Rockville Centre police nab burglary suspect in the act

Rockville Centre police say they arrested a Hempstead man early Wednesday morning as he was burglarizing an occupied home on Raymond Street.

According to detectives, they received a 911 call Tuesday night at 11:58 p.m. from a neighbor of the house to report a suspicious person. When two village police officers responded, they found a broken basement window in the rear of the house. Once inside, they heard a noise from the first floor. The two elderly residents of the home were asleep in an upstairs bedroom.

Police said that a short time later, the suspect, Gregory France, 46, of 33 Linden Ave., Hempstead, ran out of the front door and was quickly caught by the responding officers who included Sgt. Tom Landrigan, and officers Dan Heffernan, Evan Siar, Joe Scibico and Michael Stahlhut. Desk officer Dennis LaBarbera took the initial call.

“This was an outstanding arrest. We had an alert resident who saw something unusual and did what he was supposed to do and called us,” said Police Commissioner Charles Gennario. “Our desk officer alertly kept him on the line and dispatched officers to the vicinity of the caller. At that point the police officers went into action doing what they do best. They interviewed the complainant and took it from there. They set a perimeter and caught the suspect in the act of an occupied burglary. It was a good teamwork effort.”

France was charged with burglary, petit larceny, criminal possession of stolen property and possession of burglary tools. He was found to be the subject of an outstanding Nassau County District Court bench warrant for petit larceny and Gennario said police are looking into whether France might be connected to additional burglaries that have occurred in the village.

France was arraigned later on Wednesday at First District Court in Hempstead.

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