By: Jeff Lipton
In all three cases, police said, the robbers placed phony orders to lure the deliverymen to certain addresses and then ambushed and mugged them when they arrived.
Investigators said the crimes shared several similarities, but the descriptions of the robbers were different in each case. Detectives at the Fourth Squad have passed the information along to investigators at the Nassau County Robbery Squad to determine whether the crimes are connected and whether a pattern is emerging.
"Absolutely, there are certain similarities that can't be ignored," said Detective Sgt. John Azzata of the Fourth Squad, who said he immediately turned the information over to Detective Sgt. Gary Schriffen of the Robbery Squad after receiving a report on the third robbery. "The reason we sent it to [the robbery squad] is that it is a pattern. We are involved in the investigation right along with them."
The latest incident occurred at 10 p.m. on Nov. 10, when a 53-year-old employee of Merry Land Chinese Food Take-out, at 913 W. Beech St. in Long Beach, was making a delivery to a specific address on West Beech Street in Atlantic Beach, authorities said. As he was walking up the driveway, the victim was confronted by two men and grabbed from behind by one of them, who used a choke hold on him and demanded money, detectives said. The second man also demanded money, and after grabbing about $300 in cash, the robbers ran away. Police said the victim felt an object pressed against his body, which may have been a handgun. The victim was not injured.
That robbery followed two muggings that same week. A 44-year-old deliveryman from Green Garden Chinese Restaurant, 569 Burnside Ave. in Inwood, was called to a home on Adele Road in Cedarhurst at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 2. When the deliveryman arrived, two robbers were waiting for him. One of them pulled out a knife, and they stole a cell phone and an undisclosed amount of cash from the victim, police said. The robbers then ran away, along a path at the end of Adele Road. The victim was not injured.
Four days later, on Nov. 6, a deliveryman from Five Star Chinese Restaurant, at 456 Sheridan Blvd. in Inwood, was making a delivery to an address on Barnard Avenue in Cedarhurst at 9:10 p.m. when a man on a bicycle approached him, police said. The robber pulled out a handgun and grabbed $500 in cash before riding away on the bike, police said. The deliveryman was not injured.
Yibei Chen, owner of Green Garden, said his deliverymen have to take extra precautions in light of the robbery. "We have to do the delivery business," he said. "We don't know who will be there, but we always do the delivery. We need to be more careful now."
Sergeant Schriffen said all three incidents were set-ups, designed to ambush the deliverymen and rob them of cash and any other valuables, such as cell phones. "These were not bona fide callers [who wanted take-out food]," he said. "They were all overt calls for the victims to respond to a specific location.
"We often get these patterns with pizza delivery people and with cab drivers, when, in the course of their business, they have to respond to a specific location," Schriffen explained. "Their livelihood depends on them delivering a product to an address."
Schriffen said that all the incidents involved robbers placing phony orders and luring the victims to an address. But the robbers were different races, and they used different weapons, he said.
Schriffen suggested that to prevent this type of ambush, delivery businesses should consider sending two people on deliveries, with one staying behind, ready to place a 911 call with a cell phone in an emergency. Schriffen said he realizes it may be more costly to do that, but it may be worth it in the long run.
He also advised that deliverymen make sure lights are on in the home to which they are delivering food, to make sure that someone is home.
Detectives also suggested that delivery businesses use a callback system before going to an address to make sure the call is legitimate. They should also institute a caller ID system if they do not already have one. "And if it's not a working number, do not make a delivery," said Schriffen.
Azzata added, "What I would suggest is that they should always be aware of their surroundings, but that's also true for anyone."
Anyone with information on these crimes is urged to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 244-TIPS. All callers will remain anonymous, police said.
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