Police from five Queens precincts are looking for a pair of burglars who targeted independent mom-and-pop drugstores from Fresh Meadows to Astoria throughout December.
The two men allegedly broke into three drugstores in three different neighborhoods in a half-hour during the morning of Sunday, Dec. 15. While one stood guard outside a drugstore at 63-09 39th Avenue in Woodside, his partner broke through the glass front door at 5:50 a.m. Police from the 108th Precinct reported that he removed $400 in cash before leaving.
The two crooks were caught on camera 10 minutes later breaking their way into the 108 Pharmacy in Corona in the confines of the 110th Precinct in Elmhurst. One of the burglars is seen on surveillance video using a crowbar attempting to pry open the front door of the corner shop at 45-02 108th Street, two blocks west of Flushing Meadows Corona Park across from the Long Island Rail Road tracks. He grew frustrated and used the crowbar to smash the glass door but failed. His accomplice grabbed the crowbar and succeeded in smashing the door and they entered before fleeing empty-handed moments later, police said Thursday.
They jumped into a gray Infiniti sedan driven by a third suspect that headed south on 108th Street past the Long Island Expressway, where they hit another drug store more than a mile away about 20 minutes later. They broke through a glass front door at the Forest Hills Pharmacy at 63-65 108th St. Police from the 112th Precinct reported that during this break-in, the burglars removed various narcotics before speeding off in the waiting Infiniti.
Investigators have determined the suspects began their burglary spree on the morning of Friday, Dec. 6 in the confines of the 107th Precinct in Fresh Meadows. At 5 a.m. they broke the roll-down security gate of the Shalom Pharmacy located at 72-48 Main Street in Kew Gardens Hills. They removed approximately $200 in cash and grabbed $35 worth of lottery tickets.
An hour later, they hit another drugstore in the 107th Precinct by breaking the glass front door of Rexall RX Pharmacy at 164-06 69th Avenue in Fresh Meadows. Once inside, they removed $100 in cash from the register.
The crew targeted two more Queens drugstores on the morning of Thursday, Dec. 12, in the confines of the 114th Precinct in Astoria. At around 5 a.m., one of the suspects tried to break into a shop at 30-100 51st St. in Woodside by breaking the lock on the roll-down security gate. The suspect was unsuccessful and fled in the gray Infiniti sedan.
About a half-hour later, all three tried to break into a shop at 23-21 30th Avenue near Mt. Sinai Queens Hospital in Astoria by breaking the locked roll-down security gate but failed. They tried to smash their way in by throwing a cinder block at the window and were again unsuccessful, police said.
The crew ventured out of the borough and made the biggest score of their burglary spree in Brooklyn, just before 6 a.m. when they broke the locks on a security gate at 8016 13th Ave. in Dyker Heights. Police from the 68th Precinct in Sunset Park reported that the burglars used a crowbar to break the window and gain entry and removed $2,400 in cash and various narcotics before speeding off in the Infiniti.
The NYPD released surveillance images of the suspects on Thursday, who wore all black clothing and facemasks during the Corona break-in, and the gray Infiniti sedan they used as a getaway car.
Anyone with information regarding this burglary spree 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 confidential.
Through Dec. 15, the 110th Precinct has reported 233 burglaries so far in 2024, 49 more than the 184 reported at the same point last year, an increase of 26.6%, according to the latest CompStat report.
Through Dec. 15, the 114th Precinct has reported 197 burglaries so far this year, a dozen more than the 209 reported at the same point in 2023, a decline of 5.7%, according to CompStat.
Through Dec. 15, the 108th Precinct has reported 236 burglaries so far in 2024, 13 more than the 223 reported at the same point last year, an increase of 5.8%, according to CompStat.
Through Dec. 15, the 112th Precinct has reported 98 burglaries so far this year, 16 fewer than the 114 reported at the same point in 2023, a decline of 14%, according to CompStat.
And through Dec. 15, the 107th Precinct reported 221 burglaries so far in 2024, 34 fewer than the 255 reported at the same point last year, a decrease of 13.3%, according to CompStat.
