by DAVID CRUZ

Just before midnight on Dec. 14, Donald Smith of Norwood lay on the floor with a gun pressed against his temple inside his own home. A group of thieves had just forced their way into his apartment. Smith, a retired public safety officer who retired the day of the World Trade Center attacks, prayed he would get out of this one alive.

“I started to make peace with the man upstairs, and told my mom and dad I’ll be seeing you soon,” said Smith, recounting in a telephone interview the night a brazen group of thieves stormed his apartment at 3366 Decatur Ave. to ransack the place.

The act is what the NYPD describes as a push-in robbery, a type of home invasion where thieves barge into a home to rob the occupants. In Smith’s case, the gang quickly ordered Smith to the floor as they entered his bedroom where his girlfriend was sleeping. She soon woke up, shocked to see the thieves demand that Smith open his safe. The gang left with Smith’s jewelry and a couple of cell phones, one of which was later retrieved at a pizza place near Jerome Avenue and East 233rd Street with help from the NYPD’s Anti-Crime Division, and another was found in a sewer in Woodlawn.

The incident crushed Smith’s weary sense of security to the point where he only buzzes in guests who first call his cell phone. Smith viewed the crime as an emblematic moment of how bad conditions in the building have become from the time he moved in 18 years ago. “There was a waiting list for the apartment building,” recalled Smith, who’s been victimized numerous times in separate carjacking incidents. Just weeks before, a neighbor was burglarized inside the apartment building.

The incidents point to a larger problem in the building—no tenants association or video cameras, and a management company, Total Realty Associates, that appears to half-heartedly attempt to assuage any security flaws.

“Word gets around that this is a soft building because of the lack of lighting, and security cameras that are non-existent,” said Smith, adding plenty of “undesirables have infiltrated the building’s empty apartments, making it very hard to determine who’s living here and who’s squatting illegally.” This has left the building vulnerable to drug dealing activities that have run rampant in the area. For Smith, the 54-year-old retiree may have been an unintended victim as sources said the gang of thieves might have been targeting one of Smith’s neighbors, known to peddle drugs inside the apartment.

Progress But No Dent

The overall robbery numbers have dropped during 2013 in the Bronx within the 5-2’s jurisdiction, which saw 454 robberies in 2013, compared to 524 in 2012, according to the latest NYPD crime stats. But Smith disputes the numbers since many neighbors tend not to call the police to report because of the “lack of interest that’s shown for those types of incidents.”

In Smith’s case, the gang of five—four men and one woman—has so far eluded cops from the Robbery Unit and the Five-Two, still dealing with a major spike in the number of shooting victims and murders falling with its jurisdiction. Smith argues the priority in solving this case is very low, though the police did release information, albeit misinformation, regarding the robbery.

In a police report emailed to reporters, the description only mentioned that one thief had robbed Smith. Luckily, a video surveillance camera from a nearby business captured a photo of the suspect—a male black, wearing what appeared to be a fur-lined purple hat and coat. Anyone with information is encouraged to call 1-800-CRIMESTOPPERS. A reward is available for the suspect’s capture.

As Smith replays the incident in his head, the time has come for him to re-think where he would want to live, just as he received a renewal lease application from the management company.

 

“You gotta be kidding me,” said Smith.