Parking ticket helps nab antique robber
 
by MICHAEL J. MISHAK

Police have arrested one of the two men they believe are responsible for the armed robbery of the Antique Gallery last week. A parking ticket led police to the Center City home of alleged robber Alix Toussaint on Aug. 27, said Cpl. James Pauley of the department's Public Affairs unit.

Detectives believe Toussaint, a Haitian national, is also responsible for last year's gunpoint robbery of the shop, said Inspector Jack Gaittens of Northwest Detectives. Charges for the May 16, 2003 incident are pending, he said.
Last Friday, the Antique Gallery at 8523 Germantown Ave. fell victim to armed robbery shortly before 11 a.m. when two men, posing as construction workers, looted jewelry and silver estimated at $200,000, police said. It was the second such crime for the business in 15 months.

Dressed in coveralls and wearing yellow hard hats, the pair — one armed with a gun, the other a hammer — herded two employees into the shop's back room and bound them with duct tape, police said. No one was hurt.

Though manager Barbara Caplen was not present for the robbery, she spoke with the victims immediately after the incident. She said employees told her the men were holding large duffel bags they thought contained tools. Caplen also learned that the men were holding frayed white cable. The costumes convinced employees to buzz the pair past the shop's locked front door.

In an unfortunate twist, the store's advanced security cameras broke the previous night, said owner Gerald Schultz.

But police were tipped off by a witness who reported seeing the two men park their getaway car near Highland Avenue, Cpl. Pauley said. On investigation, police detectives learned the Philadelphia Parking Authority had issued a ticket on the car during the robbery, he said. Registration information revealed the car's owner as Alix Toussaint, of the 300 block of N. 12th Street. When shown Toussaint's picture, a witness identified him as one of the robbers, Pauley said.

While executing a search warrant at Toussaint's apartment, police recovered an undisclosed amount of items stolen from the Antique Gallery. Toussaint was arrested at 9:30 p.m. when he walked into the search, Pauley said. He has been charged with robbery, assault, firearm violations and related charges, police said. Toussaint will also face drug charges for the heroin and cocaine that authorities discovered on his person at the time of arrest.
Police are still looking for a second male suspect.

Caplen and Schultz spoke frankly with the Local as they awaited more police detectives on Monday afternoon.

Answering phone calls from the shop's front desk, Caplen passed Schultz clipped news accounts of the robbery.

"I'm fed up that we can't run a business without the interruption of crime," said Caplen, sitting across from the photographs of a couple that shoplifted from the store last April. "I feel bad that the people we're letting in could terrorize us."

Though rearranged since last Friday's robbery, one of three looted glass jewelry cases remained completely empty.

The two thieves emptied at least three large cases containing diamonds, gold, silver and various other stones, Caplen said. The pair even stole some silver tea sets, she said.
While neither employee was physically hurt, Caplen said, they were emotionally shaken. "I can say that because I was there," she said. "It's scary."

Both Caplen and Schultz were victims in a similar robbery that occurred in May 2003. The two, along with another employee, were herded into a back office and handcuffed, Caplen said.
She said she feared for her life as the assailant pressed a gun to her head and told her, "If you look at me, you're dead."

Caplen said she prayed out loud for her life and pleaded with the man to refrain from violence.

Though she has not seen the suspects in last week's robbery, she believes one of them was involved with the prior incident. An employee's description of the gun matches that of the one used in last year's holdup, Caplen said.

Despite the recurring violence, Schultz said he will keep his business open, but will exercise greater vigilance.

"I'm going to stay," Schultz said. "We'll just have to be more cautious about who we let in."
"I will not allow anybody to scare me out of this business," Caplen added. "This will not change the way I operate. I'm not scared."

Crime prevention measures have cost the Antique Gallery not only cash, but also customers. "It turns some people away," Schultz said of the store's front door buzzer. "But they don't understand because they're not sitting behind this desk."

Schultz said he knew of shop owners that use dogs to deter crime, but feared further security efforts would scare away more customers.

Schultz, who opened the Antique Gallery 22 year ago, said his largest concern remains putting his employees at risk.

Both Schultz and Caplen expressed dismay over police protection in Chestnut Hill. Afforded a visit from Mayor Street and promised more police after a string of armed robberies last year, the two feel the business strip has since been neglected.

"Chestnut Hill is treated like a spoiled child," Caplen said. "[The city] doesn't think it requires the police protection other neighborhoods are given. Why are we different than any other area?"

Even with two dedicated bike cops, coverage is too thin, they argued. "I don't understand why they don't spread the coverage," Schultz said of the bike patrol. "If the two of them ride together, what good is that?"

Caplen claimed both robberies were motivated by drug addiction, citing the thieves' irritable behavior.

According to Caplen, at least two people witnessed the robbers putting on their uniforms on Highland Avenue, but did not report their suspicions until after the crime had already been committed.

"We can't be complacent anymore," she said. "We've got to be alert. It's better to be wrong than dead."