By Hector Flores
According to police, on July 18 at 9:40 p.m., Fidel Chavez Soto, 19, allegedly tried to rob a 17-year-old teenage girl at knifepoint while she was walking to her home on Carman Avenue in East Meadow. Detectives say that 3rd Precinct Sgt. Robert Fitchett was on a routine patrol and witnessed the alleged robbery. Fitchett arrested Soto at the scene and recovered the knife.
After an investigation, police said that Soto was involved in a number of similar attacks on at least four other woman. He allegedly attacked one woman as she was entering her home on Jerusalem Avenue in Hicksville on June 18. Police said Soto robbed and sexually abused a second woman on July 11 at her home on Front Street in Hempstead. He allegedly robbed a third woman at knifepoint on July 13 on Hempstead Avenue in Hempstead, and got away with a pocketbook and an undisclosed amount of cash.
According to police, Soto robbed a fourth woman at knifepoint on July 17 at the Sunshine Laundromat in New Cassel, and got away with $410 in cash. He is also a suspect in a number of business burglaries that took place in New Cassel, Westbury, Freeport and East Meadow from Feb. 26 to May 2.
Soto was arraigned at First District Court in Hempstead July 19. He was charged with three counts of first-degree robbery, one count of first-degree burglary, first-degree attempted robbery, second-degree robbery, first-degree sexual abuse, second-degree assault, five counts of third-degree burglary and three open warrants for misdemeanors.
