A Ridgewood man who was found dead in a Brooklyn apartment building on Monday morning was apparently arrested two days earlier on petit larceny charges in his home neighborhood, law enforcement sources said.
Anthony Toma, 25, of Madison Street was found unconscious and unresponsive in the hallway of an apartment building on Willoughby Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant on the morning of Feb. 20.
Sources familiar with the investigation said Toma had been released from jail the previous day; he was arrested by the 104th Precinct on Feb. 18 for allegedly stealing a tip jar from Corato II Pizzeria, located at 66-94 Fresh Pond Rd. in Ridgewood.
Officers from the 79th Precinct and EMS units found Toma’s body at 10:57 a.m. on Feb. 20; he was pronounced dead at the scene. The New York Daily News reported that police believe Toma may have died in one of the apartments, and one or more of the residents may have moved him into the hallway after he expired.
Police said there were no obvious signs of trauma on the body, which was transferred to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for an autopsy.
No arrests have been made, and an investigation is ongoing.
