A 14-year-old girl had a gold chain yanked off her neck on a Bronx street — part of a string of nine broad-daylight thefts targeting women in the borough over the last two months, police said.
The teen was walking on Waldo Avenue near Manhattan College Parkway in Kingsbridge around 3:40 p.m. June 25 when a stranger grabbed her neck and mouth from behind before pulling off her chain, cops said.
The violent theft appears to be connected to at least nine others in which women, ages 22 to 69, were fleeced of their necklaces between June 24 and July 15 in the Bronx, the NYPD said Wednesday — as it released surveillance images of two suspects wanted over the muggings.
In the first reported incident, a 40-year-old woman was sitting inside St. James Park around 1 p.m. June 24 when a man ripped her chain from her neck. The thief punched her in the chest when she tried to stop him, cops said.
The robberies continued on July 1, when a man approached a 56-year-old woman walking her dog on Esplanade Avenue near Waring Avenue in Allerton and pulled off her chain before taking off on a scooter with a pal, authorities said.
The second suspect made his first appearance on the Fourth of July, when he and the other alleged crook rolled up on a scooter and grabbed the chain off a 60-year-old woman’s neck as she walked on Wallace Avenue near Allerton Avenue, cops said.
The scooter-riding duo took to the streets again around 5:30 p.m. July 8, approaching a 67-year-old woman walking on East 234th Street near Barnes Avenue and snatching her chain, cops said.
Then on July 13 at around 12:45 p.m., one of the suspects came up to a 28-year-old woman making deliveries in a building on Van Cortlandt Park South near Gouverneur Avenue — and grabbed her by the neck, police said.
He demanded her necklace while motioning as if he had a knife — before yanking two chains off her neck, according to cops.
She was treated on scene for minor injuries.
The next day, on July 14 at around 11:10 a.m., one of the suspects confronted a 55-year-old woman while wielding a screwdriver and also snatched the chain from her neck on Cannon Place in Van Cortlandt Village, police said.
About 10 minutes later, a 22-year-old woman was walking her dog on West 197th Street near University Avenue in Kingsbridge Heights when a man approached and grabbed three chains off her neck, cops said.
The mugging attacks continued around 1:20 p.m. July 15, when a scooter-riding suspect stole the necklace of a 69-year-old woman who was getting out of her parked car on Burke Avenue near Bronx Boulevard, police said.
He then bolted on the scooter with his accomplice, cops said.
All of the victims suffered minor injuries, police said.
In a separate, unrelated string of robberies in Manhattan, two scooter-riding suspects targeted three women on the Upper West Side on June 26 and June 27, cops said.
The pair rolled up to a 56-year-old woman riding a bike at Central Park West and West 63rd Street around 4:15 p.m. June 26 and snatched a basket holding a wallet from the bike before fleeing on West 65th Street, cops said.
About 15 minutes later, the pair robbed a 65-year-old woman walking at West 66th Street and Riverside Boulevard — grabbing a wallet and cell phone from her hands before taking off, police said.
The next day, the scooter-riding thieves approached a 42-year-old woman at West End Avenue and West 88th Street, punched her in the face and yanked her phone out of her hands before making a getaway, cops said.
None of the victims reported serious injuries.
The NYPD released surveillance video and photos of the suspects, who are still being sought.
