Police arrested a 25-year-old man named Darryl Naser from Queens on Friday and charged him with multiple thefts at the AMC movie theater on Broadway between 67th and 68th Streets. There have been several thefts reported at that theater since July, with the latest on Dec. 16. Police say they have connected Naser to three thefts and may be able to link him to a fourth.
“The AMC theater manager was given our wanted flyers and saw the perpetrator in the theater Friday night. He called 911 immediately, and 20th Precinct patrol arrested him,” wrote Deputy Inspector Timothy Malin in an email to West Side Rag. “When presented with video evidence by detectives, the suspect admitted to using stolen credit cards and was charged with three counts of grand larceny. Mr. Naser has over 21 prior unsealed arrests, and was responsible for a similar pattern of stealing out of movie theaters in midtown Manhattan back in 2017.”
Police continue to look for other suspects who are wanted for thefts at the theater. They’re also trying to determine if Naser worked alone or with other individuals.
Great job to the observant manager! Unfortunately he’ll be released without bail by tomorrow. 😡
I really helps when people know that bail was never meant to be punitive. Especially when they haven’t had their day in court.
New Jersey has had bail reform since 2017 and the results have been positive.
Great job, NYPD! Now if we can just keep him locked up.
Also, since he struck multiple times at multiple theaters, is there such a thing as a restraining or tresspassing order (more strict than a “ban”) for all NYC movie theaters? And a tracking device that tells police and theater management when he is on theater property? We seem to require better solutions that what has been applied in the past.
Finally, this is another good reason for everyone to read West Side Rag! If he read it, he would know we were on to him. 😉
Hopefully the good idea to keep him locked up in your paragraph will eliminate the need for the other good solutions proposed in your second paragraph.
He is clearly a habitual offender. He does not belong in normal society for a long time. He has admitted to this crime. Open and shut case. There is no excuse for him being released.
Great job by wsr reporting on this and by nypd for catching him. Hopefully wsr will provide a follow up on what punishment he receives once he has had his day in court.
21 prior arrests. Seems to me that after say. . . 12, maybe we decide to lock him up and throw away the key??
Lives in the outer boroughs, works in Manhattan. Another hardworking commuter.
How hard is it to understand that our society is governed by something called the U.S. Constitution (and in New York the New York State Constitution)? That being arrested is not the same thing as being convicted? That a criminal is sentenced to jail AFTER he/she has been convicted–not after they are arrested? And that the purpose of bail is to insure that a person accused of a crime appears in court to answer the charges?
I want this person to be incarcerated for an appropriate amount of time as much as everyone else does–if they miss a court date or are ultimately convicted. But I also understand and appreciate that bail was being misused and/or applied unequally so that people without means were being discriminated against. I fervently hope that the ill-informed (and, I dare say, ignorant) comments under every recent article about someone being arrested will stop. Since Jan. 1, most misdemeanors and Class E felonies no longer require cash or bond to avoid being held in jail while awaiting trial.
Oh ye informed person – we’re just tired of the spate of crimes and defenses of need. Its time for the normal, productive, citizens to be cared for and protected and safe. We don’t need superior ghosts to read the law. Implement some action for the good. This is city is becoming bad like pre-2 mayors ago – that doesn’t bode well for property values, quality of life, school safety, etc. etc. etc. I say take your superiority elsewhere, ignorance of life is a bigger crime.
@ SC…
Exactly right, SC. Let’s ignore the Constitution and equal treatment under the law because you “feel” like crime is rising (and society is crumbling) despite factual evidence to the contrary.
I just love people who use the word “we” as if they have been chosen to speak for everyone. SC has every right to voice her/his/their predictably anonymous opinion. But there is no “us” that has anointed anonymous SC as our leader or spokesperson.
Thank you for the civics lesson, Jerry.
Tell us now, tell us how seamlessly the electoral college works!
The electoral college works exactly as intended. Unfortunately.
Really? This country really needs to get back to teaching civics. When my 8 year granddaughter doesn’t understand something she uses the “Google Machine” and looks it up, you might want to try it too??
p.s. this gent no doubt was released without bail and given a metro card and a $25 debit card
The Electoral College was intended as a check on an imprudent choice made by the voters. In 2016 the Electoral College did the OPPOSITE of what was intended. In 2016, it was the voters who made the wiser choice and the Electoral College that acted imprudently.
of course at the time of James Madison, the “national popular vote” in no way reflected the actual population of the nation. the vast majority of American residents (I won’t say “citizens”, as slaves were not citizens) had no suffrage rights. this includes slaves, close to a majority in several Southern states; women; and men without necessary property.
