Thief Robs A 92-year-old’s Bible

A 92-year-old man was robbed for his Bible and eyeglasses at his Chelsea apartment on Monday and police are still looking for the suspect.

Ricardo Velez said the robber followed him into his apartment building and knocked him down before taking his possessions. “I saw him push me,” he said. “I fell on my hip on the right side and was trying to get up, but I couldn’t. I opened the second door and started yelling, ‘Help! Help!’”

Luckily, his neighbor, Radmes Hernandez, found Velez after he heard his toy poodle barking. ”I hear him, ‘help, help, help.’ I came down and he says ‘somebody knocked me down,’” Hernandez said.

Hernandez called 911 and emergency workers took Velez to Bellevue Hospital where he is recovering right now.

Velez said that this is the first time he has been attacked since moving to New York from Puerto Rico. He admitted that he’s very upset about losing his prized bible.

“The Bible was extremely important,” he said. “It was leather-bound and well-printed. I loved that Bible.”

The elderly man also said that he thought life used to beautiful, but now he’s not so sure.

“I used to go here or there, shopping, everywhere,” he said. “I have a bad habit: I talk to everyone. In my neighborhood, I love to walk around. Now I don’t know if I’ll be able to move around like that again.”

Hernandez added that there are a lot of bad people in the streets. “There are a lot of crazy people. … It shouldn’t have happened to Velez.”

The suspected robber is described as a man in his 30s, wearing dark clothes a red baseball cap. A $22,000 reward is being offered for the capture of the suspect.

What do you think should happen to the robber if he is caught?

[Image via Shuttershock]