XM MLB Chat

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Baseballs autographed by Yankee greats stolen from posh downtown apartment during Sandy evacuation

12/10/12, "Thieves swiped valuables from posh apartments following Sandy evacuations," NY Post

"Stealthy thieves swiped valuables from luxury apartments at ritzy 2 Gold St. in the Financial District after residents there were forced to vacate because of Hurricane Sandy, The Post has learned.
The looters slinked into the empty pads at the 52-story high-rise and stole pricey watches, bundles of cash, a cherished baseball collection and assorted jewelry after the building was left without power — and, therefore, had no working security cameras to record the capers, law-enforcement sources said.

In each incident, there were no signs of forced entry or unlocked doors, the sources said. The building’s management firm, TF Cornerstone, had given workers keys to the tower’s 839 units in order to clean rotting food from refrigerators and for safety inspections.

They took 15 [of my] baseballs autographed by the best Yankees still living,” said furious resident Chris Mirabile, founder of hotlist.com, a popular social-planning app. It was a Christmas gift last year from an investor. It had a lot of sentimental value and, obviously, financial value.”

The collection included balls signed by such pinstriped greats as Yogi Berra, Derek Jeter, Reggie Jackson, Don Mattingly, Whitey Ford and Mariano Rivera and was kept in a wooden case. Also stolen was Mirabile’s $12,000 Rolex....

Mirabile was in his apartment the night of the storm but had to leave in the days afterward when the swank tower, which boasts such amenities as landscaped decks, a swimming pool and a rooftop solarium with a fireplace, was deemed unsafe by the city.

“The boiler exploded due to the basement flooding, and something like 20,000 gallons of oil leaked,” Mirabile said. “The whole building smelled like gasoline, and it still does, to a degree.”
Mirabile was crashing on a couch at a friend’s pad in Midtown when he saw a Facebook group created by several residents called “2 Gold Street Unite” that said tenants were being allowed back in.

When I got there, I went directly to my dresser, and the baseballs were gone,” he said of his return home Nov. 9. “I said to myself, ‘You gotta be kidding me here.’ I looked in every drawer, every closet, under the bed, in the kitchen, thinking I hid it, but, nope, I was robbed.”

When Mirabile, who is now living at his parents’ home on Long Island, reported the crime to TF Cornerstone, they assured him of their security measures.

“They were telling me to calm down, but it just seems like they are covering up some missteps, especially when it comes to people like me,” he said."...

Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home