Fake Nun Had Bad Habit, Cops Say

That lady outside Macy’s may have looked like a nun, but police say she had a bad habit.

Margaret Bridges, 65, was arrested Wednesday night for allegedly helping two families of thieves rip off clothes and other goods from Macy’s. One of the Christmas shoplifters was nine months pregnant, police said.

Bridges is known in the Herald Square area for donning a black nun’s habit and panhandling in front of Woolworth’s, across the street from Macy’s, police said. She would sit on a folding chair, counting beads on her rosary along with the spare change she bummed from passing shoppers.

“The way she was dressed and everything, she seemed harmless,” said Capt. Vito Spano of the Mid-town South Detective Squad.

But store security bosses recently suspected a sinister side to the phony sister, telling police that shoplifters would leave bags of stolen clothes, housewares and cosmetics with her for safekeeping while returning to the store for second helpings. In exchange, she would keep something for herself.

“She just kept saying, ‘I’m a missionary,”’ Spano said.