By:By Jeff Lipton
Detectives had been looking for the suspect, identified by police as Kevin J. Robinson, since the investigation began last summer. Shortly after the robberies took place, the victims managed to pick the suspect out of mug shots and police became aware of his identity, authorities said. But police had a difficult time locating him, because he had no known address, said Detective Lt. Gregory Detwiller, commander of the Fourth Squad. Police knew only that Robinson frequented Brooklyn locations, detectives said.
But the suspect returned to the Five Towns on Wednesday, April 20, at 6 p.m. Fourth Precinct police officers Kevin Donohue and Steven Paul were on patrol when they spotted him in the vicinity of 11 Bayview Ave. in North Lawrence.
"[The suspect] had been identified by the victims," said Detwiller. "We have been looking for him for a while. He fled the area and had not been seen since the fall of 2004. The problem is that we didn't know where he was living. He was like a homeless person. He was out of the area until our anti-crime patrol noticed him going in an apartment complex on Bayview Avenue [on April 20]."
Through evidence, investigators said they have managed to link the suspect to three area robberies. One of them took place on Sept. 26, 2004, at 11:35 a.m., when a 36-year-old Far Rockaway woman was sitting at the Lawrence train station on Lawrence Avenue with her infant child, Detwiller said. The suspect approached her, threatened her and demanded her pocketbook. She refused and a struggled ensued, with the suspect ending up with her pocketbook, which contained $430 in cash, a cell phone and credit cards, police said. The victim was not injured, according to police. The suspect ran away toward the Long Island Rail Road tracks on Lawrence Avenue.
About a month earlier, on Aug. 28 at 2:30 a.m., the suspect confronted a 14-year-old girl on Centre Street in Cedarhurst, grabbing her from behind and threatening to shoot her if she did not meet his robbery demands, Detwiller said. He placed his hand in his pocket and simulated that he had a gun pointed at her. He then took her cell phone and $70 in cash, police said. The victim was not injured.
In the third robbery, which took place on July 27, 2004, at 9:50 p.m., a man was approached at Rockaway Turnpike and Pearl Street in North Lawrence, pushed to the ground, punched and kicked by the suspect, who then stole a gold chain and pendant from his neck, which were worth about $200, police said.
Police charged Robinson with several counts of robbery, and he was arraigned on the charges in First District Court in Hempstead on April 21. He was charged with third-degree robbery for the Sept. 26 crime, second-degree robbery for the July 27 incident and first-degree robbery for the Aug. 28 incident.
"It was absolutely a good arrest," said Detwiller. "I'll take that any day of the week."
Comments about this story? JLipton@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 204.
