Caught on Camera: $4,000 worth of vintage rugs stolen from Bushwick shop after flood
Surveillance video shows a woman arriving at Chyelle, a vintage furniture store and cafe on Cook Street, around 2 a.m. last Wednesday and taking five soaking-wet rugs from the business.
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A small business owner in Bushwick is asking for the public’s help after five vintage rugs were stolen while they were left outside to dry following a flood inside her shop.
Surveillance video shows a woman arriving at Chyelle, a vintage furniture store and cafe on Cook Street, around 2 a.m. last Wednesday and taking five soaking-wet rugs from the business.
Shop owner Chyelle Milgrom said the theft occurred just hours after a machine inside the cafe malfunctioned, causing extensive flooding.
“This was in the wake of a really destructive flood in here,” Milgrom said. “It wasn’t even really the rugs that made me, I guess, shake my boots. I was already panicked.”
Milgrom said the flooding left the showroom a mess and forced her to spend the day cleaning. She eventually placed six wet rugs outside on the shop’s balcony because she was concerned that they could cause mold or mildew inside the cafe.
About two hours later, surveillance video captured a woman taking five of the six rugs.
“I had really no other choice than to leave the rugs on our balcony,” Milgrom said. “We’re a cafe, so we were at risk of mildew and mold. We can’t leave wet rugs in here.”
Milgrom, 27, opened the business about eight months ago. She estimated the stolen rugs are worth about $4,000 and said several thousand dollars’ worth of additional merchandise was damaged in the flood.
Milgrom said she was surprised that anyone would attempt to move the rugs because they were extremely heavy when wet.
“They’re soaking wet — stupid heavy, like 200 to 300 pounds each,” she said.
Milgrom said a detective told her the woman returned three times and eventually brought a hand truck or dolly to move the rugs.
The New York City Police Department is asking for the public’s help in identifying the woman seen in the surveillance video. Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crimestoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS.
Milgrom said all she wants is the rugs back.
