Police Blotter
Midtown North
‘Basket case’
A sculpture was stolen last week from Galeries
Bartoux, at 104 Central Park South, police said.
On Thurs., April 25, around 4:30 p.m., a man
entered the gallery and stole the artwork, valued at
$16,000. The sculpture is by the artist Fred Allard
and resembles a traditional shopping basket made of
crystal resin adorned with gold chains.
Police announced two days later on April 27 that
they had arrested Zoltan Genc, 61, a Bronx resident,
and charged him with grand larceny.
19th Precinct
Phone scam
An elderly Upper East Side resident was tricked
into giving a stranger $20,000, police said.
In mid-April, a 91-year-old man received a phone
call from a stranger saying that his grandson needed
bail money.
The concerned grandfather agreed to give the unknown
caller cash.
On April 10, the grandfather sent his “house man”
to give the unknown caller $9,000 in the lobby of his
apartment building. On April 11, the grandfather met
with the unknown caller in the lobby to give him an
additional $11,000 in cash.
According to police at the 19th Precinct, after the
second payment, the worried granddad eventually
found out that his grandson was not in jail. Shortly
after speaking with his grandson, he notifi ed police
that he had been scammed.
Capital offense
At a Capital One bank branch at 249 E. 86th St. a
woman named Elizabeth Velasquez tried to fraudulently
cash a check for $2,000, police said.
On April 15, Velasquez tried to use a fake Pennsylvania
ID and debit card to cash a check made out to
Maritza Pineda. According to police, at some point
during her time in the bank, Velasquez claimed that
she was Pineda’s sister and that the check had been
mailed to her.
The teller attending Velasquez called Pineda after
noticing the ID was fake and after seeing a notifi cation
on the account stating that fraud was being attempted.
Velasquez had tried to cash the same check at another
Capital One bank earlier, according to police.
While on the phone with Pineda, the teller was able
to confi rm that Velasquez was not who she said she
was and called the police. Velasquez was arrested.
COURTESY N.Y.P.D.
This artwork was stolen from a Central Park
South gallery but the thief was caught, according
to police.
Social Security scam
Another elderly Upper East Side resident fell victim
to scammers earlier this month.
On April 10, a 73-year-old woman told police that
she received a letter in the mail stating that her Social
Security benefi ts were going to levied.
The woman then received a phone call from someone
claiming to be from American Tax Solutions,
saying that they could lower the levy amount from
$28,949 to $200, if she paid them a total of $3,800
over 23 months.
The victim then told police that she gave American
Tax Solutions a down payment of $1,000 and signed
a contract giving them power of attorney.
It wasn’t until she spoke on the phone with a representative
from the New York State Department of
Taxation and Finance that she learned it is illegal to
levy Social Security benefi ts and that she had been a
victim of a scam.
According to police, the woman said she closed the
account that American Tax Solutions was going to
take funds from.
Cell-phone snatch
On April 11, a 41-year-old woman standing in front
of 312 E. 95th St. at 6:12 p.m. was approached by
an unknown man who snatched her phone from her
hand.
Offi cers from the 19th Precinct that were close by
stopped the thief at the northeast corner of Lexington
Ave. and 96th St. and retrieved the iPhone 6, valued
at $300.
20th Precinct
Missing person
Police are asking for the public’s help in fi nding a
66-year-old man who went missing two months ago.
Hamilton Pena was last seen on Fri., March 1, at 11
a.m. while leaving his home at 2345 Broadway. Pena
is about 5 feet tall and has a thin build.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Crime
Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for
Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). Tips can also be
submitted on the CrimeStoppers Web site at WWW.
NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM, on Twitter @NYPDTips
or by texting to 274637 (CRIMES) and then
entering TIP577.
Broken window
Police are looking for a man wanted for kicking in
a glass window.
On April 24, at 4:30 p.m., two men reportedly argued
outside of an Epicerie Boulud eatery at 1900
Broadway. At some point during the dispute, one of
them kicked the restaurant’s window, causing it to
shatter.
Police shared an image of a suspect on social media.
Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech
and Gabe Herman
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