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Man Tracks Down Stolen Laptop Using App and Confronts Thief, Police Say

By Leslie Albrecht | October 16, 2014 4:19pm
 A man tracked down his stolen Lenovo laptop in Park Slope using the Find My iPad app, according to a police report.
A man tracked down his stolen Lenovo laptop in Park Slope using the Find My iPad app, according to a police report.
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Ethan Miller/Getty Images

PARK SLOPE — A determined robbery victim tracked down his stolen laptop and confronted the suspect — who flung the computer at him and fled, according to a police report.

The victim had left the computer inside his 2009 Toyota Corolla which he parked overnight on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Carroll Street on Oct. 11, police said.

When he returned the next day, his North Face backpack, iPad Air, and Lenovo laptop were gone from the backseat. The thief also swiped the car's license plates, E-ZPass, and registration, according to a police report.

The victim activated Find my iPad and discovered that the device was still in the area. He drove to a nearby corner and spotted a man in his 20s holding his laptop. When he asked where the man had gotten the computer, the suspect threw the laptop at him and ran away, according to the report.

The victim recovered his laptop, but none of the other stolen items.

Other notable crimes in the 78th Precinct this week include the following:

• A 22-year-old man was arrested after allegedly trying to rob the Luscious Food sandwich shop on Fifth Avenue and Bergen Street on Oct. 7. The man tried to take money out of the cash register at 12:45 a.m., then got into a fight with shop employees before damaging property and threatening employees. Police said the suspect and two accomplices, a man and a woman, escaped and are still at large.

• A 19-year-old man was arrested after allegedly stealing seven iPhones and an iPod from an electronics recycling warehouse on President and Nevins streets Oct. 10, police said.

• A MacBook Pro laptop was stolen off the counter at a Seventh Avenue copy shop while an employee was in the basement grabbing an item for a customer on Oct. 10 about 3:50 p.m. Surveillance video showed the thief taking the computer off the counter at Park Slope Copy Center, then walking down Seventh Avenue toward President Street, according to police reports.

• A jewelry box was stolen from a doctor's office at New York Methodist Hospital on Sixth Street and Seventh Avenue on Oct. 9. The doctor left the box in his office while he went across the street to a clinic. When he returned the box was missing. It contained $6,900 in jewelry, as well as an iPad, according to the police report.

• A thief snatched $8,000 in cash from a truck while the driver was making a delivery near Fourth Avenue and Union Street on Oct. 9 at 1:10 p.m., according to police reports.

• A 56-year-old man had 12 baseballs, four baseball gloves and a baseball bat stolen out of his 2005 Acura while it was parked near Bergen Street and Carlton Avenue on Oct. 8. The thief also stole the car's air bags and radio, police said.

• A $2,500 EdgeRunner Xtracycle Family bike locked inside a gated entryway on Bergen Street near Carlton Avenue was stolen on Oct. 6 about 11 p.m., according to police reports.

Major crimes in the 78th Precinct have dropped 6.3 percent compared with the same period last year, according to the most recent statistics from the NYPD.