Crime Watch

Some ShelterAn area resident encountered a most unwelcome surprise after a day of work. At 2:30 a.m. on June 18, a 28-year-old woman discovered that her property had been packed by the management of the shelter at 237 West 107th Street and placed in the lobby there. She told police that several items were missing. These included diamond rings, bracelets and necklaces, 10 pair of Jimmy Choo shoes, Versace boots and sandals, prescription eyeglasses, sunglasses, black-and-white sunglasses, a striped Henri Bendel jewelry box, and a gold iPhone 6, all valued at just under $25,000.

The Client is Sometimes CrookedAt 6 p.m. on June 21, a 54-year-old man’s video production company on West 90th Street received a payment for services they had agreed to provide. After his company deposited the check, he was contacted with a request to wire back the money he had been paid in excess of his stated fee. Only after he remitted the extra payment did he discover that the client’s check was fraudulent and he was out $2,337.50.

Checked RefundSomeone intercepted a local resident’s tax refund check. A West 104th Street resident told police that Smart Tax had mailed him a tax refund check on June 14 and he never received it. He checked with his bank, and was told that the check, for $5,016.78, had been cashed at an unknown location.

Posted and RoastedYet more checks were removed from an Upper West Side mailbox. At 6 p.m. on July 8, a West 96th Street resident called Western Union to ask about the status of four money orders she had mailed using the mailbox on West 104th Street and Amsterdam Avenue back in March. She found out that an unknown person had changed information on her money orders and cashed them. Each of the four checks was made out in the amount of $766.55, making a total stolen of $3,066.20.

Found and LostPolice arrested one of the suspected shoplifters plaguing area drugstores. At 6 p.m. on July 11, a 38-year-old man entered the CVS store at 2495 Broadway and put 49 medications valued at $1,604 into his pants before leaving the store without paying. The man was followed by a customer who had witnessed the incident and pointed the suspected thief to police. Joseph Dantzler was arrested on July 11 and charged with grand larceny. His excuse to police: “I found the stuff.”