A 21-year-old man sat waiting at a red light at the corner of East 149th Street and Exterior Street on the evening of Thursday, July 30, when three men closed in on his car. Two of them arrived on a moped and one rode an e-bike, according to police, who say the trio approached the driver and grabbed a yellow gold chain right off his neck before speeding away.
The robbery, which happened at around 6:08 p.m., was announced this week by NYPD Crime Stoppers, which is now asking the public for help identifying the three unidentified suspects. The intersection sits on the South Bronx’s commercial-industrial waterfront near the Major Deegan Expressway, within the jurisdiction of the NYPD’s 44th Precinct, according to Hoodline. Emergency radio dispatches logged at the time of the incident described the suspects fleeing on a red-and-black moped near East 149th Street and River Avenue, just around the corner from the robbery site, per Citizen.
A Familiar Tactic on Bronx Streets
The setup matches a pattern that has become common across the borough: a driver or pedestrian stopped in traffic, and a small crew on motorized two-wheelers using the vehicle’s speed and maneuverability to strike fast and disappear before anyone can react. Reporting by News 12 The Bronx has previously described moped-riding thieves operating in pairs or small teams, with one person navigating traffic while an accomplice grabs chains, phones, or purses directly from victims.
If caught, the suspects could face Grand Larceny in the Fourth Degree, a Class E felony under New York Penal Law § 155.30, which applies when stolen property is worth more than $1,000 or is taken directly from a victim’s person. A conviction on that charge can carry a state prison sentence.
Moped Robberies Have Surged Citywide
The East 149th Street case fits into a broader trend city officials have been tracking for years. NYC Mayor Eric Adams and the NYPD reported that scooter- and moped-involved robbery complaints citywide jumped from 44 complaints across 10 robbery patterns in early 2022 to more than 415 complaints across 79 patterns during the same five-month stretch in 2024.
In response, the NYPD has ramped up enforcement against unregistered motorized vehicles. The department reported seizing more than 5,700 illegal mopeds and motorized scooters citywide since the start of the year, as of May 2026. State regulations also now require retailers to register mopeds with the Department of Motor Vehicles at the point of sale, before a buyer ever takes possession, in an effort to trace vehicles back to their owners.
Local Numbers Tell a Mixed Story
Citywide, the bigger picture on robbery is actually improving: NYPD CompStat figures through mid-August show overall robbery complaints across New York City fell 12.4% year-to-date, dropping from 9,442 in 2025 to 8,273 in 2026. But that decline hasn’t fully reached the 44th Precinct, where grand larceny complaints were up 7.7% through July, climbing to 154 year-to-date compared with 143 during the same period in 2025.
This is not the only recent case of its kind in the Bronx. Hoodline has covered a string of similar moped and scooter attacks this summer, including a case where three men pulled a teen off his moped near Fordham, an attempted necklace grab targeting a 39-year-old woman in Bedford Park, and a slashing near Van Cortlandt Park tied to a gold chain robbery in Riverdale.
How to Report Information
NYPD Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of up to $3,500 for anonymous tips that lead to an arrest and indictment in the case. Tips can be submitted by direct message to @NYPDTips or by calling 1-800-577-TIPS (8477); all tips are accepted anonymously.
