Cops arrested a law enforcement impersonator but are still looking for his partner in crime who robbed a man in Jackson Heights earlier this month. (Courtesy of the NYPD)
Oct. 24, 2023 By Bill Parry
Police from the 110th Precinct in Elmhurst are looking for two crooks who pretended to be one of their own during an early morning robbery on Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights earlier this month.
A 41-year-old man was walking past a storefront at 89-14 Roosevelt Ave. just after 3:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 3, when two strangers approached him and flashed an unknown identification card and falsely impersonated a law enforcement official, police said. The two men forcibly removed the victim’s book bag and ran off in an unknown direction, according to authorities. The value of the stolen book bag was around $50.
One of the perpetrators was taken into custody a short while later but the second suspect remains at large. He was last seen running eastbound on Roosevelt Avenue. The victim did not suffer any injuries during the robbery and refused medical attention.
The NYPD released surveillance video of the two men as they walked along Roosevelt Avenue and they continue to search for the shorter suspect on the left, who was described as having a light complexion and is believed to be in his early 20s. He is approximately 5 feet 4 inches tall and was last seen wearing a white sweatshirt, black pants, white sneakers and a black baseball cap, police said.
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS.
Through Oct. 22, the 110th Precinct has reported 377 robberies so far in 2023, 53 more than the 324 reported at the same point last year, an increase of 16.4%, according to the most recent CompStat report.
