Gothamist74%
Moped-riding duo suspected in 29 daytime robberies in Brooklyn and Queens this summer 16%
By Brittany Kriegstein67%
7/17/2026, 2:14:47 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 15 faulty reasoning types, including Framing Effect, Ambiguity (Equivocation), and Negativity Bias, with Appeal to Authority as the most egregious example at 17.7% saturation with 75 hits. Analysis detected 607 faulty-reasoning hits from 424 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 32.2% and a BS Rank of 16% (16,038 of 18,900 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 84.90% of the article peer group.
Police have arrested one man and are looking for another they say made up a moped-riding duo that robbed more than two dozen people across Brooklyn and Queens this summer, mostly snatching chains off the necks of unsuspecting pedestrians in broad daylight.
NYPD officials said the 29 incidents they’ve identified occurred between June 15 and July 10, and all followed a similar pattern: The two men, clad in black balaclavas, would approach their victims while both riding the same moped, forcibly take the chains they were wearing and flee.
Police said they already arrested one of the alleged thieves, a 17-year-old, and are still looking for his accomplice.
Most of the robberies occurred in the late morning or early afternoon, police said.
Their victims spanned the ages of 14 to 80, and none were injured, according to police.
In some cases, the theives were particularly brazen, based on the police descriptions of the incidents.
They said the two at times approached several people in the same area in the span of less than an hour.
On June 24, police said they tried to rob a 43-year-old man on Nassau and Manhattan Avenues in Greenpoint, Brooklyn around 1:30 p.m., but were unsuccessful.
They tried again 20 minutes later with a 45-year-old woman less than half a mile away, but were also unsuccessful, police said.
July 5 was their most prolific day, with six robberies reported across Ozone Park and Forest Hills in Queens, along with Williamsburg and Greenpoint in Brooklyn, police said.
In two incidents, the thieves did not steal chains, police said.
On July 1, they allegedly stole a moped from a 41-year-old man on 87th Road in Briarwood, Queens, and on July 4, they allegedly snatched an unattended motorcycle from a 29-year-old man on Roosevelt Avenue.
Other neighborhoods the thieves targeted included Astoria, Long Island City, Richmond Hill, Ridgewood, Bayside, Jackson Heights and Flushing, according to police.
Robberies and grand larcenies are both down citywide compared to the same time period last year, with NYPD data showing a 12% decline and a 5% decline, respectively.
Brooklyn North is showing similar decreases in those crime categories so far this year, but robberies and grand larcenies are both up by slightly in Queens North.
Police are asking anyone with information about the robberies to call the Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or, for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
People can also submit tips on the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, on X @NYPDTips.
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