Robbers Target Manhattan Vitamin Stores
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Vitamin Shoppe owners might want to up their intake of St. John’s wort because a robber is targeting the vitamin superstores in Manhattan.
The suspect, who operated alone except for in one case, held up seven vitamin stores between the end of June and this week. The rash of vitamin store robberies has extended from as far downtown as the Wall Street area up to the Upper West Side. In all cases, the robber threatened the victims with a gun. In most cases, he asked specifically for money from the safe as well as the cash register, authorities said.
In the most recent crime, on Tuesday at 8:40 p.m., the suspect, after making the employees get down on the floor, allegedly fled the store on Third Avenue near 79th Street with $1,000.
The first case occurred June 21 at 2:50 p.m., the authorities said. The suspect purchased an item at the Vitamin Shoppe on Fifth Avenue at 21st Street, left, and returned half an hour later, saying he wanted to exchange it. Then he demanded cash, and the employee handed him $700.
Eight days later, at 11:10 a.m., the robber forced employees into a stock room in the store on Broadway at Liberty Street. He fled with $251.
The next robbery occurred on August 4 at 8:55 p.m. in the store at Broadway near St. Mark’s Place, authorities said. The suspect, wearing a black ski mask and black gloves, made off with $2,711. Three days later, at 6 p.m. the suspect escaped the store at 24 Union Square East, between 15th and 16th streets, with $1,800, police officials said.
Wearing a baseball cap and a bandana to conceal his face, the man pulled off a robbery at the store on 57th Street between Third and Lexington avenues two days later at 8:26 p.m. He left with $900. This past Monday at 8:40 p.m., two men pulled a heist at the store on West 92nd Street near Amsterdam Avenue and got away with $2,700.
The police said they have no suspects yet, but the pattern is under investigation. The Vitamin Shoppe robberies come as the number of reported robberies in Manhattan this year has risen slightly. There have been 3,647 robberies recorded in 2005 as of Sunday compared with 3,560 at the same time last year. Citywide, robbery increased to 16,093 as of Sunday from 16,057 in 2004. Overall, crime has dropped in Manhattan as well as citywide this year.
