See this story at BrooklynDaily.com.
By Colin Mixson
Brooklyn Daily
61st Precinct
Sheepshead Bay—Homecrest— Manhattan Beach—Gravesend
Bumbling bandit
One thief went to a lot of trouble to break into the kitchen of a Kings Highway grocery store on Nov. 29 — only to flee empty-handed, cops said.
The store owner told police the crook broke into his business between E. Third and E. Fourth streets at 8 pm by using a hacksaw to cut through the iron bars guarding a skylight, before slipping in through the roof. The crook gained access to the building, but soon found he was stuck in the kitchen.
He loitered there for about a half hour, before leaving none the richer the same way he came in, according to the victim.
Not so safe
A thief stole a safe out of a man’s Ford Street home on Nov. 30, along with the $3,000 and jewelry it contained.
The victim told police that he left his home between Emmons Avenue and Shore Parkway at 11 pm, and spent the next eight hours at the hospital, before returning to find his house had been looted.
The crook had hurled a brick through the home’s back window, before grabbing the safe — which contained the cash and a gold bracelet worth $1,400, cops said.
Boiler bandit
A crook stole construction supplies and expensive home equipment from a Lincoln Terrace house on Nov. 25.
The victim told police that he had left his home between Emmons and Nostrand avenues for the Rockaways at 3 pm, and returned two days later to find someone had pried his way into the living room, and nabbed a hot water heater, a box of copper poles, and a boiler, cops said.
Home alone
A crook hit pay dirt when he looted a woman’s W. Ninth Street apartment on Nov. 21, taking $1,000 and more than $6,000 worth of jewelry — while the owner was still home.
The victim told police that she was inside her home between Lake Place and Avenue V at 6 pm when the suspect burst in through a rear window and grabbed her valuables. The victim said she saw the man, but his features were obscured by the darkness. She was not attacked, cops said.
Bike bandit
Cops are hunting for a thieving bicyclist who nabbed the phone out of a woman’s hands on E. 18th Street on Dec. 1.
The victim told police that she was between Quentin Road and Avenue R at 1:50 pm when the suspect rode up beside her. He grabbed the woman’s phone, shoved her, and then rode for the hills.
The woman, without her phone, was forced to walk into the 61st Precinct’s station house on Coney Island Avenue, by which time the crook had plenty of time to flee.
Earring attacker
Police cuffed a 28-year-old man who they say beat a woman and ripped her earrings off on E. 15th Street on Nov. 30 — before stealing her keys.
The victim told police that she was between Avenues X and Y at 11:30 pm when the suspect started strangling her, then ripped one of her earrings off, and the earlobe along with it.
The man then allegedly reached into the victim’s purse, nabbing her keys, and then fled in his car.
Old man and the robbers
Cops are looking for two gun-wielding thugs who attempted to rob a 76-year-old man on Nostrand Avenue on Dec. 1.
The victim told police that he was near Avenue W at 1:45 am when the crooks approached and leveled a pistol at him.
“Give me the money,” one of the goons snarled.
But the old man called the crooks’ bluff, and dashed for shelter at a nearby store. The crooks didn’t fire, or follow, but decided to flee instead, leaving the old man safe with his cash.
— Colin Mixson