The Bobster
Senior News Editor since 2004
NYC pickpocket notches 46th bust as frustrated cops publicly question whether ‘this one will be’ a deterrent
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Published Jan. 28, 2024, 2:35 p.m. ET
A prolific city pickpocket with 45 prior busts — including four this month alone — was just nabbed for allegedly stealing from a snoozing straphanger, becoming the latest poster boy for revolving door justice.
Rudell Faulkner, 64, is accused of snatching an iPhone out of the hands of a 54-year-old man who had dozed off on a No. 4 train in The Bronx around 2:15 a.m. Sunday, according to police sources.
Cops were able to track down the suspect to a West Fordham Road deli and recover the stolen property from him with the Find My iPhone app, sources said.
“Today’s arrest marks the 46th time NYPD cops arrested him — including 8 times in the past 12 months and 4 times already this year alone (2024),” officers with the NYPD’s Transit Bureau wrote on Instagram about Faulkner’s felony grand-larceny arrest.
“Apparently his first 45 arrests weren’t enough of a deterrent … perhaps this one will be?” they said — with sources describing Faulkner as a perennial pilferer.
The state’s controversial bail reform laws, which allow most nonviolent suspects to avoid jail time before trial, have been blamed for dumping recidivist criminals right back on the street and failing to provide deterrents for them.
Faulkner’s New York City arrest history dates back to 1984 and involves busts for grand larceny and petit larceny, earning him a spot in the NYPD’s transit grand larceny recidivist database, sources said.
He has four open cases against him: three in The Bronx and one in Manhattan, sources said.