Police from the 109th Precinct in Flushing are looking for four members of a retail theft crew who have stolen more than $5,000 in merchandise from the Target store at The Shops at Skyview and the Macy’s on Main Street on three occasions this month.
Police say the string of grand larcenies began at the Target located at 40-24 College Point Blvd. on Sunday, Feb 1. The four men entered the store and removed 16 pairs of sneakers valued at approximately $1,000 and fled the shop on foot in an unknown direction.
Four days later, the crew hit the Macy’s at 136-50 Main St. at around 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 5, and removed 11 bottles of perfume valued at approximately $2,700 and fled the store on foot in an unknown direction, according to authorities.
Police say the suspects returned to the Macy’s store at 5:15 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 12, and stole 11 more bottles of perfume valued at approximately $1,600 before fleeing on foot.
Nobody was injured in any of the incidents and the suspects made off with approximately $5,300 in merchandise.
The NYPD released surveillance images of the suspects on Tuesday. One suspect has a light complexion with a thin mustache and wore a black jacket with a fur-lined hood, ripped jeans, a blue baseball cap and a beige backpack. The second man has a light complexion and wore a black jacket over a black hooded sweatshirt, black pants and black and white sneakers. The third man has a light complexion and a thin mustache and was last seen wearing a black hooded jacket, gray jeans, a black baseball cap and a pair of white and black sneakers. The fourth suspect has a light complexion and wore a black head and face covering.
A reward of up to $3,500 is being offered for information that leads to the arrest and indictment.
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 strictly confidential.
Through Feb. 22, the 109th Precinct has reported 137 grand larcenies so far this year, 22 more than the 115 reported at the same point last year, an increase of 19.1%, according to the most recent CompStat report.
