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Bike-riding thief snatched cellphones right out of at least 7 unsuspecting pedestrians’ hands across NYC: cops
The thief first targeted a 17-year-old boy who was walking just outside Union Square Park, on East 17th Street near Park Avenue South, around 3:30 p.m. on Valentine’s Day, cops said.
nypost.com
Bike-riding thief snatched cellphones right out of at least 7 unsuspecting pedestrians’ hands across NYC: cops
By
Social Links for Amanda Woods
Published Feb. 27, 2024, 2:40 p.m. ET
A bicycle-riding bandit robbed at least seven people on Manhattan sidewalks and in parks, ripping cellphones out of the hands of unsuspecting pedestrians, cops said Tuesday.
The menace first targeted a 17-year-old boy who was walking just outside Union Square Park, on East 17th Street near Park Avenue South, around 3:30 p.m. on Valentine’s Day, according to police.
He snatched the teen’s phone before pedaling away, police said.
Later that same day, around 6:40 p.m., the spree continued when the cyclist pried a phone from the hands of a 53-year-old woman at First Avenue and 90th Street on the Upper East Side.
The serial thief struck again around 3 p.m. Feb. 16 when he rolled up to a 30-year-old woman inside Washington Square Park and yanked her phone away from her, cops said.
He took two days off before targeting four more victims in as many neighborhoods on Feb. 19, authorities said.
A 35-year-old woman was walking on West 27th Street toward 10th Avenue, just outside Chelsea Park, around 6:30 p.m. when the sticky-fingered cyclist plucked her phone, cops said.
Then about a half-hour later, he took a phone from a 29-year-old man walking on University Place toward East 10th Street, blocks from New York University, cops said.
His next victim was a 28-year-old woman walking at Bowery and East 4th Street around 8:30 p.m., police said.
In that case, he once again grabbed the victim’s phone straight out of her hand, cops said.
He pedaled back in the direction he came — targeting the final victim, a 35-year-old woman, as she walked south on Avenue of the Americas toward West 25th Street around 8:40 p.m., authorities said.
He fled on the bike, heading north on Avenue of the Americas, cops said.
Police released images of the suspect Tuesday and said he appears to be between 20 and 30 years old, about 5 feet 8 and about 150 pounds.
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Anyone with information on the series of thefts is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, or on X @NYPDTips.
In a similar recent string of heists, a crew of brazen moped-riding robbers linked to the brutal Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua have snatched phones from their victims’ hands before speeding off, sources previously told The Post.
And in a Sunday night spree, a Citi Bike-riding thief or thieves terrorized Central Park — targeting four people in little over an hour while boasting to one terrified victim, “I rob people for a living,” cops and sources said.
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