Crime Watch

BY JERRY DANZIG

Mailbox Marauders ArrestedPolice collared at least two of the criminals who have been intercepting, altering and redirecting checks removed from area mailboxes. At 1 a.m. on Monday, May 2, two young men, ages 17 and 19, were see taking mail containing checks from a mailbox at Amsterdam Avenue and West 97th Street. Joshua Brown and Christopher Rose were arrested and charged with grand larceny.

Bonnie and FraudAnother area senior became a victim of a scam. At 9 p.m. on Saturday, May 7, a 66-year-old West End Avenue resident was contacted by an unknown person who told her that if she did not send $27,000 for deposit to a Salem, Virginia, Wells Fargo bank account in the name of Bonnie Porter, she would go to jail. The woman told police she had previously sent $6,500 to that same person on the understanding that she would be receiving a box of military medals worth $4.7 million. The woman said she was afraid of the con artist and would not send any more money.

Cinema SinLate on Friday, May 6, a 23-year-old man parked his car outside 260 West 80th St. on his way to the movies. When he returned to his car at 3 a.m., the back passenger’s-side window had been broken and his backpack removed. He tried to locate his phone using the iPhone app but did not succeed. Other items stolen included a 15-inch Apple MacBook Pro, a textbook, plus a book bag and schoolbooks, all worth a total of $2,430.

Forging OnThe recent rash of check forgeries continues unabated. On Thursday, May 5, a 73-year-old man living on West 93rd street went to the TD bank at 2521 Broadway to withdraw cash from the ATM only to find his account had been closed. He was told that his contact information had been changed. When he reviewed his account information, he found that four checks had been forged, totaling $8,540. The man still had the originals of two of the four checks forged, and it was unknown where the other checks had been stolen or intercepted.

Pet: 1, Property: 0A man was so busy attending to the pet of an acquaintance that he neglected his own property. At 12:35 p.m. on May 2, a 34-year-old man left his belongings in the hallway at 200 Riverside Drive while he went inside an apartment to take care of the resident’s pet. When he had finished his pet-sitting duties, his property was missing from the hall. He searched the building, but nothing turned up. The property stolen included a black Burberry raincoat, a pair of Lanvin sunglasses, and a pair of Beats by Dr. Dre headphones with a total value of $2,374.