By:JOSEPH KELLARD
A rash of burglaries hit the Island Park business district over the past six weeks, with nine stores reporting successful or attempted break-ins, police said.
On Sunday, Sept. 23, Clay-Time Indoor Tennis, 70 Long Beach Rd., had its front door pried open, and checks and $90 in cash taken, Nassau County Fourth Precinct police reported. The business was burglarized again on Saturday, Oct. 13, after it was entered through a side window that was also pried, and $30 in cash was reported missing.
Clay-Time is one of three business that have been burglarized twice or more. Coyote Grill, 104 Waterview Rd., was hit twice, and A & T Garden Center, 4373 Long Beach Rd., was hit on four occasions within a 21-day span.
Between 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 26 and 11 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 27, Coyote Grill was broken into through a side entrance and $500 was reported stolen. At approximately 7:15 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 20, the waterfront restaurant-bar was entered through a rear window that was pried open, but no loses were reported.
This burglary was one of a series that occurred in Island Park that morning, with a burglar being sighted and chased at one site.
Between 1 and 8 a.m., 24/7 Glass Store Front, 4216 Austin Blvd., was burglarized after an aluminum section of its front door was pushed in and alarm wires were cut. The burglar used tools from the shop to try to break a hole in the wall that adjoins to another business, CJ & Vinnies Auto Repair Shop, but neither establishment reported any loses.
The burglars seem to only be interested in cash, ignoring valuable items in several stores.
"There was thousands of dollars worth of tools all over the place," said Vinny Fernicola, owner of CJ's. "But he just left them."
Det. John McGee of the Fourth Precinct said, "A lot of these places that were burglarized didn't suffer any loss whatsoever, like the glass shop, for example, and the mechanics shop that adjoins it, even though there were items of value there, like power tools."
"He's really not taking items that he can pawn," McGee said. "It looks like he's mainly looking for cash."
Also on Oct. 20, South Shore Cycle, 4187 Austin Blvd., was entered through a door that was pried open. Owner Terry Keon, out driving his motorcycle that night, returned to his shop at about 2:30 a.m., pulled into his garage, and found that it had been ransacked.
Over $800 worth of cameras, approximately $40 cash from the register, and $75 in quarters from a vending machine were taken from Keon's shop.
As police searched the area where the burglar entered the shop, Keon checked the chimneys on the roof.
"Everything was fine and then all of sudden the alarm went off at Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and I turned around and the burglar was going over the back fence into the Lincoln Orens School yard," Keon said. "That's where the police search dogs found my cameras."
Keon said the fleeing suspect was dressed all in black and a hooded sweatshirt, but he was unable to describe any other details about the suspect.
A & T Garden Center was broken into on Oct. 6, 9, and Oct. 17-18 and 26-27 with hundreds of dollars in cash and coins taken. On at least two occasions, the center was entered through its greenhouse.
Other businesses that were burglarized were LaRioja restaurant, 4409 Austin Blvd., on Saturday, Oct. 27 between 2 and 3 a.m. after a rear door was pried open and $200 cash was taken, and Able Salvage, 4276 Industrial Pl., on Thursday, Oct. 11, which was entered through a side door and a set of keys were reported missing.
McGee indicated that his investigation has lead him to suspect a number of people, but that at this time he has no "smoking gun," he said.
"The investigation is continuing and hopefully we're going to get this guy," McGee said.
