Police catch chain and clock snatchers

Chain snatchers and petty thieves may be heightening their activity as Christmas approaches, but so are the police. On Sunday morning, an Orange Street businessman flagged down a patrol unit and reported the theft of two clocks from his shop just moments before. Police promptly caught twenty-one year old Kenton Harvey as he was fleeing the scene.

Then on Sunday night an alleged chain snatcher was caught and cuffed by an off duty police officer. Constable Horace Portillo was on Vernon Street near its intersection with Santa Barbara Street when he saw Bridgette Rhys being robbed of her gold chain. Portillo gave chase and captured Glen Andrews, age nineteen.

Meanwhile, police are asking for the public’s assistance in busting a bicycle ring of six thieves who stole a young woman’s bicycle and cell phone early Sunday morning on Baymen Avenue, then proceeded to hold up three young men an hour later, taking their cash, a watch, and two gold chains. Anyone having information on these crimes is asked to call the 922 hotline.