Police beat

Mailbox fisher reels in a rent check find

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A 30-year-old  Van Cortlandt Village resident was likely the victim of a mailbox fishing scam, which lost him more than $6,000.

The man put his rent check in a mailbox on Bailey Avenue in the early morning hours of Nov. 5, according to police. Before the mail could be picked up, however, it appears someone reached into the mailbox and retrieved the victim’s rent check.

That person, police say, seems to have altered the check amount, cashing it for $6,500.

Mailbox fishing refers to when crooks use long sticks with some hook or adhesive at the end to reach into public mailboxes and reel in personal mail and valuables. It’s lucrative business, especially throughout the Bronx, where the U.S. Postal Service has actively worked to replace street mailboxes with retrofitted slots designed to prevent fishing since 2017.

 

Hot items are rims, tires — and makeup?

Two cars were victims in what’s believed to be a pair of unrelated thefts, including one that cost one unlucky driver some $1,500 in makeup.

A man said he parked his car near the corner of Palisade and Independence avenues in Spuyten Duyvil overnight, but when he returned the next morning, his rear window was smashed.

Along with the damage, the 32-year-old told police the crooks had taken the window hinges for his 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee, as well as $1,500 in makeup products.

Police were unsure exactly how much makeup had been stolen, or why it was so valuable. There also were no cameras on scene to help catch the thief.

In another case, crooks stole the rims and tires off a 42-year-old’s car in the dead of night, according to police.

They said it happened between the evening of Nov. 5, and sometime before 10 a.m., the following morning. The driver had parked his 2018 Honda Accord on the corner of West 236th Street and Independence Avenue overnight, returning to find all four rims and tires missing.

There were no cameras near that scene either, but cops are still investigating the thefts.

 

Wallet stolen in bodega

One customer at a deli on Broadway near West 225th Street had an unpleasant Friday morning when he dropped his wallet, and had someone else swipe it up before he even noticed.

Surveillance footage from inside the bodega shows a woman, about 29, spotting the 50-year-old man’s wallet after it fell out of his pocket, grab it, and quickly leave the store before anyone had a chance to notice. All of this occurred, according to police, at around 7:45 a.m.

The victim told police he had about $100 in cash, credits cards, and his New York State ID in his wallet when it was stolen.

Police Beat, Anthony Capote