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The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
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Serial Thief Arrested After Burglarizing 14 Midtown Offices, Police Say

By Murray Weiss | November 21, 2013 7:45am
 City's most wanted burglar captured.
City's most wanted burglar captured.
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NYPD

MANHATTAN — One of the city’s most wanted criminals has been caught, DNAinfo New York has learned.

Gerald Rapier, 44, has been on a one-man crime spree stealing cash, laptops, cellphones, computers and other goods from at least 14 offices in Midtown, police said.

This string of thefts started just a week after Rapier was released from prison last December after serving six years for a rash of burglaries dating back to 2004, sources said.

Sources added that Rapier never bothered to visit his parole officer after he was released from prison, and went right back to making a living from stealing.

According to a police report, the 5-foot-11, 210-pound ex-con was charged with the following crimes after his fingerprints or DNA was found at the various scenes:

On Dec. 12, 2012, he stole $594 from a drawer in the office of Skin Spa at 353 Lexington Ave., police said.

On May 5, police said he broke into an office at 270 Madison Ave., but found nothing to steal, leaving his fingerprints behind.

Three days later, he allegedly walked into an office at 257 Park Ave. and grabbed $23 in cash from a desk inside the Environmental Defense Fund.

On June 5, he went back to 257 Park Ave. and into the 13th floor office of Business Insider, where he took several laptops, iPads, an Apple mini and a Macbook, police said. He then went into the 10th floor office of Spa Finder, where he made off with several Apple laptops, and then hit an apartment on the 16th floor, stealing an iPhone and iPad, police said.

On July 19, he allegedly walked into 425 Madison Ave., where he scoured the office of the Burt Davis executive hiring service on the 14th floor before leaving empty-handed.

On Sept. 1, he returned to 257 Park Ave. where he snatched an iPhone and iPod from the office of Business Insider, and a MetroCard from another office, police said.

And, three weeks later, his fingerprints turned up at the scene of a Sept. 25 theft of a Mac laptop and cellphone from Dada Entertainment at 205 Lexington Ave.

On Oct. 18, he grabbed a dozen laptops, four iPads and several cell phones from an office at 386 Park Ave., police said.

Finally, he returned to Dada Entertainment at 205 Lexington Ave., where he allegedly stole four more Mac laptops, and several cellphones.

Police officers armed with a warrant tracked down Rapier on Saturday night near Lexington Avenue and East 23rd Street and took him into custody.

Rapier, whose arrest record dates back to 1990, did not bat an eye, a source said.

He was charged with 14 counts of burglary and is presently awaiting arraignment.