Pickpocket Wanted For Upper West Side, Times Square Thefts: Police

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — Police are searching for a pickpocket who lifted the wallets of two elderly men — one on the Upper West side and the other in Times Square — and tried to use their debit cards, police told Patch.

The accused pickpocket first struck on Feb. 27 at the West 72 Street and Broadway subway station, police said. Around 6:50 p.m. the man bumped into a 93-year-old male victim and removed the victim's wallet, police told Patch. The alleged thief then unsuccessfully tried to withdraw funds using a stolen debit card at a Duane Reade at West 42 Street and Eighth Avenue, police said.

A few days later, on March 3, the accused pickpocket bumped into an 83 year-old man on an escalator inside the Times Square subway station and removed the man's wallet, police said. The accused pickpocket then tried to use a debit card at the Resorts World Casino in Jamaica, Queens, police said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or 1-888-57-PISTA (74782) for Spanish. The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) and entering TIP577. All tips are confidential.

Photo by NYPD