Two people accused of stealing woman's keys in locker, stealing vehicle outside recreation center in Crown Heights
Police say a 61-year-old woman went to St John's Recreation Center and left her keys in the locker. The keys were stolen - and so was her car.
Two people are accused of stealing a woman's car outside a recreation center in Crown Heights.
Police say a 61-year-old woman went to St John's Recreation Center and left her keys in the locker. The keys were stolen - and so was her car.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Stephanie, whose elderly mother has lived across the street from the center for several years. “Too close to home.”
Police are asking for the public’s help finding the two individuals responsible for breaking into the woman’s locker and taking off with her vehicle.
Sources say the car is believed to be a 2018 BMW.
“It brings tears to my eyes,” said Stephanie. “Normally a whole lot of people come to the center. My mother has been here for years, and I know I've been in this neighborhood for a long time. This center is highly used by a lot of people.”
“There's enough awful stuff in the world that something like that seems so specific and intentional,” said Meredith, a Crown Heights resident. “It actually makes me so sad.”
When thieves can grab keys from a locker and drive off with someone’s car — it makes people wonder just how protected their belongings really are. Not just at St. John’s Recreation Center, but in gyms and rec centers anywhere else.
“I've been to a lot of different gyms and membership clubs over the years,” said Meredith. “I feel like in the past ten years, it was actually getting more common to have more of a cubby system or an unlock system where they actually said, like, we don't allow locks here. Everyone is just on the honor system, so that’s what surprises me the most. It seems so disrespectful and blatantly a neighborhood crime.”
News 12 reached out to the city’s Parks Department to find out if any new safeguards have been put in place since the incident.
The department provided the following statement:
“We take the safety of our patrons very seriously, and we are committed to keeping New Yorkers safe at our parks and recreation centers.”
Police have released images of two people they are looking for in connection to the incident and are asking the public for help.
