COLUMBIA STREET WATERFRONT DISTRICT — A burglar was nabbed while he and his partner were hauling a refrigerator from a residential building to a minivan they had also stolen, police said.
Police responded to a 911 call about a construction site on Woodhull Street between Hicks and Henry streets March 31 around 6 a.m., according to the police report.
When officers arrived, they saw a 39-year-old man and his accomplice taking a brand new fridge out of the location with plans to load it into a double-parked red Dodge Caravan.
When the burglars saw the police officers, they fled in opposite directions, authorities said. The 39-year-old man was apprehended at Woodhull and Hicks streets. The other has not yet been arrested.
The duo had forced their way into the home under renovation through the front doors. A new cooking range and a washer had also been moved in preparation to be loaded into the van as well, police said.
The seats in the minivan had been removed in order to fit the stolen appliances.
The value of the appliances was not immediately available, but all were brand new and were recovered, officials said.
The 76th Precinct saw an uptick in major crime over a 28-day period, Captain Elliot Colon said Tuesday night at the precinct's community council meeting.
"We had a little bit of an increase in burglaries," Colon said.
There were 14 burglaries over the 28-day period, including seven in residences, four at commercial venues, two in public housing developments and one at a construction site.
The precinct also made four arrests of "high-profile burglars," including the refrigerator thief, during the 28-day period, Colon said.
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Another arrest took place March 30 on Smith Street between Douglass and Butler streets.
A 52-year-old man entered a business through a side door by breaking the glass with a brick, police said. He took a bicycle from the location and was caught as he fled the scene.
Editor's note: The 76th Precinct no longer provides information to the media on open cases involving major crimes such as robbery, rape, burglary and felony assault. Some information on those crimes can be found on the NYPD's CompStat 2.0 website and on the NYPD's NYC Crime Map.
