January 29, 2016
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced last week the indictment of 11 people on a variety of counts related to the alleged bilking of banks and their customers for a total of almost three quarters of a million dollars. How was the scheme accomplished? According to the D.A., the defendants operated across the country, traveling from New York to nine other states. Prosecutors claim that the group accomplished the thefts in the following way: They […] Read On
January 14, 2014
Back in mid-2012, we reported on what then appeared to be a relatively new phenomenon, that is, the increase in the number of iPhones and iPads being stolen. We noted in that article (Grand Larceny Increase Tied to iPhone and iPad Thefts) that the theft rate for these items was so high that it was the driving force behind an overall increase in grand theft in New York City. We concluded our report with the […] Read On
October 1, 2013
It’s not as if we haven’t heard about fortune telling scams before. They have been the subject of books, articles, plays, movies, and documentaries for as long as any of us can remember. But did you know that fortune telling is a crime in the State of New York? Under § 165.35 of the Penal Law, it is a class B misdemeanor to solicit or receive a fee for telling (or pretending to tell) fortunes, […] Read On
March 2, 2013
In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, charges of looting were rampant, and the NYPD utilized what have been called “roundup” techniques to make arrests in various neighborhoods. We’re not exactly sure what these techniques were supposed to accomplish, but the record thus far indicates that the Department may well have ended up making a host of arrests without any legal basis. Apparently, when notified that a particular area of the city, or a particular store, […] Read On