It’s a bit more complicated than that. The EC was never intended to reflect the aggregate national popular vote. It was created to balance the apportionment of power as vested in the (undemocratic) Senate and (democratic) House of Representatives. Initially, it was also felt that the electors would be better informed than the average voter. In any case, there have only been four presidential elections (1876, 1888, 2000 and 2016) where the national popular vote went to the candidate who received fewer electors. And only the 1876 election was impacted by elector(s) who changed their vote from their pledged candidate to the one that would up winning. In the other cases, changed votes (generally to third party candidates) made no difference in the outcome. Certainly it’s become more of a focus today, but if you go back and review the Federalist Papers (especially James Madison) you’ll see that it was not the intention to reflect the national popular vote.
thank you Jerry. The commenters never consider the thousands of INNOCENT people who have been held in jail because they couldn’t make bail… or the more thousands of people who committed minor offenses, often, in the past, possession of marijuana, who have to languish in jail awaiting trial.
if, as seems likely, this fellow is indeed guilty and a habitual criminal, he will be back in prison soon enough… or else be in contempt of court for failure to appear, which will make his situation worse.
Awwww….your defense of these thieves and criminals breaks my heart….
Somehow I suspect that if you or a loved one were arrested you’d be screaming about “innocent until proven guilty!”
At this theater few years back, when I went to the see the movie about the United Flight that crashed on 9-11 (forget the movie’s name), when it ended, 2 women stood up saying their pocketbook was missing. I tried to help them, thinking maybe the person who stole it may have just taken the money & threw their pocketbook into the garbage, so I went into the mens room & looked in the trash there & suggested we look in all the garbages, but we found nothing. When I went to see the movie I Tonya, I put my winter hat & gloves on the handle of the seat (to save the seat) while I went to the bathroom & when I came back 3 minutes later, it was gone. Seriously, you can afford to pay $17 for a movie ticket & you need to steal someone else’s winter hat?! I noticed once when you ride the long escalator that leads out to 68th street, people wait there & go in from that way to avoid buying a ticket. This theater itself in in desperate need of an upgrade. Seats are all falling apart. Never enough staff & they no longer even have anyone at the customer service desk. It’s like the theater is falling apart & nobody there cares. I guess they probably don’t.
Thank you NYPD!!
Thanks to your elected officials, all NYC and NYS Democrats from the Governor and Mayor down, he will be free to steal again. This is not my opinion; it is fact under the bail elimination (aka reform) law.
If you want to stay safe in New York, stop voting for a party that has gone crazy in their efforts to protect and encourage criminals.
Right – vote for the party that protects and encourages the criminals who will never be arrested or prosecuted.
Hooray Bail Reform! Now he’s free to make make this afternoon’s matinee!
So if there were no bail reform, would you be OK with his posting of bail if he could afford it?
I think Carlos in these comments has a great idea. If possible, can the WSR please follow this case of Darryl Naser. In particular on the question of bail and detention before his trial. Maybe Deputy Inspector Malin, who is good enough to give some of his time to the WSR, can give us what is really happening with Darryl Naser and why it is happening instead of vague, uninformed rants by commenters about the new bail policy that exists for good reason. Darryl Naser may, in fact, not benefit from the new bail policy. If he does, it would be extra beneficial if DI Malin could explain how it all works and why. That’s a lot to ask of DI Malin but it would be very helpful on such an important subject.
Yes, I believe in transparency and am happy to oblige.
The new criminal justice bill has indeed affected this case- though not the bail reform part, rather the new discovery rules. The interesting thing with this case is that the district attorney must delay filing an accusatory instrument and bringing the suspect before a grand jury because of the new discovery rules that took effect on Jan 1st. The DA needs not just the computer records, but the original handwritten copies of all reports, officers‘ memo books, any scratch notes, and body camera footage, etc. from every officer that responded to each one of these three theft incidents. This is because once the DA files the accusatory instrument, they now only have 15 days to turn over every shred of evidence and bit of Rosario material to the defense attorney. So the case will proceed, but the suspect gets released for a few days as we collect and transmit all of the required material. The district attorney does not want to start that 15 day countdown clock until they have everything in hand already. This is a new administrative burden that both the DA’s Office and the NYPD are having to contend with and (rapidly) adapt to.
We’ll keep you posted once he goes before a judge.
Deputy Inspector Malin, thanks so much for posting here and on the prior article about this. It’s great to have communication directly from you and to better understand what’s happening.
It really is my pleasure. When it comes to public safety, the more community engagement, the better.
DI Malin (20 PCT) has done a superb job at communications with the community, a crucial part of modern policing. Sadly, he routinely gets abused and dissed on this site from anonymous commenters.
I can’t speak for anyone else, but i want to let him know that i appreciate his work, and am embarrassed when anonymous people attempt to diminish it. And i’ll put my name to that sentiment!
