Raceless, Faceless Man Accused of Swiping iPhone from Undercover Cop Aboard NYC 4 Train

April 29, 2011 11:59 PM

NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Police said a Brooklyn man with a criminal history was arrested Thursday after he tried to steal an iPhone from a plainclothes officer on the subway.

Authorities said 47-year-old Kasseim Thomas [N.S.: no picture; you know what that means!] was taken into custody at the Burnside Avenue station in the Bronx after he allegedly swindled [stole; swindled is completely inappropriate here; he didn’t talk the victim I to giving him his property under false pretenses] the gadget aboard an uptown 4 Train.

Lieutenant Kevin Callaghan of the Manhattan Transit Task Force told 1010 WINS Friday that a group of officers –- including one in plain clothes –- were on the Lexington Avenue line looking for pickpockets in response to previously reported crimes.

Callaghan said Thomas “began to crowd the plainclothes officer” and had a sweatshirt over his hand as he reached into the cop’s backpack and removed the iPhone.

Thomas has been arrested 35 times since the 1980s….

Police warn that potential victims can avoid being targeted by noticing odd behavior and not flashing expensive electronics and jewelry in public places.

“People are very engrossed in using their iPhone or BlackBerry. They don’t seem to think it’s a problem,” Callaghan said. “People just have to be cognizant of who’s around them and that these valuables are attractive to criminals.”

If the police didn’t habitually lie about the extent of subway crime, and the MSM didn’t refuse to report on most of it, people would think it's a problem. Meanwhile, whites and Asians have for generations avoided looking at suspicious looking characters on the train, because almost all of the latter are black or Hispanic, and black and Hispanic criminals really don’t like being surveilled by potential victims. It puts a crimp in their style. The criminals’ supporters of all races also don’t like potential white and Asian victims limiting black and Hispanic criminals’ effectiveness. And so, people look to be as oblivious as possible as to their environment, so as to be agreeable food.

P.S. DNAinfo.com’s Tom Liddy not only scooped CBS NY by five hours, but reported much more information about the suspect.

A serial pickpocket was arrested for swiping a cop's cell phone on a No. 4 train.
By Tom Liddy
DNAinfo

MANHATTAN - An ex-con with a lengthy rap sheet was nabbed for swiping a cop's iPhone on the subway, authorities said.

The suspect, Kasseim Thomas, who also goes by Thomas Kasseim, was allegedly spotted by members of the Manhattan Transit Task Force entering and exiting cars on a Bronx-bound 4 train, near 86th Street on the Upper East Side at 5 p.m. Thursday.

At some point, Thomas, who has 42 prior arrests for, among other things, grand larceny, robbery and sex abuse, reached into a backpack belonging to one of the officers and grabbed an iPhone, according to police.

Thomas, who has 17 arrests for grand larceny and is on parole until 2012, was cuffed without incident …

According to state records, Thomas, 47, has done eight stints in prison dating back to 1986, all for grand larceny….

Thomas, 47, was charged with grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property, police said.

I wrote to Liddy, praising his work, while adding,

One niggling correction, however: You mistakenly identified the defendant as an “ex-con.” If Kasseim Thomas is a parolee, he is not an “ex-con.” Until his parole ends, he is simply a “con.” An offender is a convict until he has been released from imprisonment, having served his sentence in full, or he has been pardoned, or has completed his term of parole or probation.