door that leads to a room with unlocked windows next to scaffolding had been tampered with. It was an unfortunate case of déjà vue for the victim, as her very same office had been burglarized three years before. A Hefty Bonus A disgruntled ex-employee of a local building management company took his revenge on his former employer in the form of stolen cash. The victim reported to police that he had recently fired the suspect after he repeatedly demanded a cash bonus from his boss. When he was let go, the suspect said, "I will find a way to take the money." It turns out that he did. He had been previously given access to the company's business checking accounts in order to help pay bills. After he was fired, he went to the bank and withdrew $200,000 from the accounts, which the bank verified, before his access could be changed. Basement Burglary A 19-year-old woman came to a party in a friend's basement on West 77th Street late Saturday night. She brought her Dooney & Bourke bag and placed it on the floor in a corner, with a t-shirt and jeans draped over it. After a few hours of basement-party fun, she noticed the bag was missing. The partygoers searched for it, but only found her clothes deposited in another spot. The pricey designer bag also contained some makeup, ID, cigarettes-and $7,000 in cash.