I also appreciate Captain Malin’s work and am a huge supporter the NYPD and other law enforcement agencies. However, I choose not to identify myself, as is my right as a WSR commenter. Why? Because in the polarized, highly toxic atmosphere in which we currently live, I don’t want to put my family at risk from any sort vigilantism, be it verbal or physical, from individuals that take exception to my personal opinions.
Anonymity allows for a more diverse conversation here, and that should be respected, not denigrated.
So is your screed really about anonymity or about opinion? Because the only anonymous commenters that you delight in dressing down are the ones that have differing opinions than yours.
That said, I do give you kudos for identifying yourself, but that doesn’t give your comments any more merit than anyone else’s here, anonymous or not.
Rob G:
If you’re worried about “vigilantism”for posting your views on a blog comments board, i would suggest you’re a little bit paranoid.
I can see the point of anonymity in certain cases, though i don’t know that it makes “a more diverse conversation.” There is a history of “diverse conversation” on the UWS in numerous “real world” environments before there were anonymous comments threads.
My beef is when people take potshots at various local officials and others from behind the curtain of anonymity. There are a lot of straight out irresponsible things that are said. One example is the common WSR comments charge that NYPD is “doctoring” the crime stats. If this was being done it would be a huge scandal. As a city worker (not in police, in health), i can tell you that we take recording statistics very seriously, and it would be a crime to doctor.
Interestingly, the one time i found when this WAS done — and it was a scandal, and heads rolled — was not under De Blasio but Bloomberg.
the bottom line is that people can post anonymously, but especially when they are attacking others, i have much more respect when they put their names on it. That is “old school.”
The vast majority of comments I read here about our local precinct and DI Malin are very appreciative, including Mr. Bando’s comment above. The general point of view is that he is being very responsive to the community and is doing the best he can but is being limited in his ability to act on many matters by new NYPD policies. The average WSR reader is wise enough not to shoot the messenger. There are those who criticize, but they are in the minority here. Much as you seem to be in the minority in your interpretation of the sentiments of most of the readers here.
I made a point of praising NYPD above for making the arrest here. Hopefully the alleged criminal will receive his due process rights but based on the fact pattern of this story, he should be locked up for a long time. I don’t think all 21 of those prior arrests were false arrests, and DI Malin said that he confessed to these crimes.
just for the record, my comments above were not meant to criticize Evan Bando, who was neither anonymous nor derogatory.
i’m glad i started a stream of complimentary comments. There has been anonymous dissing, often uninformed. yes, there also have been informed comments, both positive and critical.
Carlos, it’s very simple: Since Jan. 1, most misdemeanors and Class E felonies no longer require cash or bond to avoid being held in jail while awaiting trial. What do you need DI Malin to explain? The purpose of bail is to insure that a person accused of a crime appears in court to answer the charges. Whether the person admitted anything incriminating to the police before or after being arrested is not relevant to bail, and neither is previous criminal history (in most instances).
Kudos to the theater manager, the patrol officer who effected the arrest and the detectives for their followup investigation. Hope the additional culprits are imminently brought to justice.
This cinema is dangerously understaffed…….never seems to be any security staff, and Now that all tix are sold at kiosks, there usually is not a single staff person on the first floor. Last time I was there, and before I read about these thefts, I thought about what a good spot it would be for thugs and Thieves. Oh and if you try to report it to AMC….their complaints address has been deactivated.
Like Deja Vu . . . many years ago the contents of a girlfriend of mine’s pocketbook were swiped when we were at the 83rd St. theatre. Clever, as nobody within 4-5 seats of us at the time yet with some remote device the nearby guy stole enough of the contents of that pocketbook to upset her for days.
This guy seems to have a great racket in the new DeBlasio Catch & Release environment. Sounds like a profitable business so long as you don’t get beat up or shot in the process. This guy already has a bunch of collars and is still out stealing from honest folks, apparently w/o serious penalty.
I thought the new bail rules were the province of the state, not DeBlasio. And if someone has the ability to post bail, does that mean he/she won’t be a danger to the public once released?
@ Mr. Sheridan…
Perhaps one or two salient facts would be of use to you? The Mayor of NYC does not write or establish criminal law (or criminal procedure) in New York State. Legislation is passed by the New York State Legislature and signed into law by the Governor of the state. District Attorneys (who are elected in each county Statewide and do not report to the Mayor of NYC) prosecute crimes, and Judges (who also have no line of authority to the Mayor of NYC) adjudicate. There is NO SUCH THING as a “de Blasio catch and release environment.”
Well done!!
It would have been instructive if it had also been reported (in this as well as in the previous article) how the thefts took place [i.e. pocket picked, bag left on seat, bag snatched….).
Agreed…..
How are people getting their stuff stolen at the movies? Don’t people keep their stuff with them? I’ve never gone to the movies and failed to watch my belongings. They’re usually on my lap or between my feet.