A trio of laundry room bandits threatening apartment building residents has been caught after video surveillance and some good old fashioned police work resulted in the arrest of three individuals who are responsible for at least 20 and as many as 35 crimes.
Three suspects initially captured on video surveillance were apprehended days ago by police in the 112th Precinct. Photo Courtesy of DCPI
Captain Thomas Conforti, Commanding Officer of the 112 precinct, serving Forest Hills and Rego Park, says the apprehension of the three suspects is a very significant arrest for the precinct and for the community.
“Henry Thomas, the 55 year-old ringleader of this operation is a repeat offender with at least 10 prior arrests,” Conforti told The Forum. “At the time of his arrest, he was also on probation.”
Thomas together with the other two suspects, both males in their mid to late thirties, teamed up for a total of 21 burglaries in Queens with 11 occurring in the confines of the 112th, 4 in Jackson Heights, 2 each in Elmhurst and Flushing , one in Fresh Meadows and in the 102 precinct in Ozone Park. They are also being investigated in possible connection to burglaries in Brooklyn.
“There are about 350 buildings with laundry rooms to target in the precinct, so zeroing in on potential strikes was very challenging,” the captain said. But using trial and error and past history, the police established a concentration.
Conforti said this case was a classic example of how important obtaining images from surveillance equipment can be. “We started collecting images as back as early as April,” Comforti explained. “In the beginning is was a simple larceny of some laundry machines. From there it was a matter of piecing together footage from escalating associated crimes.” Once they had pretty much established identifications of the men it was a matter of figuring out where they would strike next.
The burglary pattern was first announced on the Facebook page of the 112 Precinct Community Council on May 25 when president of the council, Heidi Harrison Chain let page viewers know about the thieves who were breaking into the buildings.
And for the many critics who think social media has no benefits, perhaps a look at what appears to be a local role model in using the technology for the “great” of the community will serve to soften that opinion.
The Facebook relationship of the 112th Precinct Council only began a little over a month ago and has already proven to be a source of information and comfort, but a place where concerned community residents can go and get information that is reliable and most importantly accurate.
“The community is one of the greatest resources we have when fighting crime,” and Capt. Conforti says, “and now they can depend on getting the information they need in a reliable and accurate setting at our new Facebook page.”
On May 2, the page, spearheaded by Captain Conforti and president of the 112th Precinct Community Council, Heidi Harrison Chain, made its debut with the purpose of getting good information out to the community where it belongs.
Chain introduced the group to the world of social media with an outline of purpose, “The 112th precinct community council is an NYPD – community partnership devoted to improving the quality of life in Forest Hills and Rego Park. We have monthly meetings open to everyone to promote public safety.”
And according to the council president, much of the success of the page is due to the largeness of cooperation by the precincts commanding officer. “Captain Conforti is, in a word about this, absolutely terrific,” she says. And from the moment the pair sat down to discuss their approach to filtering information to the public, it has been a concerted effort proving well worth the effort. “It’s not a once a week thing,” Chain says indicating the page is attended to on a daily basis.
“This is a great tool,” Conforti acknowledges. “Getting images and surveillance video out to the masses can only help us to make arrest just like this one. We can increase awareness and safety greatly.”
By Patricia Adams
