With Shomrim’s Help, NYPD Builds Case Against Package Thief

After spotting and identifying a notorious package thief, Shomrim provided NYPD detectives with instrumental assistance, which ultimately lead to the arrest of Derrick Pricher last week.

Two days after he was spotted and followed by Shomrim, detectives from the 71st Precinct returned to the home of the suspect involved in the thefts of dozens of packages from inside apartment buildings and in front of homes all over Crown Heights.

After a short confrontation, Derrick Pricher, 63, surrendered to the detectives and was placed under arrest.

A search of Pricher’s apartment yielded the recovery of many of the packages that he has stolen, as well as discarded boxes with shipping labels addressed to other people.

Pricher was identified thanks to the work of Crown Heights Shomrim, who spotted him carrying a large amount of packages on Carroll Street, Wednesday, April 13th. After realizing he was being followed, he fled into 1429 Carroll Street – an apartment building near Albany Avenue, in which he resides.

Police officers arrived minutes later and, acting on information given by Shomrim, they reluctantly knocked on the apartment door. A man who opened the door claimed at first not to know Pricher, and officers took him at his word, despite multiple reports from other residents that he did in fact live in the apartment.

The man then allowed officers into the apartment, but refused to allow them into the bedrooms. This satisfied the officers, who then returned the recovered packages to Shomrim in order to return them to their proper owners.

Community outrage over the police officers’ inaction lead to much better results, when detectives from the 71st Precinct took the case and with the help of Shomrim built a solid case against the suspect and linked up victims of past robberies.

“The suspect freely admitted to many of the thefts,” said Detective Michael Rakebrandt, adding that “thanks to the work of Shomrim we were able to easily build the case, find the victims of the thefts and arrest the suspect.”

“Detective [Rakebrandt] did a phenomenal job in bringing together all the victims and adding up all the charges, truly going beyond the call of duty in taking this menace off the streets,” said a Shomrim spokesperson.

Shomrim also liaised between the United States Postal Service and the NYPD in an effort to ensure that the thefts be treated and dealt with the severity they deserved.

Pricher was charged with multiple counts of Burglary, Criminal Trespassing, Grand Larceny and Criminal Possession of Stolen Property.

Pricher has a lengthy criminal record stretching back to his teenage years, when he was charged with many violent crimes, and more recently with burglaries and pickpocket thefts on the subway.

At his arraignment, he was held on a $25,000 cash or $50,000 bond bail, which he did not post, and remains incarcerated since his arrest.