Recently it seems that we are having a very large number of vehicle parts thefts. A few of my neighbors have had parts from their cars stolen on 3 separate occasions. Multiple mirrors were stolen now multiple catalytic converters.
On the evening of Thursday, February 17th, two catalytic converters were stolen from a Toyota Sequoia.
On the evening of Sunday, February 20th, another car had the catalytic converter stolen it was parked in the same location that the Toyota was previously parked in. The cars were parked adjacent to 84–xx 55th Rd. which is on the corner of 85th St. and 55th Road.
The owners of both of these cars are decent hard-working people and they both experienced problems three times. The exasperation level is very high and many people have told me they are ready to move out of frustration. We recently had a neighbor sell his house and move for this reason.
Another Elmhurst member reached out to us and told us the following:
On Thursday, February 17th, about 6:30 am, a resident looked out his window and spotted four youths near his car and his car seemed to be moving. When the resident yelled out the window, the youths jumped into a vehicle and drove off. The resident thought they were possibly stealing his rims and tires but it wasn’t until he got into his car and started it that he realized they stole his catalytic converter. This occurred on 58th Avenue off the corner of Seabury Street.
IMPORTANT
We don’t know if all or any of these incidents were reported. Our officers patrol areas where crime is occurring and if no reports are filed, it’s like nothing happened in our neighborhood. Call 911 and tell the Operator you need to have a report taken for a past crime. The police won’t come right away because it’s not an emergency but they will come to take the report.
These locations are right next to Middle Village and a stone’s throw from Maspeth and our section of Woodside so we all need to be on the alert and call 911 if suspicious activity is observed. You will not get in trouble if you are mistaken.