POLICE BEAT: Thefts Using Hugs and Razor Blades

160 PEARL
Feb. 28, 12:50 p.m.
A thief lifted a woman’s credit cards, bank cards, a Metrocard and $200 while she was dining at The Full Shilling. The woman realized her belongings were missing when she received a text message from her bank notifying her of unauthorized charges made that afternoon at a Bed, Bath & Beyond in the Bronx. The restaurant had no video surveillance footage documenting the theft, because its equipment had been destroyed during Hurricane Sandy.

97 WARREN
Feb. 28, 1:30 p.m.
A woman left her handbag unattended in her child’s stroller, which she had parked in a stroller area while she window-shopped. When the woman, 44, returned, the bag—which contained credit and bank cards, a $150 iPod and $350—was gone.

72 WALL
Feb. 28, 2 p.m.
A street vendor was robbed when a woman with a cane embraced him, claiming that she wanted to be hugged. The woman swiped $400 from the man’s pants pocket.

195 BROADWAY
Mar. 1, 3:30 p.m.
An unknown perpetrator stole a 40-year-old woman’s purse from the back of her chair at Starbucks.The handbag contained a wallet with $60 and credit cards, a pair of leather gloves and a hotel room key.

BROADWAY AND MURRAY
Mar. 2, 2:30 p.m.
A pickpocket took a woman’s $500 iPhone as she got off an R train at City Hall station. 

FULTON AND CHURCH
Mar. 2, 3:45 p.m.
A man is under arrest for stealing another man’s wallet while he was traveling on the E train. The perpetrator snatched the wallet while the man was sleeping, using a razor blade to cut open a back pocket of his pants. The victim recovered his wallet, which contained his ID and $10.