A startling increase in child-involved criminal activities has struck New York City, with children as young as 8 reportedly being manipulated by adults to steal money from unattended bags or open safes of local businesses.

This alarming trend began approximately eight months ago, the New York Post reports. It gained notoriety when two youngsters, aged 8, helped themselves to the contents of unattended bags at the Amsterdam Ale House on West 76th Street in the Upper West Side.

Wendy Kaufman, the Ale House Manager, recounted that the same children later escalated their actions by grabbing food from a table, pushing a customer, and brandishing a table knife.

“I watched a kid take a wing off someone’s plate and eat it,” Kaufman told the Post. “I went to escort him out, and he cursed at me. The 8-year-old turned around and said to me, ‘I don’t have to do anything you say, fat lady,’ and punched me in the stomach. He ran into the back of the restaurant, stole a child’s toy. Then grabbed a knife off the table and wielded it like a weapon. They shoved a guest.”

In many instances, these young culprits attempt to solicit money under the pretense of collecting funds for their supposed “basketball team.” The New York Post noted that adults are often seen waiting for these children outside the targeted establishments.

Jacob Rabinowitz, the owner of multiple drinking establishments in the city, expressed his concern to the Post, stating, “When they go out, there’s either a man or a woman waiting for them and directing. These are little kids — this is child abuse!”

On August 13, the Post reported that a child allegedly stole $600 from an open safe at The Upside Bar on Amsterdam and West 89th Street on the Upper West Side. Bar owner Stephanie Slone, 40, disclosed that the boy, who claimed to be 8, had been seen with an older child, both requesting donations for their basketball team without providing specific details.

Surveillance footage revealed that the child waited for the bartender to leave for the bathroom before proceeding downstairs to the office, where the theft occurred. Concerned by these incidents, Slone mentioned that her bar was contemplating a policy to ban unaccompanied children from the premises.

“The parents are obviously making them do that and have taught them what to do … it’s sad,” Slone expressed.

More recently, on a Monday evening at 8:30 p.m., a child allegedly purloined approximately $700 in petty cash from a safe at the Lexington Publick bar on Lexington Avenue and East 97th Street, as reported by the Post. Surveillance video reviewed by the bar’s anonymous owner depicted the child strategically opening the bathroom door and slipping into the office downstairs.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)