CHELSEA — A thief stole nearly $14,000 in cash and electronics from a West 25th Street church and a West 34th Street synagogue, the NYPD said.
The suspect first went into the West Side Jewish Center, at 347 W. 34th St. between Eighth and Ninth avenues, around 4:10 p.m. on June 26 and stole a laptop bag that a 27-year-old man had placed behind a door, police said.
The bag, the laptop and other items inside the bag were worth a total of about $3,800, the NYPD said.
Less than two months later, on Aug. 18, the same suspect hit St. Columba Church, at 343 W. 25th St. between Eighth and Ninth avenues, entering through an unlocked door around 11:45 a.m., police said. He then went up to an office on the third floor and swiped $1,100 in cash, two Dell laptops, a computer monitor and a Sony camera before fleeing on foot toward Eighth Avenue, police said.
The value of the cash and stolen items totaled $10,198, the NYPD said.
The suspect was described as between about 50 and 60 years old, police said. He appeared to be wearing the same short-sleeved, collared shirt in both burglaries, surveillance video shows.
A receptionist who answered the phone at St. Columba Church on Tuesday declined to comment on the theft. The rabbi at the West Side Jewish Center didn’t immediately respond to request for comment.
Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS.
