Ice cream swindler accused of repeatedly stealing Haagen-Dazs tubs from shop - The Mirror

An alleged ice cream thief is accused of stealing upmarket ice cream in order to sell it back to small businesses and delis at a cut price. The brazen thefts have been part of a recent trend

An alleged sneaky ice cream swindler was arrested and accused of stealing 20 tubs of ice cream.

Tubs of Haagen-Dazs ice cream was stolen multiple times from the Morton Williams shop in a Manhattan market, New York City.

Shop workers eventually stopped the accused man seen in casual attire in shorts, a white T-shirt and a backpack.

A police source alleged the New York Post the suspect was a "thief, a big thief."

Store officials claim the man, named as Milton Ramirez on a police report, was seen making off with an ice cream tub in the early afternoon of August 5.

Footage of the incident saw a shop clerk accusing the suspect and saying "All the time you are coming in there to steal."

It is believed the ice cream was being taken and then resold to local businesses.

Shop clerks seized the man and revealed him to have a number of ice cream pints in his rucksack.

Orlando Olave, senior director of operations for Morton Williams, said the thief had been targeting sweet, upmarket flavours like Bourbon Praline Pecan, Caramel Cone and Coffee Chip.

"This guy has been coming every two or three days,” Olave told The New York Post. "We finally caught him."

Recent reports from last month said that shoplifters in the city that never sleeps were repeatedly targeting shops with "brazen" theft.

The Gristedes and D’Agostino shops in the city say they have seen a 30% rise in shoplifting in the year so far compared to the number of incidents there last year.

One thief is alleged to have walked off with an entire cart of Haagen-Dazs at a Gristedes supermarket.

Another at Morton Williams has become known as a 'steak thief' after he stole hundreds of pounds worth of red meat.

One worker said he once witnessed the man "disappear into the subway next door with two men carrying a cooler.”

Morton Williams' co-owner Steven Sloan said: "We have rampant theft in our stores.

"We hired uniformed police officers with guns and we’ve never had to do this before. That has helped to deter the thieves but at a huge cost."

Shop workers and security staff are being told to tackle thieves in groups to make sure they are not left one-on-one with the petty criminals.