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Thieves Steal Hundreds of Cigarette Boxes from UWS Duane Reades: Police

May 10, 2018 | 11:23 AM - Updated on June 5, 2022 | 11:29 PM
in CRIME, NEWS
38

Police are looking for the individuals depicted in the photos and videos above and below for a series of cigarette box thefts in recent months. The details below are from NYPD:

Incident #1: It was reported to police that on Thursday February 8, 2018, at approximately 0516 hours, inside of 4 Amsterdam Avenue (Duane Reade at 59th Street), the individual jumped over the counter, laid down on the floor and placed 20 cigarette boxes inside his jacket. The individual fled the location on foot in an unknown direction.

Incident #2: It was reported to police that on Friday April 20, 2018, at approximately 0512 hours, inside of 4 Amsterdam Avenue, the individual jumped over the counter, crawled along the floor and placed 188 cigarette boxes inside of a plastic bag. The individual fled the location on foot in an unknown direction.

Incident #3: It was reported to police that on Monday April 23, 2018, at approximately 0150 hours, inside of 2069 Broadway (Duane Reade at 72nd Street), the individual jumped over the counter, laid down on the floor and placed 24 cigarette boxes inside of his sweater. The individual fled the location on foot in an unknown direction.

The first individual is described as a male with a mask over his face; last seen wearing a black hooded sweater, a black jacket with white stripes on its sleeves, black pants and black and gold sneakers.

The second individual is described as a male, black; last seen wearing a black knit cap, a black and purple jacket, gray pants and black boots.

The third individual is described as a male, black; last seen wearing a blue baseball cap, a green sweater, blue jeans and he had on a black backpack (seen at top of post).

https://www.westsiderag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/1153-18-GL-GLD-20-Pct-02-08-18-VIDEO.mp4

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.

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38 Comments
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Felicia
Felicia
7 years ago

Cigarettes stolen
from a pharmacy. Seems like
poetic justice.

0
Reply
Sean
Sean
7 years ago

The horror!

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Reply
Wes Eider
Wes Eider
7 years ago

Those things will kill ya.

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Reply
lou
lou
7 years ago

the 1st guy in the video must be a plumber…cause I can see the crack in his ass

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Reply
Phil Ossofer
Phil Ossofer
7 years ago

Re: “Cigarettes stolen from a pharmacy. Seems like poetic justice.”

But wot-if they had been stolen from a teensy-weensy Mom-‘n’-Pop hole-in-the-wall “store”?

That would’ve been a tragedy, right?

Yup…Big-Bad-Chain-Pharmacy…Boooo!…
how DARE they sell “cancer-sticks”!

Teensy-weensy struggling store…Yaayyy!!!…
whatever it takes to ‘stick-it-to-the-man AND make a buck.

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dg
dg
7 years ago
Reply to  Phil Ossofer

it’s poetry (which I love to see here).

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Reply
Felicia
Felicia
7 years ago
Reply to  Phil Ossofer

Perhaps you are not
a native English speaker.
Such a hissy fit.

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Reply
nycityny
nycityny
7 years ago

May Duane Reade should do what CVS did and stop selling cigarettes…

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Reply
BillyNYC
BillyNYC
7 years ago
Reply to  nycityny

I second that !!! when will the new law go into effect where no one can smoke on the streets “anywhere” but in one spot and cannot move until they finish there “smoking gun”.
I’m already telling people they have to walk on the other side of the street because there’s no smoking on the side I’m walking on.

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UWS10023
UWS10023
7 years ago

oh Duane Reade you guys are incorrigible -_-

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Locavorey
Locavorey
7 years ago

Typical Upper West Sider. He should be stealing from Mom & Pop stores instead of these national drugstore chains. Our neighborhood has become such a Jersey strip mall!

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Reply
Smithe
Smithe
7 years ago
Reply to  Locavorey

So move away if its so awful for you. I for one take pride in my neighborhood despite its flaws. I challenge you to name a better area of the city to live in.

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Zulu
Zulu
7 years ago

It’s going to be tough to find any empathy for DR on this one.

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Reply
UWSHebrew
UWSHebrew
7 years ago

Lock. Them. Up.

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Reply
Anomalous
Anomalous
7 years ago

Yes I have seen him here on the UWS and he is bad news, he is armed extremely dangerous.

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Reply
drg
drg
7 years ago

I am very confused.
I thought DR has no problem with thefts in their stores… just “leakage” covered by insurance…

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Reply
TomTom
TomTom
7 years ago

Maybe the $18 packs of cigs help lower prescription costs. Why disparage Duane Reade? They are a discount option for a state and city that taxes the hell out of us

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Reply
Zulu
Zulu
7 years ago
Reply to  TomTom

The disparaging remarks are due to the fact that it’s place of business that promotes itself as a provider of wellness; however, still chooses to sell a product that causes such detrimental effects to people’s health.

