By JOSEPH KELLARD
Ernest Colon, 44, was arrested and charged with first-degree burglary and first-degree attempted robbery for breaking into a Xavier Place home with an accomplice on Aug. 25, when they allegedly climbed through an open window and got into a scuffle with a man inside the home, according to police. Colon was arrested in front of his home Nov. 6. Another Brooklyn man, Efrem Zimbalist Russell, 43, was arrested and charged with first-degree burglary and first-degree robbery in connection with a Manhasset home invasion on Sept. 20.
The arrests are the result of a joint task force that Nassau and Suffolk counties and New York City police have formed in response to a series of 46 burglaries of homes in both counties as well as Queens and Brooklyn since December 2004. Police believe Colon and Russell are part of a second pattern of home invasions in Nassau County, and their arrests follow that of Eugene Elmore, 36, of Brooklyn, for a home invasion robbery in Levittown in June.
Both Colin and Russell pleaded not guilty at their arraignment in First District Court in Hempstead on Sunday, and are being held at the Nassau County jail in East Meadow. Police said they have been convicted before on similar charges of burglary and robbery.
According to Fourth Precinct detectives, Colon and another man entered the Oceanside home through a window and confronted a 44-year-old woman, waking her up and demanding cash at about 2:45 a.m. on Aug. 25. ³One of these individuals was in her bedroom and told her to keep in the bed, and stated that they were there to rob the house,² said Detective Lt. Gregory Detwiller in August. ³She said, ŒWe don¹t have anything to rob.¹²
One suspect went to the den, where the woman¹s 43-year-old husband was sleeping. The suspect punched him in the head and demanded cash. ³In defending his family, [the husband] got into a scuffle with this suspect, and the other suspect joined him,² Detwiller explained. ³But the husband was able to fight him off and chase them from the house without [the suspects¹] getting any valuables.² The suspects stole cash, however, before fleeing in a dark-colored SUV, police said.
During the burglary, one suspect brandished a screwdriver, but police were uncertain whether he used it as a weapon in his scuffle with the husband, who sustained a minor contusion to his face, Detwiller said. ³We do believe it was the tool that was used to enter the house,² he added.
At the time of the August burglary, both suspects were described by police as being in their mid-20s, and Detwiller didn¹t believe the incident was part of the rash of home invasions throughout Nassau County, saying he didn¹t ³believe that this fits that pattern² of the county burglaries. He described the incident as ³a spur-of-the-moment type of thing that was not well thought out or well planned.² Detwiller said at the time that in most of the home invasions, the suspects surprise the occupants, tie them up without physical confrontations and ransack the house, which was not the case in the Oceanside incident.
