Results tagged “burglary”

Thieves ransacked a Brighton Beach home after the city mistakenly marked it for demolition. After a fire ravaged the house next door to Martin Senzer's Brighton First Street residence, a Department of Buildings inspector who "is either legally blind or an imbecile," according to Senzer, slated the 66-year-old's home for demolition last January. That mix-up sent a plumber and a National Grid employee to Senzer's house to turn off the gas and water — and they had to cut the locks to get in.

It's not the Ninja burglar—it's the "Pattern 16" burglar! Police are tracking down a 27-year-old, male burglar responsible for hitting 16 homes across Staten Island in September, after recently nabbing his female partner in crime.

The Post reports that a 28-year-old Upper East Side resident was arrested after a "looting spree, scaling fire escapes and slinking into windows to rip off TVs, cameras, iPods and other electronics from a string of buildings -- including her own." However it's unclear if she was wearing sneakers for sneaking.

When they're not shooting themselves in the groin, threatening to kill the president, or trying to blow up Starbucks, the city's rebellious youngsters continue to commit the less sensational crime of burglary. Cops arrested two teenagers suspected of ransacking dozens of lower Manhattan apartments in separate burglary sprees.

There was never going to be a real winner in the Kirsten Dunst vs. alleged burglar case. Either millionaire starlet Dunst was going to send someone to jail for 15 years for stealing a purse, or a thief was going to get off with a slap on the wrist. The NY Post is now reporting that 35-year-old Jim Jimenez has been acquitted after playing what they call an "I'm too stupid" card; reportedly submitting letters and grades from his former Special Ed program that backed him up.

Earlier we noted that actress Kirsten Dunst was heading to the courthouse today to testify against a Manhattan mechanic accused of stealing the actress's handbags and whatnot, while she was stationed at the SoHo Grand hotel penthouse. 35-year-old James Jimenez now faces 15 years in prison if convicted; his accomplice, Jarrod Beinerman, was already sentenced to 4 years.

An ex-con who is suspected of robbing over a dozen homes throughout the East Village and Lower East Side was feeling so cocky while hanging out inside the East 10th Street apartment he was hitting up that he decided to have a little shirts-off time and take a snooze. When the super of the building found his cellphone and t-shirt behind, cops were able to use DNA testing on the shirt to nail 45-year-old Ramon Pacheco. One police source said Pacheco would use acrobatics to get inside hard-to-reach spots in apartments, taking "laptops, iPods and cameras," telling the Post, "He's kind of like a Spider-Man. Sometimes he's kicking in windows. Sometimes he's going through skylights. One time, he kicked in an air conditioner and crawled inside the apartment."

Just after State Senator Pedro Espada Jr. made jaws drop in Albany and around the state by teaming with fellow Democrat Hiram Monserrate and handing control of the Senate over to Republicans, his Mamaroneck home was broken into and had files and office papers stolen from within it. Espada told the Post, "This was a burglary. I have to tie it in to demonstrations outside my home. Things are on the precipice of violence... People will get hurt." Good thing burglars knew to hit his Westchester home and not the Bronx residence in the neighborhood Espada represents, where neighbors never seem to see him. NY1 went to the Bronx district and said they found his constitutents unhappy with the senator's power play. One voter told them, "It's kind of ridiculous, but seriously, because to be honest with you, I cannot understand exactly being in a one party body for one reason for a long time, and then switch it suddenly just like with out another reasons. How can you explain that to the people?"

Police arrested a suspected serial gym robber who hit New York Sports Club and Crunch locations in Manhattan. The NY Post reports that John Perez of Queens "would usually get past security by using a gym member's ID that he had previously stolen...Then he would sneak inside the locker room, use a bolt cutter to break into lockers and grab wallets, cash, credit cards, ID's, Blackberrys and cell phones, sources said." The 23-year-old allegedly stole from the West 82nd Street Crunch three times and the Christopher Street location once, while also hitting the Chelsea, Upper East Side and Upper West Side branches of New York Sports Club. Perez was charged with 10 counts of burglary. Some robbers do like gym lockers: One man arrested earlier this year for a rash of NYSC robberies was arrested in 1979 for stealing from a Jack LaLanne gym in the Bronx.

While the police closed the case on the Staten Island Ninja Burglar last year, some Shaolin residents are still on their toes about the shadowy thief who terrorized many homeowners by stealing their belongings wearing all black. Now, the Staten Island Advance reports that a couple in the Emerson Hill section came face-to-face with a figure trying to rob their mansion Homeowner Russ Irarey said, "He was a ninja in a black suit, only his eyes were showing."

After once promising actor Lillo Brancato Jr. was sentenced to 10 years in prison (possibly getting out in 5 years, with good behavior), he told his lawyer, "This is going to be good for me, this five years. I'm going to straighten myself out, put my thoughts together."

Lillo Brancato Jr., once promising actor whose descent into drugs led to a confrontation that left an off-duty police officer dead, was sentenced to ten years for burglary. He was found not guilty of murdering Officer Daniel Enchautegui (Brancato's associate Steven Armento, who pulled the trigger, was found guilty earlier in an earlier trial and is serving a life sentence). Brancato's lawyer was trying to argue his client should get time-served for the burglary conviction, since he had been in prison since the 2005 incident, but the Bronx DA's office said they'd fight it.

Nassau County police arrested a 25-year-old man for allegedly breaking into an Island Park home. Police say Andrew Zellinger fled because a 14-year-old girl started screaming—Zellinger had apparently been standing in her bedroom. But police were able to nab him, since, as Newsday reports, Zellinger "left behind one very important piece of evidence when he ran: His personal identification." He was charged with first-degree burglary. Related: Over the summer, a robber returned to the Brooklyn home where he stole $200 because he...forgot his wallet.

Is the economic free fall already leading to higher crime and degentrifying neighborhoods, as previously speculated? Brooklyn's 88th precinct, which includes Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, is reporting that so far this year robberies have spiked 7.6 percent and burglaries are up 18.6 percent. And a cardboard box of bloody human remains discovered on fancy Washington Park isn't exactly putting residents at ease; one of them tells The Brooklyn Paper, “This hasn’t happened since the 1970s. Back then, I came out of my building one morning and found a body hanging from a lightpost."

The man who broke into Kirsten Dunst's hotel room in the SoHo Grand last August, Jarrod Beinerman, is now headed for jail. The NY Post reports that he's been sentenced to 4 ½ years in prison after being arrested on burglary and larceny charges, though "he was allowed to plead guilty to the lesser charge of attempted burglary." All in all Dunst had her iPod, cameras, wallets, purses and cash taken from her. Since the news broke last summer, Beinerman's MySpace status has gone from "worried" to "miserable." But like a trouper, he's still got the marijuana avatar up there (declaring "Just Do It") even though he faces separate drug charges in Brooklyn next week.

The Lower Manhattan Jack Spade store has been burgled multiple times this year, and as they say: three's a trend. In that vein, Men's Vogue reports that the store has now decided to celebrate their thief, who has returned three times to lift the perfect accessories for his crime (a little over $1K in merchandise). "Smitten by this criminal's dedication and affinity for their products they have created a comic book to commemorate his adventures," Breaking and Entering is based off the surveillance video and available at their Greene Street location, which has been "decorated in homage to their nocturnal visitor."

Holy nunchuks! The Staten Island Advance reports "the NYPD has quietly closed the book on Staten Island's so-called Ninja Burglar case, after authorities started deportation proceedings against at least one Albanian man they believe to be connected to the string of break-ins."