CROWN HEIGHTS — A serial thief was arrested this week for stealing more than $2,700 worth of toilet paper and cleaning supplies from a President Street home, police said.
Police arrested Derrick Pricher on Nov. 29 for a break-in at 1540 President St. last month where multiple pallets of toilet paper, brooms, garbage bag boxes, boxes of balloons and garbage cans went missing from a townhouse.
In total, the stolen items were worth $2,710, police said.
Pricher faces burglary in the third degree (a felony), petit larceny and trespassing charges, court records show. His attorney from the Legal Aid Society could not be reached for comment. He was released from custody and is due back in court on Dec. 5.
The 52-year-old has more than 50 prior arrests dating back to 1982, many of them for thefts or burglaries, police said. Most recently, Pricher was arrested this spring for a string of package burglaries on or near Carroll Street, police said; news of that pattern was first reported by CrownHeights.info.
Other notable crimes in this week’s blotter from the 71st Precinct in Crown Heights, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens and East Flatbush include:
The map above depicts only those blotter items compiled by DNAinfo New York within the date range indicated, not all crimes that took place in a given precinct. To see all previous crime blotters from this precinct, click here.
► A 25-year-old man was arrested on Nov. 23 for robbing a cab driver at knifepoint on Montgomery Street. The 33-year-old driver told police he picked up Menelick McQuilkin on Nov. 21 and drove him to 990 Montgomery St. where he pulled out a knife, put it to the cabbie’s neck and asked for money. The victim gave him $28 and he fled.
► A man is wanted for stealing a company car from Union Street on Nov. 24, then crashing into a parked bus on Kingston Avenue before ditching it on Eastern Parkway, police said. A 31-year-old man reported the white Toyota Camry had been stolen around 9:00 a.m. in front of 1410 Union St., then found crashed into a parked bus a block away. The unknown suspect then ditched the car at the intersection of Kingston Avenue and Eastern Parkway.
► A 24-year-old woman was walking home on Nostrand Avenue near Lincoln Road on Nov. 26 when an unknown man followed her into her lobby, pushed her to the floor and attempted to take her purse. The man fled on foot soon after the attempted mugging without stealing anything. The woman was uninjured during the assault.
► A 50-year-old man has been arrested for stealing a cellphone out of the pocketbook of a 71-year-old woman on Nov. 29. The victim was walking on Maple Street and Utica Avenue when the man came up behind her and forcibly removed the phone from her purse, then ran away. Officers arrested the man a short time later. The woman was uninjured in the mugging.
