Crime Watch

BY JERRY DANZIG

Varlet ValetA woman from Brooklyn told police that at 6:50 a.m. on Friday, November 25, her husband saw a man standing in the lobby of the Roxy Hotel at 2 Sixth Ave. and, believing him to be a parking valet, gave him the keys to his 2014 Infiniti QX 60. Unfortunately, the man in the lobby was not a parking valet, and he drove off with the Brooklyn man’s car. The police report gave the value of the vehicle as $4,500, but online sources say this model can easily run upwards of $25,000.

Loading DockedCommercial vans are as desirable to thieves as passenger cars and trucks. At 3:20 a.m. on Sunday, November 27, several individuals were loading a van in front of 250 West Broadway. They left the 2014 GMC unattended and running. When they returned 10 minutes later, the van was gone. A search of the neighborhood showed turned up nothing, but a license plate reader captured an image of the van in the Holland Tunnel at 4:29 a.m. heading toward New Jersey. The van is valued at $20,000. The truck was carrying $500 worth of bread.

Given the BrushAt 1:15 p.m. on Nov. 23, a New Jersey man placed his jacket behind his chair while having lunch in the Hudson Eats/Dos Toros restaurant at 225 Liberty St. He later received notification of unauthorized charges to his debit and credit cards. He checked his jacket and discovered that his wallet containing the cards was missing. He told police he had felt a “slight brush” while eating but thought nothing of it. He subsequently canceled all his cards. The total of the unauthorized charges came to $12,300, including one charge made at the 14th Street Apple Store.

Planet SicknessTwo men learned the same hard lesson about leaving valuable property in a gym locker. At 12:30 p.m. on Nov. 23, two men put property in lockers at the Planet Fitness gym at 25 Broadway. When they returned to their lockers at 1:55 p.m. they found that they both been ripped off. The items stolen included a silver blackface Movado watch valued at $3,000, a grey wedding ring with three diamonds priced at $700, $380 in cash, a Samsung Note 4 cell phone worth $300, and a black lock. The total stolen came to $4,380.

CartastropheThe cost of sending her daughter to school skyrocketed for an area resident recently. At 8:20 a.m. on Nov. 21, a 50-year-old woman left a Whole Foods cart in front of the location at 82 West Broadway as she put her daughter on the school bus. When the woman turned back around, she found the cart was gone, along with her wallet and credit cards. A search of the area turned up nothing. The items stolen included a Gucci leather wallet, cash, a check, various credit and debit cards, a monthly Metro Card, and a school ID, with a total value of $3,701.