POLICE BEAT

Soap is a luxury item these days

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Garages aren’t the only hot spot for thefts in the community. Someone decided the pickings at the Key Food supermarket on West 235th Street looked much better. 

Police say an unhappy customer took five Dove brand hand soaps on the evening of May 21, all worth $30. Instead of paying, however, he reportedly strolled right past the cash register and out the door.

An employee tried to stop the man, but he reportedly pulled out a knife, saying “I’m going to cut you.” 

Luckily, no one was injured, and the man was arrested later that day at the corner of Broadway and West 231st Street. During the arrest, police say they found the stolen soap, along with some bonus items like a glass pipe with drug residue inside. 

The man was charged with burglary, menacing, and criminal possession of a controlled substance.

Clothes, cars and money

It’s been an unlucky month even for people with cars stored in garages, as one woman living on the 3000 block of Henry Hudson Parkway discovered. 

Sometime between May 8 and May 10, someone decided to try to open her garage door, according to police. The door closes but does not lock, which allowed someone to walk in and open up her 2005 Toyota Corolla.

Inside, thieves found a gym bag valued at about $200, a bag of clothing worth $100, and $10 cash.

There are no cameras in the area and no witnesses, so this may be a harder crime for investigators to solve.

Not such a good gift card

Sometimes you don’t even have to meet a thief in person to get ripped off.

A young woman learned that after someone called her claiming her identity had been compromised. The solution, said the mystery caller? Send gift cards to makeup store Sephora and hardware store Lowe’s — to the caller.

The woman sent $3,500 in gift cards to the caller, police said.

The detective squad doesn’t know who the caller was, but they’re on the case.

A little weed, a little spark

Being parked in front of a bus stop was only the beginning for a car full of people during a time where such close quarters shouldn’t be happening. on the afternoon of May 21.

When an officer investigated the illegal parking job on the afternoon of May 21, he told his superiors he saw  marijuana through the window, in plain view. 

That was enough to get police to look closer inside  the car, finding a stun gun.

All three people sitting inside the car were arrested for possession of a weapon, police said.

Missing: one wallet, forcibly taken

Everyone knows not to keep your wallet hanging out of your pocket, but sometimes the best precautions aren’t quite enough.

That was the case on May 18, when a man walking on the 3200 block of Cambridge Avenue was suddenly shoved to the ground and his wallet stolen, police said. The wallet-snatcher and a friend punched the victim, causing what investigators called “substantial pain and bruising.”

The two then ran toward Broadway, but it was there their luck quickly ran out. Police found the alleged thieves and the missing wallet, arresting one of the men for the robbery.

Police Beat, Kirstyn Brendlen