UES Smoke Shop Hit Twice By Same Robber: Police

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A man who robbed a First Avenue smoke shop at knife point in September also robbed the same store in July with a hammer and a friend, police say.

At about 4:15 p.m. on July 24, two men robbed the smoke shop on First Avenue near East 78th Street, police said.

Once in the store, one of the men pulled out a hammer and demanded money, police said, while the second held the bag ultimately filled with about $3,850 worth of cash and goods inside.

Officials said the pair then fled on a moped in an unknown direction.

Police released an additional photo of the hammer-wielding man looking straight at a security camera.

Investigators are now linking this July robbery to one at the same shop in September, when, police claim, one of the men returned solo for a knifepoint stickup and stole about $2,000 in cash along with other goods.

When police announced the Sept. 20 robbery, they said the same man was also possibly linked to a pair of smoke shop robberies in Queens — one near Fresh Pond Road and Gates Avenue on Sept. 8 and another in Ridgewood on Sept. 22.

An NYPD spokesperson said that like in the September Upper East Side robbery, the man flashed a knife before making off with a mix of cash and assorted store goods, stealing about $1,500 in total from the pair of Queens smoke shops.

Police said that the Ridgewood robbery involved an additional suspect.

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).