Illegal Migrant Pickpocketing Ring Busted in NYC
A crew of illegal migrants carried out a pickpocketing operation in New York City Thursday and used a 12-year-old to steal from passersby. Over 100 asylum seekers are now known to the NYPD to allegedly be part of this criminal ring.
These efforts by newcomers to the U.S. are widespread, and they target everyone from bar patrons to those simply walking down the street. They swarm potential victims as a team and are gone before the target knows what hit them.
Many are identified as illegal migrants from Venezuela, Columbia and other origins.
The illegal migrant pickpocketing crew was observed on 7th Avenue targeting pedestrians as they unsuspectingly made their way past. The four individuals quickly opened handbags and grabbed contents as they created confusion by crowding around passersby.
Before their arrest, they were seen unzipping a female’s handbag, removing its contents and handing them to other members of the operation.
A male and female, both 32, were charged along with another 26-year-old male. Two of the suspects face counts of acting in a manner injurious to a child.
The 12-year-old girl was also charged with grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property.
It was just last month when the NYPD conducted a massive sweep of a gang of migrant robbers terrorizing the city. The Venezuelans were in a safe house in the Bronx that was raided, and they are suspected of numerous purse and phone snatchings.
Officials blamed a single mastermind for conducting the organized thefts that netted 62 phones. The victims were targeted on the streets and in the city’s notoriously dangerous subway system.
Most of the migrants were living within the New York shelter system.
NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban described the criminal pattern. “In recent months a wave of migrant crime has washed over our city, but by no means are the individuals committing these crimes representing the vast number of people coming to New York to build a better life.”
The suspected ringleader, Victor Parra, was not caught in the initial sweep. Police said the perpetrators utilized social media platforms to coordinate their crimes.
