Police from the 109th Precinct in Flushing are looking for an individual who allegedly stole a car parked near the Queens Botanical Garden nearly a month ago.
At around 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 7, the suspect broke into a 34-year-old man’s Honda Odyssey that was parked and unoccupied in the vicinity of Crommelin Street and Cherry Avenue and sped away in the stolen vehicle in an unknown direction.
Investigators believe the perpetrator is a member of an auto theft crew that has stolen cars in three other Queens precincts, dating back to Thursday, Oct. 16, within the confines of the 107th Precinct in Fresh Meadows. At around 8:30 p.m., the suspect entered a 2020 black Honda Odyssey parked in front of 69-11A 188th St. that belongs to a 35-year-old man and drove off in an unknown direction.
More than a month later, another Honda was stolen in the 107th Precinct. At 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 13, a perpetrator broke into a Honda Pilot owned by a 61-year-old man that was parked and unoccupied in front of an apartment building at 141-48 78th Ave. in Kew Gardens Hills. He drove off in the stolen Honda in an unknown direction, police said.
A member of the auto theft crew stole another Honda in the confines of the 112th Precinct in Forest Hills just after 7 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 19. He broke into a 2021 Honda Pilot belonging to a 53-year-old man that was parked on the Horace Harding Expressway near 62nd Avenue in Forest Hills and sped off in an unknown direction, an NYPD spokeswoman said.
The same crew was involved in a number of burglaries at commercial establishments in Queens. During the early morning hours of Saturday, Dec. 20, three men broke into the Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen located at 197-02 Hillside Ave. in Hollis, within the confines of the 103rd Precinct in Jamaica. They forcibly entered through the front door just after 2:45 a.m. and removed a cash register with an undetermined amount of money and a $20 bill from an ATM before driving off in a Honda Pilot eastbound on Hillside Avenue toward Francis Lewis Boulevard.
About 20 minutes later, two of the men broke into a Key Food supermarket at 164-10 69th Ave. in Fresh Meadows while the third man waited in the Honda Pilot just after 3 a.m. The perpetrators broke in through the front door and removed an ATM containing an undetermined amount of cash. They drove off eastbound on 69th Avenue toward Utopia Parkway.
When they weren’t stealing cars and ATMs in Queens, the crew was operating in Brooklyn in the confines of the 75th Precinct in the City Line section throughout October and November, where they broke into five commercial establishments and stole ATMs or cash from ATMs.
In November, the criminals also struck in the confines of the 67th Precinct, the 71st Precinct and the 94th Precinct, stealing ATMs after breaking into commercial establishments.
The crew struck two more times back in the 75th Precinct on the morning of Saturday, Dec. 27, stealing an ATM from 51 Arlington Ave. just after 1:30 a.m. They tried to remove an ATM at 1868 Linden Blvd. about two hours later, but failed before fleeing in an unknown direction.
There were no injuries reported during any of the incidents. The NYPD estimates the auto theft and burglary ring stole ten ATMs containing around $3,500 in cash and the four Hondas in Queens during their 10-week-long crime spree.
The NYPD released surveillance images of the suspects from the burglary at the Popeyes on Hillside Avenue in Hollis back on Saturday, Dec. 20, but could not provide descriptions because the three men were wearing masks. One was captured on a security camera stealing an ATM. He wore a light-colored hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans and a white face covering. The second suspect wore a light-colored hooded jacket, dark pants, white and black sneakers and a black face covering. The third suspect was dressed in all black.
A reward of up to $3,500 is being offered for information that leads to their arrest and indictment.
Anyone with information regarding these burglaries and auto thefts 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.
