Crime Watch

BY JERRY DANZIG

Hardly SportingIf clothes make a man, one shoplifter must be a made man. At noon Friday, February 24, a man entered the Athleta store at 216 Columbus Avenue and took $1,200 worth of sportswear he neglected to pay for.

When It Duanes, It Pours

The police may need to create a new unit devoted exclusively to shoplifting incidents in Duane Reade stores. At 10 p.m. on Saturday, February 4, four male teenagers entered the Duane Reade location at 2069 Broadway and made off with $1,036 worth of sonic toothbrushes.

And at 7 p.m. on Thursday, February 23, three men entered the Duane Reade store at 4 Amsterdam Ave. and made off with $1,145 worth of merchandise, including Mucinex, Flonase and other over-the-counter medications.

Bed Bath and Bereft

Duane Reade wasn’t the only drugstore shoplifters hit recently. At the very same time as one of the Reade incidents -- 7 p.m. on Thursday, February 23 -- a 27-year-old man enter the Bed Bath and Beyond store at 1932 Broadway and made off with $1,800 worth of over-the-counter medications including Advil, Flonase, and Mucinex.

Check Wreck

Police remind the public to be wary of any situation where you’re asked to remit money after being paid by check from a stranger. On February 7, a 22-year-old woman living at 350 West 83rd St. answered an ad for a job in craigslist. She was hired and received a check in the amount of $3,900 but was requested to return $3,200 of that amount. Sure enough, she discovered after the fact that the $3,900 check had been a fraud.