The Queens DA announced that two American Airlines baggage handlers at JFK Airport were charged with stealing $280,000 of jewelry from a suitcase checked in and bound for Los Angeles. Apparently Albert Acevedo and Angelo Riviello had a code to let each other know about certain bags; in this instance, Riviello said, "Wow, that’s heavy," and Acevedo, baggage crew head, came over and opened the bag. Acevedo took some of the suitcase's envelopes and later......

Two members of the NYPD's Organized Crime Control Bureau were relieved of their badges after videotape of a raid on a downtown club made its way to the Internal Affairs Bureau. According to the Post, in one segment, a veteran sergeant is seen bending down over an open cash register (some money was reportedly stolen). His supervisor was taped urinating in the establishment's kitchen sink. One of their OCCB co-workers, a detective, was suspended earlier......

Cecille Villacorta, an ex-Saks employee, is on trial today for charges that she stole over $1 million from the Manhattan flagship store, money that actually went into her customers pockets. Sort of like a modern day Robin Hood except she was stealing from the rich and giving to the rich. Her big commissions and bonuses came from striking a deal with about 230 customers and selling over $27 million in jewelry; upon purchasing the jewels......

The two women who are accused of stealing from open houses are looking for deals from the prosecutors. Previously, one of their lawyers had said they would be pleading not guilty, but half of the "Thelma & Louise" pair (they would both go to open houses, and one would distract the agent while the other stole items) Jennifer Jones is "going to plead guilty to a felony and misdemeanor in a no-jail deal," per the......

The Post has it that a prep cook at Junior’s restaurant in Brooklyn is in hot water after a co-worker spotted him stuffing 15 lobster tails down his pants and into bandages around his legs. In recent weeks, Junior’s staff had noticed that the restaurant’s supply of lobster tails had inexplicably dipped. So when 40-year-old Raymundo Flores was observed in a walk-in freezer bulking up his trousers with crustaceans, coworkers called 911....

Remember that trusting cyclist who let a complete stranger “try out” his KHS bike – only to watch him pedal away, never to return? The story has a (sort of) happy ending, as the victim, Michael Green, relates in a long post on his blog, which uses that eyesore ‘white text on black background’ format. To spare you the eyestrain, here’s the gist: While Green was out of town this weekend, a couple of his......

While the man who suspected of stealing women's purses during the morning subway commute has been caught, it turns out there's another fiend with a similar penchant. The Post says a "well-dressed, well-coiffed daytime purse-snatcher has been targeting unsuspecting women as they lunch at Midtown tourist spots." The thief, who seems to be 35-45 years old and between 5'11" and 6'1" with brown hair, is connected to eight robberies in recent weeks, looking for chairs......

Marc Jacobs, who is no angel himself, had a questionable employee managing one of his three stores in the Village. The NY Post reports that 24-year-old Kyle Avila stole approximately $62K from the designer in just 18 months. Gawker notes that the Kansas boy also once posed nude for a Jacobs t-shirt (pictured), so maybe he just felt he was due. It appears no one was the wiser at the 385 Bleecker Street shop, as......

Somehow, a parishioner at the Free Mission Action Movement Church in East New York, Brooklyn managed to steal the church and sell it to a developer. How could this happen? Well, the City Register doesn't check deeds for authenticity, enabling many scammers to attempt steal property. The Daily News reports that the "con-man parishioner" Derrick Jones "easily managed to get the City Register to record forged deeds" for the $1 million church and property. Jones......

Bike thieves in New York have been known to use everything from electric saws to Bic pen tops in order to separate bikes from pesky locks, but no method is more effective than convincing a cyclist to just hand over their ride. This is what happened to BikeBlogger Michael Green yesterday when, outside the eco-friendly Birdbath Bakery, he let a smooth-talking grifter talk him out of his beloved KHS (pictured): A Hispanic male about 5'8,......

Demonstrating just how valuable free parking in New York City is, a rash of smash and grab thefts has struck areas in Washington Heights and the Bronx, where firefighters have had their car windows broken and parking placards stolen. Most of the thefts have occurred right outside of firehouses, usually when members are called out to a fire, according to the New York Post. The recent increase in placard jacking began shortly after Mayor Bloomberg......

Two deliverymen-turned-thieves ripped off a shipment of Apple iPhones headed for Hong Kong, and traded in their loot for matching maroon cars and "diamond stud Yankee earrings." Really! Cathay Pacific Airlines reported the theft when they discovered not the almost $150K of digital devices (475 of them), but reams of copy paper. Nassau County cops traced the theft to two workers who delivered the shipment to the airport and had quit their jobs almost immediately......

Queens Councilman Hiram Monseratte is alleging dirty tricks in regards to the burglary of his office late this week. While the Councilman and his staff were at a community meeting Thursday evening, someone broke into Monseratte's office. It wasn't a regular break in--all that was taken was a laptop belonging to his chief of staff containing campaign information and a box of envelopes labeled with Monseratte's imprimatur. The fact that no other valuable items were......

Brooklyn postal worker Michael Olivio was arrested by feds last week for stealing mail he was supposed to deliver when he suspected that cards contained cash or checks. After residents on his postal route began to complain that they were not receiving certain expected pieces of mail, postal inspectors began an elaborate investigation. First they mailed decoy greeting cards to establish that mail was indeed disappearing along Olivio's route. They followed that up by mailing......

Operation Lucky Bag, the NYPD program that threatened to ensnare good Samaritans along with subway thieves, is making a comeback after being effectively shut down earlier this year. Initially, the program involved cops leaving bags of merchandise, wallets, or purses on subway benches. When someone picked them up and didn't immediately turn them over to the police or subway personnel, he or she was arrested. According to the police, Operation Lucky Bag netted 101 arrests......

The Department of Education is charging a temp with stealing $50,000 in fake overtime. The tip off? When Tyrone Avila would claim he was working 85 hours a week - when he really supposed to work less than 40 hours a week. The Daily News reports that Avila had been temping as budget analyst for the DOE since 2001, but "he didn't start padding his time sheets until 2005 when his mother-in-law developed mental problems......

The Staten Island homeless man who repeatedly attempted to lay claim to the SoHo Grand Hotel has pleaded guilty and faces a year in prison. Kouadio Kouassi is an immigrant from the Ivory Coast and has been jailed since last December. He repeatedly filed claims with the city's Dept. of Finance in an attempt to assume legal ownership of the $76 million boutique hotel. Upon sentencing, Kouassi will like be quickly released and then deported......