Nearby: Conviction in Robberies at Cosco Parking Lot

A jury has convicted a Hempstead man for robbing two women of their pocketbooks at gunpoint in the parking lot of a Westbury Costco, according to Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice.

It took a jury about four hours to convict Randy Summerville, 32, of two counts each of Robbery in the First, Second, and Third Degrees, and one count of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Third Degree. He faces up to 25 years in prison at his April 8 sentencing.

Rice said that at approximately 11:30 a.m. on April 9, 2012, Summerville approached a woman who had left the Costco and was walking to her vehicle. As she opened the door to her car, Summerville came up behind her and pushed her into her vehicle, then reached over her and grabbed her white pocketbook off the front passenger seat.

Summerville then pointed a silver handgun at the victim and unsuccessfully tried to steal another handbag that the victim had secured around herself with a strap. While fleeing the scene with the white pocketbook, Summerville pointed his gun at another woman who had approached him.

The second woman placed her pocketbook on the ground, Summerville picked it up, and then entered the passenger side door of a waiting red Ford Explorer. The vehicle was identified by security officers at the nearby Source Mall in Westbury, and a responding Nassau County police officer saw Summerville and the driver, Roy Garrett, 22, of Hempstead, walking together on the west side of the mall. The officer was able to place Garrett under arrest at the scene, and Summerville, after running from the scene, was arrested the following day at his home.

The jury rejected the defense’s claim that Summerville was the driver of the vehicle and was unaware of the robberies. Summerville was acquitted of two counts of Robbery in the First Degree and one count of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree. Garrett is charged with four counts of Robbery in the First Degree, and two counts each of Robbery in the Second and Third Degrees. He is awaiting trial and is due back in court March 8.

“These brazen attacks in the middle of the day prove what a danger this defendant poses to the safety of our community, and today’s guilty verdict thankfully ensures that he will be off our streets for a very long time,” Rice said.

Assistant District Attorney Everett Witherell of the Major Offense Bureau is prosecuting the case for the DA’s Office. Summerville is represented by Steven Raiser, Esq.