Young children are allegedly being used by adults to commit thefts by breaking directly into the cash registers of several New York City establishments that have been struggling with this scheme for at least eight months.
“It’s really sad, these kids are sent in and they already know exactly what to do. I don’t know if anyone scouts the places in advance… Maybe an adult came a few days before, had a beer and scouted the place,” complained the manager of the Lexington Publick, the latest establishment to fall victim to one of his crimes , as reported by the New York Post.
On Monday evening, around 8:30 p.m., the young thief, under 10 years old, showed up at the New York pub and asked to use the restrooms.
But after slamming the bathroom door shut – to give the impression that he had actually entered – the boy would instead have rushed down the stairs next to it, looking for the office below, where he would have managed to put his hand on a sheaf of papers to place $700 bills, which he allegedly tucked into his belt and into his sweater before removing them.
As he left the bar less than seven minutes later, according to American media, he even told the bar employee: “I made a big mess, so don’t go there yet.”
This is the latest such incident at New York facilities, but several have reportedly fallen victim to similar schemes in the past eight months.
In some cases, the children instead presented themselves to staff to raise funds for their basketball team. Other establishments have reported thefts directly from temporarily unattended bags.
“When they go out, either a man or a woman is waiting for them and instructing them,” complained Jacob Rabinowitz, owner of several establishments affected in recent months. These are little children – this is abuse!”
It is not clear whether the same children are involved in all cases, but a spokesperson confirmed that an investigation is underway to determine specifically whether this was a city-level situation and whether these crimes are related or non-organized crime.