Town Police Capture Sports-Oriented Credit Card Thief

by Judy Silberstein

(November 30, 2005) An epidemic of credit card thefts from locker rooms – locally and throughout the NY metropolitan area – may recede now that Town of Mamaroneck detectives have captured Senda Vukovic, a 29-year old Yonkers resident with a penchant for joining sports clubs.

Following a theft in October and another one in November from the NY Sports Club on Madison Avenue in Mamaroneck, the town police had been searching for the perpetrator. Late on Tuesday, November 29, they tracked him to Hartsdale where he was entering the NY Sports Club. “He saw us and took off on foot,” reported Lt. McCarthy, who along with Mamaroneck detectives Donn Edmonds, TJ McDermott and Thomas Gisin and officers from the Town of Greenburgh chased down and captured the unarmed suspect.

Mr. Vukovic was arraigned before Judge Dolores Battalia at around 2 am and remanded without bail to the Westchester County Jail. The charges against him include two counts of felony grand larceny in the 4th degree, a crime which carries a possible prison sentence of 1 to 3 years. “We were able to obtain full confessions on both local thefts,” said Lt. McCarthy, but police suspect he is responsible for an uncountable number of similar crimes in a multi-county area.

“We’re finding out more and more every day,” said Detective Edmonds as he fielded a call from Nassau County. “There’s no doubt the case is likely to get bigger,” said Lt. McCarthy.

“It was excellent police work,” said Town of Mamaroneck Supervisor Valerie O’Keeffe. “Once again, it proves how self-starting our detective division is,” she added. “I’d like to commend Detective Edmonds on his hard work,” said Lt. McCarthy. “Over two months, he traveled all over the place – all the boroughs, Rockland and Orange County” following leads from cooperating sports clubs and other police departments.

According to police accounts, Mr. Vukovic used a false name to take out short-term memberships in clubs, including branches of the YMCA, NY Sports Club, Equinox and Bally. Once in the club locker room, he’d use a master key or shimmy open a locker door, find a wallet, take out a few credit cards, and then carefully return the wallet and close the door. Many victims who reported a theft did not detect their losses until several days later – making it hard for them to know where the crime occurred or identify a possible suspect.

Bruce Macfarlane, a Larchmont resident and NY Sports Club member, didn't realize he'd been robbed until many hours after his workout on October 30. The thief had rearranged the cards in his wallet so there were no empty slots to call attention to the loss. "I didn't actually file a poice report until a week later, on the suggstion of a friend, which is what started Detective Edmonds on his hunt," said Mr. Macfarlane. There were $4000 to $5000 worth of bogus charges on his card, but he was not required to pay for them. "It's nice to know the guy's been caught," he said.

“When people can’t find their credit cards, they think it’s their fault - maybe they left the locker door open - but it’s really not,” said Detective Edmonds. “We don’t put our wallets in our lockers any more,” he added, noting that all four detectives are members of the NY Sports Club. “There’s probably more than one of them out there.”

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