HELL'S KITCHEN — A pair of men stole seven phones from distracted partiers at the nightclub Pacha on a single night last week, police said.
George Raad, 19, prowled the crowded West 46th Street club and discreetly swiped the phones — along with wallets and credit cards — from the victims' bags and pockets from about 11 p.m. last Friday to about 3:30 a.m. on Saturday, police said.
After Raad stole each phone and wallet, he passed them off to Ahmad Almaaly, 20, who took them to a car outside the club, police sources said.
When one woman noticed her phone was gone, she notified Pacha's security team, who contacted the police, the NYPD said.
Midtown North Precinct officers who responded managed to catch Almaaly while he was moving the phones to the car, police said. The team took six iPhones and one Samsung Galaxy before being caught, according to the NYPD. The victims included five women between the ages of 19 and 32 and one 22-year-old man, police said.
Raad and Almaaly were both arrested and charged with grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property. They were released on a $2,500 bail.
Raad had previously been arrested in January for selling marijuana, records show.
Attorneys for the pair could not be reached for comment. Staff at Pacha did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Other recent incidents in the NYPD's Midtown North Precinct include:
► Two serial thieves with extensive criminal histories stole a wallet and iPhone from staff the restaurant Becco last week, police said.
According to police, Tykel Johnson, 18, and Elijah Delacruz, 19, took a wallet containing an iPhone, MetroCard, debit card and $200 cash from unattended bags belonging to two staffers at the West 46th Street spot at about 6:55 p.m. last Thursday.
Restaurant workers showed Midtown North officers security video footage of the two men, and police were able to arrest them a few hours later when they spotted Johnson wearing the same pair of stark white sneakers he was wearing in the footage, the NYPD said.
The pair were charged with grand larceny, petit larceny and criminal possession of stolen property, according to court records.
Johnson, who has 24 prior arrests, was arrested 12 times in 2014 for larceny, police sources said. He pleaded guilty to petit larceny for incidents in December 2013 and March 2014 and spent 20 days in jail for each, court records show.
Delacruz has 10 prior arrests, according to police sources.
Johnson was being held on $51,000 bail and Delacruz was being held on $25,000 bail, records show.
Attorneys for the two men could not immediately be reached for comment. Staff at the restaurant declined to comment.
