Crime Watch

Check Mark

Fraudulent checks were written against a woman's checking account. At 4 PM on Wednesday, August 28, an 85-year-old woman living on West 82nd Street was contacted by her bank regarding unusual activity on her checking account. As she was canceling the account, she discovered that several fraudulent transactions had been made, amounting to more than $20,000. The woman said that she had not given permission or authorization for anyone to make those transactions. She also said that checks inside her checkbook did not bear any of the fraudulent check numbers. The locations of the fraudulent transactions were unknown.

Taking an Eternity

A woman's wedding rings were stolen. On Saturday, September 7, a 29-year-old woman living on West 70th Street placed her wedding rings as usual on top of a glass shelf inside her bathroom. The following day, sometime between 3:40 PM and 4 PM, she left her apartment and, upon her return, found her rings were missing. There were no signs of forced entry, and police said the robbers had used an unknown point of entry. However, the woman also admitted that she had left her keys in her front door. The rings stolen were an HC platinum with 1.83 carats of diamond valued at $38,588 and a 3-carat diamond eternity band valued at $12,600.

Wire Liar

A woman was almost cheated in a wire transfer scam. At 11 AM on Thursday, September 12, a 75-year-old woman living on West 84th Street was contacted by an unidentified man stating that he owed her $300. He said that she needed to wire him $5,419.83 to an unspecified location in India so that he could send her the amount he claimed to owe her. The woman wired him the amount, then reconsidered and told her bank to cancel the transaction, which they did.

Preying on Prayerful

Someone stole a churchgoer's bicycle. At 6:35 PM on Friday, September 13, a 57-year-old man locked his bicycle to the fence in front of a church on the southwest corner of Central Park West and West 76th Street. He went inside the church and stayed for approximately 2-1/2 hours. When he came out, he found that his bike was gone and the lock and cable were cut. The stolen bike was a Lightning Cycle Dynamics Phantom II valued at $2,000.

Volvo Violated

Items were stolen from a man's car. Sometime between the hours of 11:30 PM on Saturday, September 14 and 9:30 AM on the 15th, someone broke the rear window of a 49-year-old man's Volvo parked at the southwest corner of Broadway and West 78th Street and took items from inside the car. A 62-year-old man working at a restaurant adjacent to the car's parking spot said the incident must have occurred during the hours when the restaurant was closed. The items stolen were a Scott SUB 10 bicycle valued at $1,400, A Dell laptop worth $1,200, bike shoes priced at $200, and a bike helmet costing $100.

Rear Window

Items were stolen from a man's apartment while he was at work. At 9 AM on Wednesday, September 11, a 27-year-old man living on Columbus Avenue left for work, locking his apartment's front door behind him. When he returned home at 5:30 PM, the front door was unlocked. When he walked into his apartment, he noticed that a rear window was open, things were out of place, and items were missing. Police questioned other residents in the building, but none had been home at the time of the robbery. Items stolen were a bracelet with colored and white stones valued at $5,000, a Nikon D3100 digital SLR camera valued at $550, a black iPad worth $500, an Acer V3 laptop priced at $500, a yellow metal watch costing $500, and various debit and credit cards. The total stolen amounted to $7,050.