Police from the 102nd Precinct are looking for a moped-riding thief who targeted women twice last month.
Police say the first incident occurred at around 2:35 p.m. on Monday, July 14, when a stranger on a purple moped approached a 59-year-old victim in front of a market at 101-16 77th St. in Ozone Park. He then snatched her purse off her arm before riding off in an unknown direction. The woman’s purse contained a cellphone, $160 in cash, and two credit cards, police said.
The perpetrator struck again a week later, just before 7:30 p.m. on Monday, July 21, when he rode up behind an 18-year-old woman on the purple moped on Lefferts Boulevard near Metropolitan Avenue in Kew Gardens. He forcibly removed her shopping bag before speeding off in an unknown direction, police said. The stolen bag contained makeup.
In addition to the two incidents in the 102nd Precinct, the same suspect ventured into Brooklyn, where he targeted a 33-year-old woman in the confines of the 81st Precinct in Bedford Stuyvesant during the morning of Sunday, July 20.
Police say the suspect was on the purple moped when he approached the victim just before 6 a.m. in front of 220 Malcolm X Blvd. in Bushwick and forcibly removed a bookbag from her hand. It contained her cellphone and AirPods. He rode off southbound on Malcolm X Boulevard toward Atlantic Avenue.
The NYPD released a surveillance image of the suspect and described him as having a dark complexion with a medium build. He wore a white t-shirt, black pants, white sneakers and a black baseball cap.
Anyone with information regarding this grand larceny pattern is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 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. 24, the 102nd Precinct has reported 203 grand larcenies so far in 2025, 17 fewer than the 220 reported at the same point last year, a decline of 7.7%, according to the most recent CompStat report.
