Sleeping Subway Rider Pickpocketed by Couple Who Go on MetroCard, Target Buying Spree

A sleeping subway rider was pickpocketed by a couple who used his credit card to purchase a MetroCard and go on a shopping spree at Target, police say. 

The 28-year-old victim fell asleep on a bench inside the Briarwood subway station serving the E and F lines and awoke at about 2:30 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 19, to find his laptop bag missing, police said. 

The bag contained a $1,000 laptop, iPhone chargers, clothing, medication, credit and debit cards and other bank-related documents, police said. 

Investigators have released surveillance video of the two suspects, a woman who used the stolen credit card to buy a $117.50 MetroCard that day at the 110th Street subway station on the Lexington Avenue line, and a man who used the card to buy a flatscreen TV and a GoPhone at the Target store in East Harlem on Nov. 20, according to police. 

Police officials warned last February that more than half of all subway crime in the past year involved a sleeping victim. 

Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS. 

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