Man Robs Mail Carrier in Valley Stream

A Brooklyn man was arrested Thursday, charged with the robbery of a package being delivered by a mail carrier to a home in North Valley Stream, police said.

The robbery occurred just after noon on Aug. 31 on Custer Street, Nassau County police said.

The suspect, Don Joseph, 24, of 3420 Avenue H, was arrested at the Fourth Precinct and charged with third-degree robbery. He is scheduled for arraignment Friday in First District Court in Hempstead.

Police said a 59-year-old postal worker attempted to deliver the package to a home on Custer Street, found no one home, and was leaving the property when Joseph approached him and claimed to be the recipient.

The mail carrier told Joseph to return to the house and said he'd meet him there, police said, but when the postal worker asked for identification Joseph couldn't produce any -- and instead pushed the postal worker to the ground, grabbed the package and fled in a black car.

Vacant buildings on Gibson Boulevard up for sale.

Two vacant strip malls on Gibson Boulevard, which have been drawing the ire of neighbors for years, are finally for sale. A sign announcing their status now stands between the two empty buildings, which once housed about a dozen businesses.

 With the property now for sale, Valley Stream Mayor Ed Fare said he expects action. Village officials want to see the property developed, he noted, and are sympathetic toward residents who live near the abandoned buildings.

 

The property is being listed for $3 million by Massey Knakal Realty Services. Dominick Minerva Jr., the attorney representing the buildings’ owner, Dr. Leonard Bleicher, said the price is negotiable. “I believe he’ll consider offers in a range,” Minerva said.

 Bleicher has received approval from the village’s Board of Zoning Appeals to build a 47,500-square-foot, 39-unit housing complex on the property, though he most likely will not follow through on the project. Minerva said that the approval is good only through the end of the year, but he added that his client would seek an extension because the property is being marketed based on the approved development.

 Minerva said that Bleicher, who has been unable to secure financing to build the development, is willing to consider a partnership, but his preference would be to sell the land. “I believe he’d like to find a buyer for the project,” Minerva said.

 Fare said that his preference would have been for Bleicher to build the housing complex and rid Gibson Boulevard of the vacant stores. However, realizing that that is no longer a viable option, Fare is hopeful that a suitable buyer can be found, and quickly. He said he doesn’t want to see the property just sitting there for sale for years.

What fell from the sky in Valley Stream?

Holes in two roofs remain a mystery; FAA denies damage is from planes

Two unexplained holes in their roofs and thousands of dollars worth of damage are frustrating residents of two Valley Stream homes. The Farella and Grace families have more questions than answers nearly two weeks after they woke up to the damage on Sept. 9, with no clue as to exactly what happened.

On Sept. 11, inspectors from the Federal Aviation Administration conducted an investigation to see if the damage was caused by frozen leakage from airplane toilets, known rather euphemistically as blue ice, but found no evidence of it.

At this point, the FAA cannot say that the damage was caused by blue ice or anything else from an aircraft.

FEMA to meet with Nassau residents about flood maps

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will meet with residents in Valley Stream Monday to discuss changes to local flood maps.

The meeting will follow up on a law that passed Congress in June that requires FEMA to adopt new flood maps for Valley Stream, Lynbrook, Oceanside and other nearby Nassau County communities.


The measure corrects flood map changes in 2009 that added 25,000 property owners to the flood zone and led to higher insurance premiums.

Robbery at Domino’s Pizza in Valley Stream

Nassau County police are investigating an armed robbery that occurred at the Domino’s Pizza in Valley Stream early Saturday morning.

 

Detectives said an unknown black male described as about 5-foot-9 and wearing a black sweatshirt, black jeans and red shoes, entered the Domino's Pizza at 479 W. Merrick Rd. through the rear door at about 1:30 a.m., police said. Once inside, he took out a black handgun and ordered two male employees—ages 21 and 28—, to lie on the floor, police said.

