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Another Haagen-Dazs Shoplifter Arrested Amid String of Ice Cream Thefts

By Maya Rajamani | February 16, 2016 5:19pm
 An 18-year-old was arrested for swiping nine containers of Häagen-Dazs worth $54 from a Duane Reade in Midtown, authorities said.
An 18-year-old was arrested for swiping nine containers of Häagen-Dazs worth $54 from a Duane Reade in Midtown, authorities said.
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Shutterstock/Keith Homan

MIDTOWN — A would-be thief was arrested for trying to steal $54 worth of Häagen-Dazs from a convenience store — the latest in a series of ice cream thefts that have plagued Manhattan stores.

A 39-year-old employee of a Duane Reade at 1657 Broadway was working at the store around 11:20 p.m. on Feb. 11 when he saw the 18-year-old suspect pass by the cash register with a backpack that looked to have items from the store inside, a criminal complaint filed with the Manhattan District Attorney’s office says.

The worker followed him outside the store, at the corner of West 52nd Street, and asked him if he could check his backpack, at which point the employee discovered “several large containers” of Häagen-Dazs ice cream, according to the complaint.

The teen could not show a receipt for the nine containers, valued at $54, stashed inside, police and the complaint said. 

The employee took the suspect's backpack inside the store and put it behind the counter while he waited for police to arrive, the complaint said. But before officers got to the store, the teen reached over the counter, took the backpack — with the ice cream containers still inside — and ran out, the DA’s office said.

At some point after he ran out of the store, a police officer managed to catch the teen, according to the complaint.

He told an officer that he hadn’t stolen the ice cream from the Duane Reade but from another store earlier in the day, the DA's office said.

He was arrested and charged with criminal possession of stolen property, according to the complaint.

The teen was arraigned in criminal court on Feb. 13 and released without bail, the DA’s office said.

He is scheduled to appear in court on April 4, according to the DA’s office.

An employee working at the Duane Reade on Tuesday morning declined to comment on the incident.

An attorney for the 18-year-old did not immediately respond to request for comment Tuesday.

At the beginning of February, police arrested a 28-year-old man who is accused of working with a team of thieves to steal thousands of dollars worth of ice cream from six Manhattan convenience stores.

host of similar Häagen-Dazs thefts have occurred across Manhattan over the past four months.