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4 Weekend Robberies – Jewish Homes ‘Emptied Out’

A pattern of disturbing burglaries is emerging after a Jewish home was ransacked, while the family was away for Shabbos. This was the fourth such weekend robbery in Crown Heights in under a month.

The first robbery occurred on the weekend of June 15th in a home on New York Avenue between President and Union Streets, on Friday night while the family was asleep on the second floor. Burglars broke into the home and stole silverware and a cell phone.

Surveillance video obtained by detectives showed a pair of Black males, using a piece a wood, to pry a space in the homes security bars to gain access.

A second burglary occurred on the weekend of June 29th in a home on Eastern Parkway between Kingston and Brooklyn Avenues. Burglars broke into the home and made off with unspecified items.

A third break-in occurred on the weekend of June 29th  in a President Street between Albany and Kingston Avenues where the burglar gained entry into the basement. It is unclear if he made off with any items of value.

The latest, and fourth, victim was on President Street between Albany and Kingston Avenues – same block as the third burglary – where the home was completely emptied out of all valuable items while the family was upstate for the weekend.

Among the items taken were laptops, jewelry, silverware, a collection of dollars received from the Rebbe – the value of which reach into the tens of thousands of dollars. according to the homeowner it appeared that whoever it was that broke in had spent quite some time in the home, going through every closet and cabinet and taking any item of value.

Surveillance video from the dormitory at 1414 President Street revealed a Black man pushing an empty shopping cart into the ally and leaving with it full – twice, and are looking into him as a possible suspect.

The homeowner told CrownHeights.info that it appeared that the burglar first went to his neighbor who had a case of seltzer and apple juice out in his back yard, which was taken. Then he noticed bicycles in the neighboring yard which prompted him to enter and attempt to take the bikes, which lead to the discovery of the rear window through which he gained access to the house.

Sources in the 71st Precinct said that the incidents are being taken seriously and detectives are looking into the possibility of a pattern burglar on the loose.

Residents are urged to take extra care to secure their homes while away, arm burglar alarms, and keep an extra eye out on neighbors homes during the summer months, and around the year.

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27 Comments

  • bikes

    we live on the same block and our bikes were all stolen from our back yard a couple of months ago

  • Anonymous

    Last shabbos that man was on maple street with his shopping cart and tools banging and screeming to see if people are home .

  • catch the theif

    Pple should call their phones saying they ow them money come pick it up and say u wanted to rent/borrow my car its parked at this and this corner the keys r on the seat and have police set up to catch him. And tell stores to watch out for pple purchasing with rebbe dollors

  • Dovid

    Homeowners: Get surveillance cameras, these days they are not expensive!

  • Cameras

    It is worthwhile installing a video surveillance system.

    If you are able to install it on your own you could by a 300 dollar set from home depot walmart etc with wireless videos and have the entire system installed for under 1000 dollars.
    Otherwise you could call a professional.

    It is worth every penny.
    It could be used
    1- To catch a Bulgar.
    2- To detect a potential thieve from future theft (if you see someone in middle of the night).
    3- It will likely scare away a potential thief.
    4- It could even be used to protect yourself from liability, unlawful searches etc.

    • Wrong

      Actually, you are wrong.

      Buying cheap hardware is pointless. The $300 systems from Costco etc.. have poor image quality and horrible low light visibility. These cameras can’t see anything in the dark. Their field of view is also very limited. They make these systems with cheap components and sell thousands of them to unassuming buyers.

      If you buy one of these systems, it will do nothing other than show you how your property was ransacked while you were gone, without being able to make out a single face.

      If you want to protect your property, and perhaps hope to identify a criminal after the fact, you will need to invest in two things: 1) high quality hardware 2) professional installation.

      It’s a 5-10k investment that is well worth it.

  • why why

    To #2: Do you pay shomrim a salary that you can complain they aren’t doing their “job?

    This is about a thief. He is the only one to whom you can complain.

  • Security cameras

    Times for security cameras on all homes accessible thru cell phones.

  • Liberal

    Are you sure they were black males?

    I know, I’m part of the problem (at least I’m not robbing people’s homes).

  • lights out

    I pass by houses all the time in the evening and am constantly surprised at how few people have their houses and doorways illuminated. In a dark doorway; at night; you cannot see a man dressed in black (or a black man) trying to enter. Ask any Detective; after the obvious of locking doors and windows; PUT ON OUTSIDE LIGHTS!!
    Rivka

  • knowledge

    Now with the heat I would guess that when the AC is quiet= nobody home…

  • David

    the Community should start paying shomrim and have a paid force to do this, it should not be volunteer work only!

  • lubavitcher

    One more thing to be careful of. Sometimes your children will be excited that your family is leaving town and will excitedly tell their neighbor that the family is flying to Florida for cousins wedding etc. Make sure your children, regardless of their age, know that it’s dangerous to inform ANYBODY of travel plans because sometimes thieves get their best info from children when the home will be vacant and ripe for theft…

  • pi

    1. today we can track a person from cameras. we need to go on foot and track where he went after 1414 . Twice he came . He could not have gone far by finding who has cameras in alleys, streets etc.
    the thief can be found .
    2. please post a picture of him and his wagon.

  • PICKING LOCKS IS EASY!

    Want to know how to pick a lock? Just do a search on something like “how to pick a lock youtube.” Plenty of “courses” to choose from. Amazing how EASY it is to do. My favorite was an 18 minute session from “Scam School.”
    Basically, if you want to rely on locks, you have to pay money (over $100.00) for the best protection. Although burglars don’t necessarrily go that route, why make it easy for them with cheap locks?

  • to #2

    why dont u stay home and take care of ur own house insted of going upstate and leave evrything behind for others to take care of it I’m so shocked with such a hi expeses that are in our daily living, people still can afford to go to the country and have fuuuuuuuuun. but then again dont have money to pay for school and no salary for teachers.

  • Berel

    You can’t shoot them and they aren’t afraid of jail so we have a problem.

    The issue is that better we keep Torah and Mitvois…

  • To #21 don't rush to judge

    You never know what circumstances people are faced with.

    Also, in this specific case, despite what CrownHeights.info wrote the victims in the most recent case do not go to the Catskills at all. They went away for to spend Shabbos with family in another city.

    We can never criticize others (definitely not during the nine days). All we should do is be more careful ourselves and be more watchful and vigilant for each other. If we see someone walking out of an alley with a loaded cart, engage them in conversation. If everything in the cart is wrapped up or covered, get police ASAP.

  • A.Cohen

    We live in Jerusalem, in a Chareidi Community, and WE were burglarized, having left for Shabbes to be by one of our married children, and found our apt. ransacked-everything of value was taken! Shabbes Licht, all our bechers, honey dish, Chanukiah, silver napkin holder and silver fruit bowl,jewelry, computers, even the modem,cell phone and more
    It took us TWO weeks to clean up our apt. -they emptied out all our closets! They even took bedsheets and pillow cases and jansports bags to take our stuff out with!
    We left lights on in the apt. to make it appear that we were at home- we had NO insurance!
    It was an absolutely sickening feeling!
    videos may show who took your stuff-go find them. maybe if we would have had undectable burglar alarms that would ring unbearably loud, then MAYBE the burglars would have left.
    Who knows? All I know is that we were left with nothing.
    Wishing all of Klall Yisroel well!

  • mendoza

    i spoke with Obama today and he said we should go ez the guys who broke in to those homes .
    because if he had a son . he would look like those crooks