Either somebody is really into selling scrap metal these days, or an incredible art show is coming to Bushwick soon. Just after we were left giggling over somebody robbing more than 30 NYC manholes of their covers comes word that somebody else (or maybe the same somebody?) went and stole a slew of iron tree guards from Times Square's Restaurant Row. And unlike ConEd, the Times Square Alliance is offering a reward for anyone who can help them catch the culprit. more ›

Yesterday afternoon, police responded to a 911 about a robbery in progress at the Piccolini baby store on Mulberry Street. According to the NYPD, a worker said that she had left her iPad on the counter, and then "an unknown male black entered the store, grabbed the iPad, and fled towards East Houston Street." Naturally, the NYPD immediately began a canvass. more ›

And the award for silliest criminal of the young week goes to—drum roll, please—21-year-old Marques Hoskins, who is accused of stealing a woman's cellphone and then, when she reached out to it with a text message, trying to hit her up for a date. Also, cash. more ›

Here is yet another reason to slag off the $35 checked-baggage fee and cram your luggage into a carry-on: CBS reports that there are over 200 baggage-related thefts per day at JFK airport. "What we're seeing out there is that really anything that isn't nailed down is being stolen," says former NYPD detective Frank Shea, who is investigating the thefts at the airport. "And for that matter I would caution, some day, if there weren't tires missing from an aircraft." So JFK Airport is now National Lampoons International? more ›

The police are looking for two suspects in connection with two robberies in Manhattan. Both incidents, which occurred on Tuesday, involved the suspects punching people in order to take their smartphones. more ›

A Brooklyn man was arrested earlier this month and accused of stealing crates full of quality fromage, possibly for years, from a kosher food store in Midwood and then selling the goods to neighboring stores. And he would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for those meddling cameras! more ›

How many times do we have to tell you? Never take your light saber to a bar. Bad, bad idea. Today's lesson in leaving your light saber at home is courtesy of Flynn Michael, an engineer from Bed-Stuy who is now offering a $100 reward for the return of his saber. According to the Brooklyn Paper, back in September Michael put his custom made $400 light saber "beneath the bar" at Project Parlor, and when he went to grab it a little after 2 a.m., it was missing. more ›

A 67-year-old employee of the Archdiocese of New York has been accused of stealing more than $1 million from the church. According to the Manhattan DA's office Anita Collins allegedly wrote herself more than 450 checks from the church, all under $2,500, over more than eight years. The worst part about the story? Collins has previously been busted for financial shenanigans. Twice. The church just wasn't doing criminal background checks when she was hired in 2003. more ›

The pastor of a church that has housed Occupy Wall Street protesters is giving them two weeks to leave after a portion of a baptismal font went missing. "It was like pissing on the 99 percent," the Post quotes Rev. Bob Brashear of West Park Presbyterian Church as sermonizing. Around 60 protesters sleep between the pews every night, and Brashear discovered that the basin and its lid were missing before Sunday services, and demanded that they be returned later that day. Recalling the era of the crack epidemic, Brashear said that the drug addicts the church took in didn't steal the basin. "Not even the crackheads messed with that." more ›

Carolyn Taylor, the 36-year-old mom who was busted on a shoplifting spree with her 11-year-old son last March, will not be going to jail. Yesterday the Fagin-mama was sentenced to five years of probation after she pleaded guilty to charges of grand larceny and endangering the welfare of her child. more ›

A South Bronx principal has been accused of using school funds to help pay for her daughter's "Sweet 16" party. Liza Cruz Diaz, principal of Public School 31 on East 156th Street, is also accused of stealing nearly $5,000 more and messing with school records to hide her thefts. Jeez, why couldn't she have done things like a normal parent and just asked Nicki Minaj to perform as a favor? more ›

The political consultant who was convicted of stealing $1.1 million from Mayor Bloomberg's mayoral campaign was sentenced to one to four years in prison today. While probation was an option for John Haggerty, Supreme Court Justice Ronald Zweibel said he opted to send Haggerty to prison "in order to restore the public confidence in the electoral process and to serve as a deterent.” more ›

The NYPD announced that a man on a 4 train had been arrested "after he allegedly lifted an iPhone from a plainclothes decoy police officer’s backpack Sunday," according to WCBS 2. more ›

