Columbia Street Waterfront Burglar Absconds With Box Of Toilet Paper, A Blender, And Other Odd Items

It's been over a month since an unidentified man slipped through an unlocked front door into a building on Columbia Street in Brooklyn and walked away with a truly odd assortment of stuff: eight black chairs, a red and black grill, a blender, and a box of toilet paper.

The contents of his haul might not seem that valuable to you, but an NYPD spokesperson said the dollar value of the toilet paper alone is estimated at $650. When a reporter replied that this sounds like a lot of toilet paper, the officer agreed that yes, it sure does sound like a lot of toilet paper. Or perhaps the toilet paper was of such fine quality, hand-rolled with only the finest imported silk, that a single box can fetch a fortune on the black market.

We're not holding out much hope for the recovery of the toilet paper (or the Creedence) but the NYPD is not letting this go. On Wednesday they released a video of the suspect, noting that at the time of the incident (February 23rd), he had a beard and mustache, and was last seen wearing a gray sweater and red and black shorts.

It's unclear why all of these items were in the entrance hallway of the building, located at 259 Columbia Street between President Street and Carroll. The upper floors appear to be residential, but the Battery City Limousine Service lists its address at the location, as does another livery cab service.

At any rate, we'll all be hugging our toilet paper a little more tightly tonight.

Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM, on Twitter @NYPDTips or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577. All calls are strictly confidential.

Reporting by Jen Chung.