Williamsburg, NY – Just months after their wedding, a Williamsburg couple are hoping to recover a suitcase full of their most prized possessions, taken in broad daylight after being left unattended next to a Williamsburg building for just a few moments.
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Avraham and Chavie Greenfeld were transferring their belongings from one car to another on South 9th Street on Friday August 16th at approximately 1:15 PM, as they were preparing to catch a ride to Monsey.
“We left the suitcase for maybe two minutes when we went inside to get the person who was supposed to take us to Monsey for Shabbos,” Chavie Greenfeld told VIN News. “We left it on the ramp, right next to the building. When we came outside the suitcase was missing. We looked up and down but we never dreamed it was stolen. This is a Jewish neighborhood and things like this never happen here.”
The brown London Fog rolling suitcase contained more than just the Greenfeld’s Shabbos clothing. Inside was thousands of dollars worth of jewelry.
On the video below the alleged thief can be seen walking with the carry-on bag.
“Everything we had was in there,” said Mrs. Greenfeld. “My husband’s tallis and tefillin. His Shabbos tallis with an atara, his vochen tallis, his new bekeshes. My jewelry: my diamond ring, necklaces, bracelets, pearls, a watch, my graduation jewelry and a diamond pin.”
While the Greenfields called Shomrim and filed a report with detectives at Brooklyn’s 90th precinct, Avrohom Greenfeld’s brothers swung into action, knocking on doors and asking neighbors for their security camera footage. Their efforts paid off handsomely, with video showing a woman calmly walking away with the suitcase and heading south on Driggs Avenue to Division Avenue, where she turned right and headed east.
“We saw her on the camera,” said Mrs. Greenfeld. “You see her looking right and left, waiting for someone to pass by. You see her standing in front of the ramp, circling the car and then you see her taking the suitcase and just walking off.”
The footage shows the light skinned woman, who is thought to be about 5’6, Hispanic, approximately 150 pounds and in her mid to late thirties, walking with the suitcase for several blocks before she disappears from view in Clemente Plaza on Division Avenue. The Greenfelds are hoping that someone will recognize either pictures of the jewelry being circulated by the police, or pictures of the woman taken from the security video.
“Even the tiny things are still sentimental,” reported Mrs. Greenfeld, who noted that her eyeglasses are among the stolen items. “We have nothing right now. We took toothbrushes out from our Pesach things so that we could brush our teeth and my husband has been borrowing tallis and tefillin every day so that he can daven. Hopefully it will still turn up.”
The Williamsburg Jewish community is offering a $1,000 reward for anyone with information that leads to the identification, apprehension and prosecution of the thief. Community activist Isaac Abraham credited family members for their diligent efforts in procuring the security footage that has yielded the best leads so far on the case.
“We assume that this woman must be either a worker or a household assistant who is frequently in the area,” said Abraham.
Yanky Itzkowitz of Williamsburg Shomrim confirmed that they are aware of the incident. Officer Michael Burbridge, who took the police report and is assigned to the case, was unavailable for comment. Police are asking that anyone with any information regarding the case is asked to call detectives at the 90th precinct at 718-963-5311.
Dumb to leave it outside for even a second! Why did they both leave it alone- only one had to go inside….??
I’m sorry they list all their stuff, but really, I wouldn’t leave a bag with all my worldy possessions in it on the street for 2 seconds, let alone 2 minutes.
Let this be a learning opportunity for the couple- hopefully when they have kids thy wont leave the carriage in front of stores!!!!!
This is so distressing for them & I hope they get their things back, but honestly….couldn’t one of them stand guard over the suitcase, knowing the value of the contents while the other went inside? This is Brooklyn, not a quiet little no-crime town. The Greenfields knew what was in there, what on earth were they thinking?
Nebech…they say hindsight is 20/20….but an ounce of prevention.
There are criminals lurking EVERYWHERE waiting to pounce. It’s called a crime of opportunity. You don’t know they’re watching you unless you’re really attentive.
Hope they recover all (or at least some) of it.
You never keep jewelry in a suit case..It always has to be with you in the Handbag and u never leave it unattended…2 minutes is plenty time for a thief to make his day..
I don’t blame them because the city is teaching the criminals to be on the look out where ever they can to take away our money. The city is doing that by giving tickets to business, houses, on the subways and cars. The city workers have daily or weekly quotes to meet and if they don’t catch enough violators then they ticket innocent people to make up for it. This is the make up up of n.y.c. If you are not fully alert you may become a victim even if you are innocent, either from a city employee or from a criminal.
I feel terrible for this young couple. Especially for the woman who lost all her jewelry.
But that was completely irresponsible to leave this outside even for a second if it contained so many valuable items.
I hope they find this person that took it and get their stuff back. I hate thieves so much, wish we lived in a world where you can trust everyone. This thief just saw a suitcase and figured “don’t know whats inside, but I may as well just take this” Ugh
That was pretty slick. And to think, people leave their kids unattended, too.
Unfortunately the video is pretty worthless. In some parts of the country, one can leave one’s doors unlocked and leave objects unattended. But that can’t be done in NYC.
Wow, this story reminded me of what happened to my brother & sister in law about 20 years ago at Bedford Gardens. there was no one who had security cameras back then, and nothing was ever recovered.
They are quite a naive couple.
why is this such an important story this happens many times during the day all over nyc. Welcome to NY,,,, B”H you didnt put your $000 sheitel in the luggage , then that would be a story …
I can understand someone leaving a suitcase with tefillim, a few taalasim and bekeshhes on the street unattended but jewelery?? All the prior postings make the same point as to how mindless this was, especially for a couple who live in New York so its hard to understand. Also, the statement quoted from the wife that “we have nothing right now” really indicates how clueless they really are. They lost a small weekend bag with some sentimental stuff. Its not like their home burned down and they lost all furniture, clothes and all their posessions as we frequently read here on VIN when a real tragedy strikes. They should file their insurance claim, drive over to Eichlers and get a new tallis/tefillin and learn from their experience. They were lucky; there are families that really do lose “everything”.
The world of raising kids today who have no sense of money or protecting the money parents give them
Does anybody actually believe their claim about what was in the suitcase? Give me a break. This is an insurance scam.
1. Why has no one even bothered calming down the couple with some positive words. Like ‘gam zu letoveh’ ‘ales is bashert’ or anything else.
2. This whole we line in NYC language is not relevant for the heimishe olem who live in their own shtetel within a city.
Blaming the victim is repulsive. Her own fault ! she left the bags unattended! Terrible! How irresponsible! Let’s face it. We all do it, at some point, on some level.
On a lighter note, at least the criminal was a woman. What do you have to say about that Rabbi Epstein ? Or does all blame always lie with the husband. He should have watched those rings.
when will people learn?
Some of the comments here are beyond stupid.
1. A kallah’s “jewlery weighed too much” to put it into her pocketbook. If thats the case, she must be so wealthy that this loss won’t even be noticeable.
2. They lost “everything”. If all they had fit into once small suitcase, they have bigger problems.
3. It takes “too long” to fill out insurance forms. Azoy, all of about 2 minutes to get a binder with your insurance policy followed by about 15 minutes to have any jeweler give you an appraisal to send the insurance carrier.
4. The have no insurance. Well, that makes the point as to how really dumb or negligent they are.