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Repeat Essie Nail Polish Bandit Identified by Police

 Juan Baez, 48, stole $6,171 worth of Essie nail polish on three separate occasions, police said.
Juan Baez, 48, stole $6,171 worth of Essie nail polish on three separate occasions, police said.
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NYPD

MIDTOWN — A mani-pedi bandit who stole more than $6,000 worth of Essie nail polish from a pair of Duane Reades during three separate heists has been identified by police.

Juan Baez, 48, was caught on surveillance camera taking 192 bottles of nail polish off the shelves of a Duane Reade at 22 W. 48th St, on Jan. 7, the NYPD said.

Baez put the bottles — valued at $1,632 in total — in his backpack around 4:48 p.m. and fled the store, according to police.

An employee working at the Duane Reade after that incident said Baez took “the whole Essie section.”

Baez struck a second time at the Duane Reade at 1370 Sixth Ave., around 4:56 p.m. on April 2, swiping 315 bottles of Essie  polish off the shelves and again stashing them in his backpack, police said.

He got away with a total of $2,958 worth of nail polish that time — the “majority of [the Essie collection],” a manager at the store said.

Less than two weeks later, on April 11, Baez went back to the Duane Reade on West 48th Street around 7:21 p.m. and managed to grab 186 bottles of Essie polish valued at $1,581 before putting them in his backpack, police said.

An employee working at the store following that theft declined to comment on the incident.

Between the three incidents, Baez got away with $6,171 worth of Essie nail polish, police said.

He was still at large as of Wednesday morning.

Police have asked anyone with information about the incidents to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or for Spanish, 1-88-57-PISTA (74782). Tips can also be submitted by logging onto www.nypdcrimestopppers.com or texting 274637 (CRIMES) and entering TIP577.