What began as a chat between two strangers in a small parking lot behind a St. Albans liquor store late last month turned into the subject of a grand larceny investigation at the 105th Precinct in Queens Village.
A 23-year-old man was in the parking lot on 135th Avenue behind the Springfield Village Liquor and Wine shop, located at 134-49 Springfield Blvd., at around 3:30 p.m. on Monday, July 29, when another man approached him and struck up a conversation.
As the two talked, the unidentified man suddenly snatched a white envelope from the victim’s hand before racing out of the parking lot. The victim told police that the envelope contained $1,700 in cash. The perpetrator was last seen running on 134th Avenue, police said, adding that the victim was not injured during the incident.
The NYPD released surveillance video of the suspect as he walked through the parking lot and described him as having a medium complexion with a beard and mustache. He wore a light-blue durag, a black t-shirt with a graphic on the front, gray sweatpants and white sneakers.
A reward of up to $3,500 is being offered for information that leads to his arrest.
Anyone with information regarding this 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. 4, the 105th Precinct has reported 348 grand larcenies so far this year, 50 fewer than the 398 reported at the same point in 2023, a decline of 12.6%, according to the most recent CompStat report.
