By Jill Colvin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MIDTOWN — A woman accused of breaking into a series of lockers at health clubs across Manhattan was brought down by her greed — after she stepped right into a police trap of a bogus offer for a free monthly gym pass, DNAinfo has learned.
Nachelle Patterson, 35, allegedly struck nearly a dozen city gyms between January 2010 and last Wednesday — including a Bally Total Fitness locations in Midtown and East Harlem, Lucille Roberts in Greenwich Village in the Financial District and a Planet Fitness in Washington Heights, a police source said.
"She was hitting Manhattan pretty hard," the source said.
After Patterson seemed spooked during her last trip to the Bally gym at 55th and Madison when her swipe card didn't work, cops set up a sting in which they asked that Bally gym to call Patterson and offer her a month’s free trial membership to its larger location at the Worldwide Plaza on West 50th Street between Eighth and Ninth avenues, a source said.
"We figured we'd get her in there," the source said.
"The people who worked the desk at Bally knew exactly who she was," said the source, who said staff called police, who instructed them to let her in.
On May 11, Patterson turned up at the 50th Street gym, worked out for 10 minutes, and then headed to the locker room, where she allegedly cut off a member's lock and stole a wallet, a police source said.
Police followed Patterson as she left the club, and tailed her to the subway where she allegedly tried to buy a MetroCard with a card out of the member's wallet, they said.
Police swooped in and allegedly found Patterson in posession of the rest of the contents of the member’s wallet, including her driver’s license and $31 cash, as well as a pair of bolt cutters, the source said.
A lawyer for Patterson could not be immediately reached for comment.
She was arraigned last week on burglary and forgery charges and was ordered held on $70,000 bail, according to court and Department of Correction records. She's due back in court Friday.
The arrest came a week after Donald Chisolm, 50, was arrested on charges he stole cash from lockers, at the same Bally gym location at 45 East 55th St. at Madison Avenue.
Police had also warned the gym about Chisolm, described by the source as "a known big gym locker break-in guy" with six prior arrests, all linked to locker thefts in lower Midtown's 13 precinct and the Upper West Side, the source said.
Staff immediately recognized Chisolm when he swiped in on May 6, and called police, a police source said.
In the hour Chisolm spent in the gym, he remained in the locker room the entire time, the source said.
Prosecutors said that when he left, police recovered $133 from Chisolm’s right pants pocket and $323 from his left, according to court documents. He was also carrying another $260 in his wallet, as well as a wrench and four thin pieces of metal, the documents said. Two members had reported the money stolen, they said.
Chisolm was charged with petit larceny, possession of stolen property and burglars' tools. He is currently out on bail, Department of Correction records show.
Chisolm declined to comment on the allegations when reached at his New Jersey home.
Police sources said were pleased by the arrests.
"We’ve been on a bit of a hot streak," the source said.
