Police Blotter: Blue Ribbon Waiter Steals Almost $8,000 in Four-Month Grift

The following information was supplied by the NYPD’s 78th Precinct. It does not indicate a conviction.

The Short Grift at Blue Ribbon

Police arrested a 28-year-old waiter from a fancy Fifth Avenue restaurant after he stole almost $8,000 over a four-month period from Dec. 1, 2012 through March 7, 2013.

The 47-year-old witness, who also works as a waitress at the restaurant between First Street and Garfield Place, told police that she saw the crooked waiter pocket cash from patrons’ checks at Blue Ribbon Brooklyn. Over a four-month period of time, the 28-year-old waiter ran a grift where he would steal cash from patrons’ checks and then enter that the checks were “paid” into the restaurant’s computer system. The waiter-turned-crook stole a total of $7,961. Police arrested the man March 11. 

Closet Cash Stolen 

A crook stole $3,000 in cash from a man’s First Street apartment, which is also his photo studio, sometime between Oct. 15, 2012 and March 11, 2013.

The 38-year-old victim told police that he put $3,000 in cash in his closet in his apartment and photo studio on First Street, between Sixth and Seventh avenues, on Oct. 15, 2012 at around 7 a.m. When he went to check on it months later on March 11, 2013 at around 7:40 p.m., it was gone. The victim told police that he believes a former employee, who knew where the cash was hidden, stole the $3,000. The crook also got away with a 38 photos, worth a total of $2,970.