By Amy Zimmer
DNAinfo News Editor
UPPER EAST SIDE — Workers at an Upper East Side Foot Locker thought something was amiss when two men carrying Victoria Secret bags came into the store last month chatting loudly about iPads and other high-end purchases they had made.
Their suspicions were confirmed when the men shopping at the E. 86th Street and Lexington Avenue sporting goods store tried paying for expensive sneakers with a credit card that turned out to have been stolen.
NYPD Officers John Sheedy and Timothy Gaven responded to Foot Locker's 911 call while the duo was still there. After a brief foot chase, they arrested Zwillie Jefferson, 30, of Brooklyn, who allegedly was in posession of eight stolen credit cards, police said. Jefferson's accomplice is still at large, police said.
Grand larcenies make up nearly 75 percent of all crimes on the Upper East Side, according to the 19th Precinct’s Deputy Inspector Matthew Whelan.
But while Sheedy and Gaven, who were given "cop of the month" awards by Whelan, allegedly caught a robber in the act, the number of grand larcenies in the precinct actually dropped in 2010.
The 19th Precinct — which includes major shopping strips along Madison, Lexington and Third avenues — logged 1,260 grand larcenies in 2010 though the period ending Dec. 2.
That's a 2.1 percent drop from the 1,287 grand larcienies in 2009, one of several crime categories that fell in the area, which saw a 4 percent dip in overall crimes.
But some crime categories were on the rise.
Rapes jumped to 15 in 2010 from 9 the year before. Felony assaults spiked to 93 from 68 the year before.
The rapes were mainly "acquaintance rapes" and some included situations where women were sexually assaulted after meeting someone at a bar or involved domestic violence, he said.
The Upper East Side received 1,400 calls about domestic violence cases in 2010, police officials said.
Whelan said a "slight uptick" in domestic violence and assaults on police and traffic agents were the reason for the increase in felony assaults.
Other crime categories that fell included murder (one in 2010 compared to two in 2009), robbery (144 down from 146) and burglary (231 down from 314), according to NYPD data.