 

The subject then removed an unknown amount of money from the register and fled in and unknown direction, police said. There were no injuries reported.

 

Detectives are asking anyone with information regarding this robbery to contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-244-TIPS. All calls are anonymous.

Nassau Police Shooting at Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream

Nassau and NYPD officers were searching for at least one male suspect late Friday night following an officer-involved shooting at Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, authorities said.

 

A Nassau officer fired least one shot at the suspect about 7:30 p.m., police said. A second suspect was taken into custody, police said.

 

Police said the officers were called to the shopping center by mall security who reported an incident involving the two suspects.

 

"We're trying to piece it all together," said Nassau Fourth Precinct Inspector Robert Psoinas.

 

Psoinas said there was a robbery at Walmart and officers confronted the robbers.

 

At least one suspect was in custody, one other fled and one was still being sought early Saturday, police said. An officer fired his weapon during the incident, police said, but no information was avilable as to whether any suspect was shot.

 

Late Friday, police had roped off about 10 parking spaces in the parking lot of the Walmart store adjacent to the mall. About a dozen officers, three police cars and a crime-scene van remained.

Nassau County Police Install Trailer at Fourth Precinct

A trailer was installed at the 4th Precinct station house in Hewlett on Tuesday evening to handle overflow of officers and prisoners when Nassau closes its busy 5th Precinct in Elmont as part of County Executive Edward Mangano’s precinct consolidation plan.

 

Not surprisingly, Democrats, who opposed the consolidation of the county’s eight precincts into four, differ with Republicans, who supported the plan as a way to save money, about the county's use of trailers for police operations.

 

Legis. David Denenberg (D-Merrick) said he had seen the new 4th Precinct trailer. “It’s one of the most ridiculous sights to behold: 21st century police precinct commanding officers are in 20th century trailer park. It would be funny if it wasn’t sad.”

 

But Legis. Howard Kopel (R-Lawrence), whose district includes the 4th Precinct, drove past the station house on Broadway on Wednesday and said, “It looks like a trailer. It looks exactly like I expected to look. It’s certainly not ideal. Ideally you want to have a larger precinct, but appearancewise its not as bad as I had feared. They put it behind the building.”

 

Kopel said he hopes the county would sell the Fourth and Fifth station houses “and build a brand new building. That’s what I would like to see if it can be done.”

 

Station houses in the four closed precincts will be turned into “community policing centers” under Mangano’s plan.

Nassau County Police Investigate Another Valley Stream Robbery

Nassau County police are looking for two men who robbed a teenager in Valley Stream Friday afternoon.

Detectives said a 17-year-old male was walking on Elmont Road near Oliver Avenue at 3:30 p.m. when two men approached him from behind. One of the men held the victim and demanded his property, police said. While restraining him, he reached into the victim’s pockets and took an iPod Touch.

The pair then fled the scene southbound on Oliver Avenue, police said. The victim wasn’t injured.

One of the subjects is described as a black male, 5-foot-11, wearing a dark shirt, khaki shorts and a black baseball cap, police said. No description was available for the second man.

Detectives ask anyone with information regarding this robbery to contact crime stoppers at 1-800-244-TIPS. All calls are anonymous.

Man Mugged of iPhone Near Green Acres Best Buy

An 18-year-old man was jumped by two men and robbed of his iPhone on Thursday near the Best Buy store in Valley Stream, according to police.

At 11:50 p.m. on Sept. 13, the victim was walking on Circle Drive when he was attacked from behind by an unknown black man — described as about 17 to 19 years old, 6 foot 1 inches tall with a thin build, dark complexion and wearing a dark colored baseball style cap, police said.

The subject punched the victim in the face and a second unknown black man confronted the victim. The first subject then took the victim’s iPhone. Both subjects fled westbound on Circle Drive in an older model Toyota sedan that was being driven by a third unknown black male subject. The victim refused medical assistance at scene.