Crime Watch

BY JERRY DANZIG
Collection RejectionAn Upper West Side resident reported to police that five credit card accounts, with debt topping $87,000, were opened in his name without his knowledge. The Columbus Avenue resident told police on Oct. 20 that he had received a phone call the day before from a collection agency, claiming he owed money on a Barclays credit card. He told the agency that he had never opened that account. He then requested his credit report and discovered that four additional credit cards had been opened in his name without his knowledge. In all, five accounts had been opened since May 2015, with a combined balance of a whopping $87,256.
Chase CaseYet another Upper West Side resident received a distressing phone call on a financial matter. On Oct. 19, a 72-year-old woman living on West 108th Street got a phone call from Chase Bank stating that she had written a check in the amount of $3,500. The woman denied that she had written that check and did not know who actually had.
Dewalt DefaultSo many construction tools have been stolen in the last year, it is a wonder any construction gets done. During the period between 5 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 14 and 10 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 17, unknown perpetrators entered 328 West 108th St. through a front second-floor window and removed drills, drivers and a palm router from a construction site at the address. The tools are worth a total of $3,170.
Gloomy RoomieOn the evening of Oct. 15, a 20-year-old woman living in the Douglass House at 60 West 104th Street realized her watch was missing from her room in an apartment she shared with two roommates. The following day her ring was missing from her room as well. The day after that, she found that $100 was gone from her wallet. Finally, she got an alert from Chase Bank saying that an unauthorized transaction had been made on her debit card in a New York City location. She told the bank that the card was still in her wallet. She told police that she did not have a lock on her bedroom door and several people had access to her room, including her two roommates, one of the roommates’ boyfriends who had a key to the apartment, and another guest of the roommates, who had been in the apartment on one of the days in question. The missing items are valued at $2,200.
Party PlunderApparently, some high schoolers helped themselves to “party favors” at the expense of a boy and his mother. A 56-year-old woman told police that her autistic son had given the keys to their apartment at 201 Ellington Parkway to a friend of his who went to Eleanor Roosevelt High School. The woman was later contacted by her landlord, who said there had been a large party in their apartment on Oct. 21. She told police multiple items, including a jewelry, pocketbooks, an iPhone 5 and headphones, were missing when she returned home.