Crimes and Incidents Nearby: Father's Day Fire, Prostitution Bust

Massive Father's Day Fire Leaves 70 Homeless

Firefighters from West Hempstead and Lakeview joined 11 other departments Father's Day evening to battle a massive fire at a Hempstead apartment complex.

The blaze was reported around 6:30 p.m. Sunday at a large apartment building located at 600 Fulton Avenue.

The fire was believed to have started in the kitchen area of a third-floor apartment and quickly spread to neighboring units. Twenty nine residents and one Hempstead Village Police Officer were removed to local hospitals and were treated for smoke inhalation. One Baldwin firefighter was treated for cardiac issues.

Three hundred firefighters with forty pieces of apparatus responded to the scene to extinguish the blaze, which was placed under control around 8:30 p.m. However, the seven-story building suffered heavy damage.

Nearly 70 building occupants were evacuated, assisted by the Red Cross and transported by NICE Bus to Hempstead High School for temporary shelter.

The cause of the fire is deemed undetermined and non suspicious.

A letter was mailed to East Meadow residents regarding arrests made at an East Meadow Avenue business.

According to the document, which was dated June 7 and signed by Hempstead Town Supervisor Kate Murray and Councilman Gary Hudes, town officials learned of “illegal activity” being conducted in the storefront. Those details were forwarded to the Nassau County Police Department (NCPD) Narcotics/Vice Squad.

One person was arrested for prostitution and for practicing unlicensed massages, according to the document. A second individual was also arrested for practicing unlicensed massages. Multiple summonses were also issued against the landlord of the business, which is located on East Meadow Avenue near the intersections of Harton Avenue and Adelaide Court, by the TOH Building Department.

The names of the business and those arrested were not specified in the report.

Roslyn Savings Bank in Mineola Robbed Saturday

Two masked men made off with an unknown amount of money from the Roslyn Savings Bankon Jericho Turnpike in Mineola Saturday morning.

According to Nassau County Police, the two suspects entered the bank at about 11:24 a.m. on Saturday morning wearing masks, gloves and hooded sweat shirts and verbally ordered all the employees to the ground. One subject climbed over the teller counter and removed the money inside.

The subjects fled on foot out to the parking lot that exits onto Andrews Road. Subject one is described as 5’10” to 6’ tall wearing a dark hooded sweat shirt with a dark face mask. The second subject was described as 6’ tall, wearing a gray hooded sweat shirt with a dark face mask. There were no injuries reported. At the time of the robbery there were five employees in the bank, no customers.

Detectives ask anyone with information regarding this crime to call Nassau County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-244-TIPS.  All callers will remain anonymous.

Williston Park Man Convicted of Mailing Himself Cocaine

A man charged with trying to ship a kilogram of cocaine across the country to himself in a television box was convicted on Friday.

David Kappen, 35, was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first and third degrees and faces 12 to 24 years in prison. He is scheduled for sentencing on July 26.

According to Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, on Aug. 3, 2010, Kappen and co-defendant Trent Singleton shipped a television box containing a kilogram of cocaine from a UPS store in Rancho Cucamunga, Calif. to an Auto Spa on Willis Avenue in Williston Park.

Local police in the UPS store grew suspicious that the defendants were shipping a 27-inch flatscreen television across the country and notified the Nassau County Police Department.

When the package arrived in Williston Park on Aug. 5, members of the narcotics team began surveillance around the Auto Spa, observing that a third co-defendant, Jamie Denton, placed the package into Singleton’s rental car at 11:40 a.m.

Singleton then left the Auto Spa in his car with Kappen following and later joined him in his vehicle, fleeng when officers attempted to pull them over. Singleton allegedly rammed a police vehicle during the pursuit. Both men were caught on foot shortly thereafter.

Singleton pleaded guilty to fifth degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison in December 2011. Denton, who was arrested on Aug. 6, 2010, pleaded guilty to fourth degree criminal facilitation in June 2011.

The defense’s claims that Kappen never touched the box and didn’t know there was cocaine in the package.

“This verdict is the result of excellent police work by two departments, an outstanding prosecution by members of my office, and the ability of this jury to see the truth,” Rice said in a statement. “Thankfully, this package was intercepted before its contents could poison our communities, and my office will continue to work closely with other law enforcement agencies to keep drugs off our streets and put dealers behind bars.”

Hempstead Man Convicted of Seaman Ave. Home Burglary

It took a jury three hours to convict a Hempstead man of burglarizing a Seaman Avenue home in Rockville Centre last November, but his partner in crime is still on the lam.

Nishon Parson, 36, of Hempstead, faces up to 15 years in prison at his July 27 sentencing.

According to Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, on Nov. 29 at around 11 a.m., Parson and another man broke into a Seaman Avenue home. A neighbor saw the men entering the home through a back window and called village police. An RVC police sergeant responded minutes later and saw electronics piled up at the home’s door. When he entered the house, the sergeant confronted Parson and the other thief.

Rice said Parson pretended to comply with the officer’s commands, but both men ran from the cops. After police set up a perimeter, Parson was found several blocks away hiding under a tarp in a shed. His accomplice was never caught.

In addition to the electronics, police at the scene found the homeowner's safe on the floor of a closet after it had been ripped out of a wall panel, and the home's kitchen and den were completely ransacked.

The jury rejected the defense’s claims that Parson had given his friend a ride to the house, and only came into the house after his friend had already broken in and ransacked it.

For more crime in neighboring communities click on the following links: Mineola, New Hyde Park, East Meadow and Malverne-West Hempstead.