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Armed thief robs man at gunpoint in Forest Hills and uses victim’s credit cards to buy stuff: cops

2506-18 Robbery 112 Pct 10-03-18 PHOTO
Photo courtesy of the NYPD

Cops are looking for a crook who robbed a man at gunpoint in Forest Hills early Wednesday morning.

According to police, at 5:35 a.m. on Oct. 3, a 59-year-old man was on 70th Avenue when he was approached by an unknown man. The man then displayed a handgun and demanded the victim’s property.

The victim complied and handed over his cellphone and wallet, which contained four credit cards and $200 in cash. The suspect then fled the scene on foot down 70th Avenue.

An ongoing investigation found that at 6:45 a.m. that same morning, the crook had used the victim’s credit cards to buy $12.23 worth of merchandise from a B & B Gourmet Market, located at 790 Lexington Avenue in Manhattan.

Later that morning at 7:53 a.m., authorities said, the thief tried to make an unauthorized purchase at the Harlem Smoke Shop and Deli, located at 304 Lenox Ave., with the victim’s credit cards.

Police described the thief as a man in his 20s with a dark complexion and was last seen wearing a red du-rag, a white shirt with red lettering on the front, black sweatpants and black sneakers.

Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website, on Twitter @NYPDTips or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577. All calls and messages are kept confidential.