TIMES SQUARE — A dogged thief stole nearly $1,800 in cash and belongings from a Times Square hotel after using electrical tape to cover surveillance cameras and peepholes on 15 floors, the NYPD said.
The suspect entered the citizenM Hotel at 218 W. 50th St., between Broadway and Eighth Avenue, around 8:50 p.m. on Oct. 2 and rode the elevator up to the 20th floor, police said.
Once there, he placed electrical tape on surveillance cameras and peepholes on that floor, doing the same on each floor down to the sixth using the fire escape, the NYPD said.
When he got to the fifth floor, the suspect stole a wallet, two debit cards, a De Bijenkorf credit card, $250 in cash, a Dutch passport, six ID cards, a $329 Samsung camera, a $250 Blackberry, a $500 laptop, a $464 iPad mini, two Apple phone chargers and keys from one of the rooms on the floor, police said.
He then fled the hotel via a fire escape with a total of $1,793 in cash and stolen merchandise, the NYPD said.
A surveillance camera captured the thief making his exit with his haul, police said.
A manager working at the hotel on Monday said she couldn’t comment on the theft, as she wasn’t working when it happened.