I googled: How much does cancer cost the US. And this is what I found:

“The financial costs of cancer are high for both the person with cancer and for society as a whole. The Agency for Healthcare research and Quality (AHRQ) estimates that the direct medical costs (total of all health care costs) for cancer in the US in 2015 were $80.2 billion.”

Granted it doesn’t distinguish between types of cancers and their different causes. None the less, cigarettes have been well proven to be part of that 80.2 billion dollar problem.

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Woody
Woody
7 years ago
Reply to  Zulu

The costs of obesity to society are also staggering. Medical issues related to obesity are similar to those related to smoking.

If you’re going to beat down a store for selling a legal product, be consistent and spread the hate to other businesses that contribute to obesity. All this outrage directed at Duane Reade for the stated reasons is phony.

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Zulu
Zulu
7 years ago
Reply to  Woody

Not the same. Obesity is by far a much more complex issue than the dependency to smoking, and in fact a graver issue. As per a quick Google search it costs our society $190 Billions a year. Since we all have to eat to live, it’s not that easy to regulate, tax, or control like cigarettes.

Bloomberg tried by limiting soda sizes and it wasn’t well received. Everybody knows cigarettes are bad for you. You could say the same about fast food, but it is still food.

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Cato
Cato
7 years ago
Reply to  Woody

All of the causes of obesity — food of one sort or another — have legitimate uses that, in moderation, do not cause obesity. It is unmoderated use, not the food itself, that causes obesity.

There is no healthful or appropriate use for cigarettes. The human body did not evolve to smoke. Elimination of cigarettes, while perhaps unpleasant for those who have chosen to addict themselves to nicotine, would not eliminate a product that can be used safely.

Obesity and smoking are not at all analogous.

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Mel Stone
Mel Stone
7 years ago

Stores like this where they sell medication should NOT sell cigarettes or their products. They should follow the path of CVS.

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Reply
TomTom
TomTom
7 years ago
Reply to  Mel Stone

Should they not sell alcohol or sugar based products too? Why don’t you open a store and I’ll tell you what legal products you can and can’t sell. If you don’t like Duane Reade then don’t shop there

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Reply
Felicia
Felicia
7 years ago
Reply to  TomTom

Tom tom seems confused.
One can have an opinion
and not want a ban.

A haiku

0
Reply
Independent
Independent
7 years ago
Reply to  Felicia

Return to high school.

How I wish I could.

Have you found a way to become young again?

@ Zulu:
If it had been only one or two, here and there…but I’m not the only one to find it to have become too much already; an annoying shtik.

0
Reply
Zulu
Zulu
7 years ago
Reply to  Independent

Annoying shtick or
just clever musings.
Either way, amusing

0
Reply
Zulu
Zulu
7 years ago
Reply to  Felicia

This poem is the literary equivalent of a scalpel. Simple in design yet incredibly precise in capable hands.

0
Reply
Basho
Basho
7 years ago
Reply to  Zulu

Not haiku poetry.

Also, very downbeat.

0
Reply
Independent
Independent
7 years ago
Reply to  Felicia

One can also write the exact comment you did — verbatim — without pretending its a poem.

0
Reply
Zulu
Zulu
7 years ago
Reply to  Independent

@ Tim,

Haikus do not have to rhyme. Feel free to look it up.

0
Reply
Tim
Tim
7 years ago
Reply to  Independent

Lol, thank you independent, you made my day. Also, I’m old enough to remember when real poems had to rhyme! 🙂

0
Reply
Zulu
Zulu
7 years ago
Reply to  Independent

Independent,
By your own standards, isn’t your comment gratuitous? Felicia should be able to write a comment in which ever form she wants.

0
Reply
Felicia
Felicia
7 years ago
Reply to  Independent

It is a haiku.
That is just a simple fact.
Return to high school.

A haiku

0
Reply
Smithe
Smithe
7 years ago
Reply to  Mel Stone

The last I checked, smoking was a voluntary action that everybody knows will result in addiction when they start. You’re logic is flawed unless you think DR should clear its shelves of any product containing sugar and alcohol as well. Get with it!

0
Reply
Smithe
Smithe
7 years ago
Reply to  Smithe

*your

0
Reply
Jimbo
Jimbo
7 years ago

Historically Duane Reade was a discount option then a hedge fund bought it and it went upscale. Then the Hedgies sold to Walgreens. No bargains there. And a limited inventory. Price Wise had everything you could ask for at a reasonable price with no delusions of grandeur. Duane Reade’s announcement that the are working with the NYPD about the whereabouts of its “plain-clothes security officers” was hilarious. This in response to the NYPD’s request that DR hire security. The The public announcement regarding these mythic plain-clothes men is the cheapskate’s response to security.

0
Reply
NotImpressed
NotImpressed
7 years ago
Reply to  Jimbo

I stopped reading this reply after the first sentence.
I fell asleep.

0
Reply
Basho
Basho
7 years ago

Not haiku poetry.

Also, very downbeat.

0
Reply

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