The New York Post reports this robbery just one block away:
A woman who left her Union Square apartment to check in on a 102-year-old neighbor returned to find a well-dressed burglar grabbing $50,000 worth of her jewelry, cops said yesterday.
The thief — decked out in a black suit and tie — had sneaked into an apartment building on University Place at 3 p.m. Monday and was prowling around for an unlocked door when he hit the jackpot at Linda Kaplan’s home, sources said.
As the thief was stashing bling in a canvas bag, Kaplan, 76, walked in.
She demanded to know what he was doing, and he responded, “I’m with the Fire Department,” according to cops.
When Kaplan demanded to see ID, the 6-foot-2 bandit threw her down.
“He grabbed my shoulders and pushed me to the ground,” Kaplan said. “I grabbed his legs. I tried to stop him from leaving.
“Once he knocked me down, I started screaming for help.”
Among those who ran to her aid was a painter working in an apartment upstairs. Minutes earlier, the thief had poked his head in that unit but fled when he saw the worker.
Cops said the bandit operated like an “office creeper,” a well-dressed thief who looks for laptop computers or purses at unoccupied office desks.