A 31-year-old man was walking in front of 1967 Jerome Avenue at around 5:15 a.m. on Sunday, August 16, when two unidentified men on a moped pulled up beside him. One of the men reached for the victim's necklace, and the man, fearing for his safety, removed it and handed it over before the pair sped off northbound on Jerome Avenue.
According to NYPD Crime Stoppers, the incident occurred within the confines of the 46th Precinct, and investigators are now asking the public for help identifying the two men. The rear passenger on the moped is said to have taken possession of the necklace after the front rider attempted to remove it from the victim's neck. NYPD Crime Stoppers is offering up to $3,500 for information leading to an arrest and indictment in the case.
🚨WANTED FOR A GRAND LARCENY: On Sunday, August 16, 2026, at approximately 5:15 A.M., in front of 1967 Jerome Avenue, in the confines of the 46 Precinct in the Bronx, a 31-year-old male victim was approached by two unidentified males on a moped. One of the individuals attempted… pic.twitter.com/bTVA10IVFU
— NYPD Crime Stoppers (@NYPDTips) August 26, 2026
Legally, the incident is being pursued as grand larceny rather than robbery. Under New York Penal Law § 155.30(5), taking property directly from a person's body is classified as Grand Larceny in the Fourth Degree, a Class E felony, regardless of the item's value or whether force was used, according to FindLaw. Because no weapon was displayed and no physical violence was reported during the approach, the case falls under that larceny statute even though the victim says he handed over the chain out of fear.
A Precinct Already Stretched Thin
The theft happened within the jurisdiction of the NYPD's 46th Precinct, headquartered at 2120 Ryer Avenue, which patrols the central-western Bronx neighborhoods of Fordham, University Heights, Morris Heights, and Mount Hope, per the NYPD. The stretch of Jerome Avenue near West Tremont Avenue sits directly beneath the elevated MTA 4 train structure, an industrial-commercial corridor of auto shops and ground-floor retail where the overhead subway creates loud ambient noise that can make fast-moving two-wheelers harder to hear, according to a New York State environmental review document.
The command handling the case is no stranger to a heavy caseload. The 46th Precinct generated 11.4% of all arrests in the Bronx in 2024, ranking third highest for arrest volume behind only the 40th and 44th precincts, the Bronx District Attorney's Office has reported. CompStat figures show 2,341 major index crimes recorded in the precinct in 2025, holding roughly flat against 2,330 major crimes the year before, per crime data compiled by Building Security Services.
Part of a Wider Moped Robbery Pattern
NYPD Crime Stoppers has previously issued bulletins for robbery patterns in the 46th Precinct along Grand Concourse and East Tremont Avenue involving quick-strike crews targeting jewelry and personal belongings. Citywide, moped-enabled robbery complaints have surged dramatically in recent years, climbing from 44 incidents across 10 crime patterns in early 2022 to more than 415 complaints across 79 patterns by the same point in 2024.
Unregistered mopeds remain a favored tool for this kind of quick-hit street crime because they lack license plates and can weave through traffic, evading automated cameras and law enforcement tracking. The city has leaned hard into enforcement: NYPD officers confiscated a record 27,710 illegal and unregistered motorized scooters, bikes, and ATVs citywide in 2024, the highest annual seizure total in city history, according to Pitta Bishop & Del Giorno LLC. Since 2022, city authorities say they have seized more than 42,000 motorized micro-mobility devices and over 100,000 unregistered “ghost vehicles,” per the NYC Office of the Comptroller.
Whether this particular duo is connected to other recent moped robberies across Bronx North precincts remains an open question. Hoodline has covered a string of similar cases this month alone, including a chain robbery at a red light and a moped duo who beat a man near Van Cortlandt Park, but no link between those incidents and the Jerome Avenue theft has been established.
How to Submit a Tip
Anyone with information is asked to contact NYPD Crime Stoppers by phone at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or for Spanish speakers, at 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). Tips can also be submitted anonymously through the Crime Stoppers website or by direct message to their X account, @NYPDTips. All tips remain confidential.
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