A serial ice cream thief was nabbed after strolling out of an upscale Manhattan market with 20 pints of Haagen-Dazs, according to police.
The cold-hearted robber was seen double-fisting the frozen treat before bolting the Morton Williams market at 22nd St. and Park Avenue South on Aug. 5 at around 1:30 p.m., store officials said.
Store clerks stopped the man – who was wearing shorts, a white T-shirt and a knapsack – outside the store and when they unzipped his backpack more pints came spilling out onto the steaming sidewalk in the afternoon heat, according to a video of the incident posted on TikTok.
“All the time you are coming in there to steal,” one of the clerks is heard saying in the video.
It’s not clear who filmed the incident, but Morton Williams co-owner Avi Kaner posted the two-minute clip on his Twitter account Wednesday.
The clip shows clerks detaining the sweet-toothed swindler by his backpack straps as a store manager took out the pints and put them into the store’s red shopping baskets.
The thief has been targeting the particular Morton Williams branch for the past month, going straight to the freezer section to scoop up flavors like Bourbon Praline Pecan, Caramel Cone and Coffee Chip, said Orlando Olave, senior director of operations for Morton Williams.
“This guy has been coming every two or three days,” Olave told The Post on Wednesday. “We finally caught him.”
“He’s a neighborhood thief” who specializes in Haagen-Dazs ice cream, Olave added. “We haven’t seen him in any of our other stores.”
Police arrived within 15 minutes to arrest Milton Ramirez, according to a police report and a complaint from the District Attorney’s office obtained by The Post.
The 36-year-old career criminal has 39 arrests mostly for petty larceny, according to court records. He was charged with petty larceny on Aug. 8 in the latest incident, according to court records.
“He’s a thief, a big thief,” a police source said.
Olave said he believes Ramirez resells the pints to local businesses like delis and bodegas.
The store exec expects to see him back at the market soon because of Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s lax enforcement of misdemeanor crimes.
Petty larceny is up 35% to 2,381 incidents for the week of Aug. 1-7 compared to a year ago, according to NYPD data.
Morton Williams has been among the hardest hit and employs off-duty police officers to help with security.
Last week, another Morton Williams store on W. 57th St. was robbed of $600 worth of steaks in one fell swoop, Olave said.
Tide detergent is another popular item prized by thieves, according to retailers across the city as The Post has reported.
[Written in collaboration with other media outlets with information from the following sources]
