A Tale of two cities
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NYC:
Lorenzo McLucas, 34, was nabbed Wednesday at a Target on the Upper East Side, with Vaseline and lotions worth $80 on him, police sources told The Post. Cops charged him with petit larceny and possession of stolen property.
McLucas — who already had more than 120 busts under his belt — was also slapped with charges for six other thefts that took place between May 6 and June 9, all at Manhattan Targets.
It comes just weeks after the alleged serial shoplifter notched his 122nd arrest for allegedly stealing from the cosmetics counter at a Duane Reade in Midtown — and then released on his own recognizance.
The cases McLucas was charged in Wednesday include a June 4 incident where he allegedly stole $510 worth of goods from an Upper West Side Target; a June 25 caper where $481 worth of goods were stolen from an East Village Target; and another episode just last week when an Upper East Side Target was robbed of $210 worth of hairspray and makeup.
McLucas was nabbed Wednesday at a Target on the Upper East Side, with Vaseline and lotions worth $80 on him.
Bragg’s office told The Post at the time that it would have requested McLucas be detained if it could, keeping in line with the DA’s announcement that he wanted to clamp down on serial shoplifters.
Prosecutors can only request bail on this sort of misdemeanor if the perp has other cases pending against him, and McLucas did not have any then and still doesn’t now.
McLucas has previously been convicted of two felonies and 29 misdemeanors. He also has 20 missed court appearances.
And from Tampa:
Meet the vigilante wrestlers who tracked down and tackled a purse thief at a Walmart
NWA wrestlers Bryan Idol and Natalia Markova were returning by plane to Tampa from TV tapings in Nashville last month. When they landed, Markova could not find her purse. ,,.
[She had left her AirPods in her purse, so they could track and locate the thief]
They hopped in an Uber to where Idol’s car was parked, and eventually tracked the thief down at a Walmart in Pinellas Park, about 45 minutes away from the airport.
“As we walked into the Walmart, her phone actually went off with a fraud alert — it said somebody was trying to buy a $700 TV,” Idol said.
Idol approached the thief and tried to talk to him, having recognized him from sitting in their row on the flight.
“He kind of put his hands on me and ran through me, coupled with the fact that he stole her stuff — at that point common sense dictated that law enforcement would think it was okay (to go after him,)” Idol said. “My intent was not to kill the guy.”
Said Markova: “He tackled the guy, like a quarterback sack, and held him down. He wasn’t punching. He made sure to do it in the safest way possible — but still stop him.”
Security footage from the Walmart shows Idol chasing down the thief and tackling him to the ground.
Idol recalled that the general sentiment inside the Walmart, where, of course, everyone in the store started spectating on what happened, was to let the guy go.
[They must have been NYC tourists]
“That’s, like, insane,” Idol said. “That’s bizarro world.”
While Idol was dealing with the thief, Markova was telling the Walmart staff to call the police, who arrived about 10 minutes later.
According to the police report, suspect Kevin Koble was detained. He admitted to stealing the purse, which contained $600 cash and Markova’s credit card. He returned the cash and said that the purse had been turned into American Airlines personnel at the Tampa airport. Idol and Markova ultimately declined to press charges.
No argument here:
….Idol pointed to New York City, where bodega clerk Jose Alba stabbed ex-con Austin Simon to death, ostensibly in self-defense. Alba is nonetheless facing murder charges.
“The cool thing about where we live in Florida is the law kind of protects us in that regard, because we caught someone in the act of a felony,” Idol said. “Just nowadays, I feel like criminals have to feel like they can’t get away with everything.”
hell, i wouldn’t steal from this guy even if it was his purse
