Crooks Swipe $25K In Manhattan Cell Phone Store Robbery Spree

LOWER EAST SIDE, NY — Police are searching for five men who've swiped more than $25,000 worth of cell phones from shops across Manhattan — hitting 11 stores in less than a month.

The crime spree began in the Lower East Side on Nov. 30 at 144 Delancey Street when two men grabbed $1,500 in display cell phones and darted out of the shop, police said. Over the next month, the five men — sometimes alone or in small groups — targeted stores in Chelsea, Tribeca, Greenwich Village and Midtown.

Their largest caper occurred on Dec. 11 in Chelsea when four of the crooks snatched $3,900 worth of cell phones before fleeing the 750 Avenues of Americas store, authorities said.

The latest robbery targeted a 96 Delancey Street shop in the Lower East Side on Dec. 22 when three men grabbed display phones and made off with $900 worth of goods into the Essex Street-Delancey Street subway station, police said.

Authorities have identified one of the robbers as Timothy Adams, 17, who is five-foot-seven and roughly 120 pounds. Police describe the remaining four suspects as men in their late teens or early twenties last seen wearing all dark clothes and clothing that covered their faces.

Anyone with information in regard 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).

Photos courtesy of the NYPD