Police from the 104th Precinct in Ridgewood are looking for armed robbers who posed as maintenance workers to gain entry into a home, where they stole thousands of dollars in cash and property before driving off in a getaway vehicle.
The heist occurred at around 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 20, when the two strangers approached a 28-year-old man near Gates Avenue and Fresh Pond Road in Ridgewood. One of the perpetrators engaged him in conversation and then followed him onto the porch at his nearby home.
The victim let him into the residence, where the man pulled out a handgun as his accomplice followed with a red toolbox on a hand truck. A 70-year-old woman was inside the home as the fake maintenance workers forcibly removed $18,000 in cash and a gold bracelet before leaving the house and speeding off in a dark-colored SUV heading westbound on Gates Avenue toward Forest Avenue. The victims were not injured during the armed robbery.
Council Member Robert Holden took to social media on Wednesday after word spread that the incident was one of several home invasions in his district.
“Rumors of multiple invasions within a few hours are not accurate,” Holden posted. “This incident involved two Hispanic men posing as utility workers, who specifically targeted this home.”
The NYPD released surveillance images of the suspects on Wednesday. One wore a white hard hat, a white facemask, an orange reflective vest over a black hooded sweatshirt, black pants and black work boots. The second suspect was also wearing a white facemask, a black t-shirt, black pants and black shoes and he wore a black baseball cap.
Anyone with information regarding this robbery investigation 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 Crime Stoppers website at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, or on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are kept confidential.
Through Aug. 18, the 104th Precinct has reported 134 robberies so far in 2024, three fewer than the 137 reported at the same point last year, a decline of 2.2%, according to the most recent CompStat report.
