CHELSEA — A shoplifter was arrested for trying to swipe $338 worth of condoms and a bottle of juice from a Duane Reade on West 23rd Street, the NYPD said.
The 25-year-old man took 16 boxes of Magnum condoms worth a total of $338 and a Naked Juice worth $4 off the shelves at the chain’s store at 315 W. 23rd St., near Eighth Avenue, around 7:55 a.m. on June 24, police said.
He was arrested for petit larceny after he tried to leave the store without paying for the items, the NYPD said.
An employee working at the store on Wednesday said thefts of that nature happen “all the time.”
“It always happens,” said the employee, who declined to give her name. “We don’t always catch them, but this time he got caught.”
Other recent notable incidents in the 10th Precinct include:
► A 44-year-old tourist who was staying at the Chelsea International Hostel, at 251 W. 20th St. between Seventh and Eighth avenues, left $600 in cash in a compartment in his suitcase around 10 a.m. on June 22, police said. When he returned to the hostel at 9 p.m. that day, he discovered the cash was gone. No one had been arrested in connection with the theft as of Wednesday. The hotel’s front desk manager declined to comment on the incident.
► A 50-year-old man was arrested after a police officer spotted him waving a collapsible baton in the air and threatening another man at the northwest corner of West 20th Street and Eighth Avenue around 2:10 a.m. on June 24, the NYPD said. “I’m tired of him f---ing with me. I need this to protect myself,” the man told police.
► A 30-year-old man was delivering food to a home on West 22nd Street, between Seventh and Eighth avenues, around 3:40 a.m. on June 24 when a passerby noticed another man trying to remove the lights from the deliveryman’s bicycle, police said. When officers arrested the 35-year-old thief, they discovered he was also in possession of an unidentified controlled substance.
► A 26-year-old woman told police someone stole three packages from the lobby inside her apartment building on West 15th Street, near Eighth Avenue, between 4 and 5 p.m. on June 20. The packages contained a $554 textbook, two dresses worth $74 and two pairs of shoes, a skirt and three dresses worth a total of $263. No one had been arrested in connection with the theft as of Wednesday.
► A 58-year-old woman parked her white Mercedes-Benz in front of 428 W. 20th St., between Ninth and 10th avenues, at an unspecified time on June 23, police said. Around 7:45 a.m. on June 25, she got a text from a neighbor who was concerned that her car had been damaged. When she checked the car, she discovered someone had stripped paint from the vehicle, possibly by using paint thinner. No one had been arrested in connection with the incident as of Wednesday.
