POLICE BEAT

Van thief: No need to pick me up ...

Posted

Why go through the hassle of jimmying open a door and hotwiring a car to steal it? Let someone else do the hard work.

The manager of the Enterprise Rent-A-Car at 5618 Broadway says one of his cars disappeared simply by someone getting in and driving away. He reported a Dodge Grand Caravan missing from inventory just before 4 p.m. on July 24.

Surveillance video footage reportedly showed a man walking into the rental place, getting into the van, and driving away.

The manager determined that one of the business’s interns parked the car and left the key in the ignition and the door unlocked.

Police valued the van at $30,000.

 

Slight of handyman

Thieves in the northwest Bronx have a lot of stuff needing fixing, as two vehicle owners recently learned. And those looking to do the fixing appear to be interested in only in someone else’s tools.

The first of two burglaries were reported July 21 just after noon in the 3200 block of Oxford Avenue. A 35-year-old man returned to his 2014 Dodge Ram pickup he parked there several days earlier to find one of the doors slightly open.

Someone took enough tools to start their own workshop: a bag, 100 wrenches and hand tools, two drills, and a saw. Police valued the stolen property at $3,010 total.

The following day, on July 22 around 11:30 a.m., the owner of an elevator maintenance business walked back to his 2013 Chevrolet work van parked on the 3900 block of Blackstone Avenue to find the back window broken.

Police said the thief took a regular drill, a magnetic drill, an impact drill, a toolbox with hand tools, and a hand truck. Police valued the property at $3,150.

Police Beat, Heather J. Smith