AUDASE

Police Say Woman Picked Many Pockets in Chinatown

By ANAHAD O’CONNOR NY TIMES A 67-year-old woman from Florida, the authorities say, found an unusual way to experience the town on her frequent trips to Manhattan: strolling through Chinatown, picking the pockets of unsuspecting pedestrians. The woman, Ha Vasko, a retired restaurateur, is accused of a string of thefts that date from June 5, 2010, when she was arrested and charged with stealing $500 from a woman’s bag at the corner of Canal and Mulberry Streets. That arrest, the authorities said, led to a cycle in which Ms. Vasko would return to New York for court dates in Lower Manhattan and then head to Chinatown to lift cash and wallets. Prosecutors said in court on Tuesday that Ms. Vasko, who was born in Vietnam, told the police that she did not like Chinese people. By the time of her last arrest on March 21, Ms. Vasko, who was living in Melbourne, Fla., had been charged with three felonies and two misdemeanors, including “jostling,” which is legal jargon for trying to pick someone’s pocket or handbag. Prosecutors said all her victims were Chinatown residents. “This defendant is a calculating thief who robbed her unsuspecting victims of not only credit cards and cash, but also their sense of security in their neighborhood,” Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney, said in a statement. He said his office’s Crime Strategies Unit identified Ms. Vasko as a “persistent offender,” and therefore “treated this case as a priority.” A lawyer for Ms. Vasko, Richard Wojszwilo, did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on Tuesday night. According to prosecutors, after her initial arrest, Ms. Vasko was charged with grand larceny. Then, on a return trip to New York for a court date in December, they said, Ms. Vasko walked to Chinatown and plucked $50 from a woman’s purse at the Bowery and Grand Street, before moving on to Hester Street, where she lifted a wallet containing eight credit cards. A police officer spotted Ms. Vasko and arrested her, at which point she tried to bribe the officer with cash, prosecutors said. According to the authorities, Ms. Vasko struck at least two times after that. In January, she was arrested and charged with jostling three women on East Broadway and trying to dip into their handbags. Then in March, she was arrested at the corner of Forsyth and Division Streets after prosecutors said she reached into the purses or pockets of at least four people and stole $350 from them. Ms. Vasko was ultimately charged with bribery, jostling, and numerous counts of grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property.