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NY Post
New York Post
27 Feb 2024


NextImg:Bike-riding thief snatched cellphones right out of at least 7 peoples’ hands across NYC: cops

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 on 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 evening, 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 cell phone thief targeted victims in multiple Manhattan neighborhoods, cops said. NYPD

The serial thief struck again on Feb. 16 at around 3 p.m. 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.

The suspect in a string of cell phone thefts, seen wearing a yellow and black winter coat.
The youngest victim in the series of stick-ups was a 17-year-old boy, and the oldest a 53-year-old woman, cops said. NYPD

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 the Avenue of Americas toward West 25th Street around 8:40 p.m., authorities said.

He then fled on the bike, heading north on the Avenue of Americas, cops said.

Police released images of the suspect on Tuesday, and said he appears to between 20 and 30 years old, about 5-foot-8 and weighing about 150 pounds.

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.