New York, NY – Two oddballs have been busted for swiping nearly 20 percent of the city’s red-light cameras right under Big Brother’s nose.
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They allegedly drove around town in a pickup truck with a cherry-picker to dismantle 22 of the high-end Nikons from their street poles.
The devices are used to identify red-light-running drivers, who then are issued tickets by mail.
The suspects peddled an estimated $88,000 worth of goods to a camera resale shop for $300 each to feed their heroin habits.
The alleged perps — Anthony Cintorrino, 45, and 29-year-old trust-fund baby Tara LaBurt, both of Brooklyn — swiped the traffic cameras at intersections in The Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens between June 24 and this past Sunday.
Cintorrino was held in lieu of $8,000 bond; LaBurt was held in lieu of $3,000 bond.
On Sunday morning, an employee of a hardware store on Coney Island Avenue at Dorchester Road in Brooklyn told The Post that two people matching the descriptions of the suspects pulled up in a truck and took something from the camera box.
The couple claimed to work for Mulvihill ICS, a Staten Island company in charge of maintaining the cameras for the city Department of Transportation. “Then they ran away,” the employee said.
Cintorrino previously did subcontracting work as a camera installer for Mulvihill ICS, the company said.
Cops nabbed LaBurt and Cintorrino on Monday in Manhattan after finding 13 of the stolen cameras at a reseller and tracing them.
Three other stolen cameras were found at their residences, and cops expect soon to recover the other six that were swiped.
A DOT spokesman said, “We replaced the stolen cameras within 48 hours of being detected. We visit each site daily, so we knew within a day when they were missing.”
what mishuganas, like they say…..cameras don’t lie!
Mammsh a ganaive
We need more nut jobs like this
Those cameras are illegal anyway. A picure is not sufficient evidence and can easily be doctored. Many times (perhaps most of the time) the picture needs to be digitaly enhanced in order to tell what the numbers are. I’m surprised there hasn’t been a systematic vadalizing of them. There aught to be. This article shows how easy they are to remove, perhaps a concerned citizens group can remove them and force the city to prove they are legal in court. wonder if that’s possible. There does still exist a great measure of “rule of law ” in this country, we should use it to regain was has been lost.
Baruch Hashem the city can replace a red light camera in a day, but can’t fix a pothole that has been around for 6 months.
how dumb..as if no1 will c them swipe those cameras… well bh 4 their dumbness – if not they’d make hold ups or brake in2 houses..
they should be given the key to the city
Good men. They should take all of them away
This is another proof that crime is down. I wish it continues to go down this way.
What idiots didnt they think that theyll get caught how about stealing de traffic lights
While the cameras are missing violaters of passing red lights is down 20%. Thats a big improvment in safty on the streets.
id rather have freaks like this than suicide bombers, who’s with me?
Does anyone know what kind of nikon cameras that were stolen? I would love to do my next photoshhot with one of those cameras… Imagine that I show up to my next shoot with a big white box with a lense sticking out of it? That would rule !!!