Park Slope Thief Steals $3,100 Worth Of Nicotine Gum: Cops

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — A man in Brooklyn looking to kick his smoking habit seems to have developed a different kind of addiction — to nicotine gum.

Police are looking for a man who stole more than $3,000 worth of nicotine gum from a local convenience store, and nothing else, late last year.

The man went into Duane Reade on Flatbush Avenue at 3 p.m. on Dec. 12 and stole about $1,500 of the habit-kicking gum, police said.

But, apparently, he went through his supply pretty quickly.

The same man returned to the Duane Reade just a week later on Dec. 21, this time at 5:15 p.m., and stole $1,600 worth of the gum. Police didn't say exactly how he made it out of the store undetected.

This isn't the first time a thief with a hankering for one very specific product has cleared out the store, though. A few years ago a man stole $1,209 in Rogaine — 26 containers to be exact — from the same Duane Read, according to reports from the time.

Anyone with information in regards to this incident 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 WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577. All calls are strictly confidential.