Authorities shut down two subway lines under Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn last night after an iPhone thief dashed into the tunnel. The Post reports that a 19-year-old suspect allegedly stole the phone from a woman waiting for the R train at around 6:40 p.m., and ran down the tunnel. The woman, who was probably seconds away from crushing her opponents in Words With Friends, chased the man down the tracks. more ›

A Chinatown bank teller accused of stealing $243,000 from his Chase branch and going on an Atlantic City casino binge was arraigned in court yesterday. Sephoen Tsang, 22, pleaded not guilty to five counts of grand larceny and falsifying business records. Tsang, who was arrested playing the baccarat tables in Atlantic City, allegedly left a note for his former supervisor apologizing for the theft: “Sorry, Betty. Take care.” more ›

The holiday shopping season isn't all billion dollar weekends—it is also prime shoplifting season. So what do sticky-fingered filchers covet? According to the National Association for Shoplifting Prevention ("because shoplifting steals from all of us") the most coveted item year round is...choice cuts of "luxury meat." But the Center for Retail Research told us it was cheese! more ›

During the nighttime raid of Zuccotti Park, the NYPD, with the help of the Department of Sanitation, confiscated the items that the Occupy Wall Street protesters had used to make the area home. Demonstrators were told that they could pick up their property, which was just moved so the NYPD could do some mopping, at a Sanitation building on West 57th street. However, there was no mention of what condition the items would be in, and Motherboard reports that computers taken in the raid were broken and dented, appearing to have been "smashed with bats." more ›

Everyone loves iPads—especially thieves! As if stealing them from joggers or oblivious subway passengers wasn't enough, a crew in Brooklyn decided to go straight to the source: The Best Buy at Gateway Plaza. more ›

Police say they are looking for this iPhone thief who took a photograph of himself. The theft occurred on Monday night, when a 31-year-old woman was walking in Ozone Park around 8 p.m.: According to the Daily News, "A man bumped into her, snatched her black iPhone from her pocket and ran away, cops said. But when he later tried unsuccessfully to unlock the phone, it automatically took a picture of him and emailed it to her, thanks to an application called iGotYa." more ›

You don't see the mayor of New York take the stand in a trial every day, but today is one of those days. As part of the ongoing criminal case against political consultant John Haggerty the prosecution today called hizzoner to the stand and he so has, with a chorus of twitterers present. This isn't the first time a sitting mayor has taken the stand, but it may be the first time one has done so as the victim of a crime. And if lawyers were hoping for a testy Bloomberg, they seem to be getting their wish. more ›

Overnight internet sensation Ryan Gosling has finally spoken out about that somewhat awkward scuffle he jumped into earlier this summer, right on the mean streets of Astor Place. The then unknown Gosling decided to break up a fight going down in the middle of an intersection, where a man had been stopped after stealing a painting. Gosling eventually paid the artist for the work, and the thief was sent on his way with the stolen item, learning absolutely nothing about the consequences of his actions. Because everything is, this was all caught on tape and later put into the YouTubes, making the young man famous (he's even since been cast in a movie called Drive which we hear is really good). Watch him blush below—this kid's got a future!: more ›

Still have some questions about Ryan Gosling breaking up that NYC street fight earlier this week? There are so many answers on the internet! First off, US Magazine talked to a witness that had the real story, saying, "There is a man who sells paintings [that] he makes on that corner. This older man ran by him and tried to grab and run away with one of his paintings. The painter was able to stop him before he took off with him and tackled him to the ground." Yawn, not enough Ryan Gosling in that eyewitness account, but it gets more interesting when Our Hero steps in... more ›

Smurf week may be over, but those little blue creatures aren't quite ready to leave the spotlight yet. And we aren't talking about the recently announced sequel. Three disgruntled employees of a Staten Island event-production company, Everything Entertainment, have been charged with looting loads of Smurf-themed schwag in the week before the movie's premiere. more ›

Just one more travel-induced headache: luggage-related larcenies are up almost 30 percent at JFK airport, so maybe think twice before checking that bag. And don't expect to get it back once it's gone—only 28 of the 299 complaints filed this year have lead to arrests. more ›

Earlier this week, a man stole a Picasso sketch from a San Francisco art gallery. The thief was captured on surveillance video from a neighboring bar, which showed a man, wearing sock-free loafers, a dark jacket and large sunglasses, casually strolling down the street with the sketch tucked under his arm and then heading into a cab. Now, a suspect has been caught, and it turns out he's from the Garden State. more ›