Thursday, October 1, 2026
Two Pennsylvania men were each sentenced to nine years in prison on burglary charges for posing as construction workers and breaking into a Valley Stream home in September 2023, stealing more than $1 million in property, including two Rolex watches and several legally owned firearms.
Dejuan Michaels, 31, and Daiquan Smith, 30, pleaded guilty on Sept. 22 before Judge Helene Gugerty to one count of Burglary in the Second Degree, a C violent felony, and one count of Grand Larceny in the First Degree, a B felony. They were each sentenced on Oct. 31 to nine years in prison. The Nassau County District Attorney’s Office recommended sentences of 12 years in prison for each defendant.
Co-defendant Tehron Green, 45, pleaded guilty on Sept. 22 to the same charges and is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 3. A fourth co-defendant has not been apprehended.
According to the charges, the three defendants and the unapprehended co-defendant arrived at the Valley Stream home after the homeowner left for work at approximately 7:15 a.m. on Sept. 23, 2023. They were dressed in construction gear and arrived in two vehicles. A rear window was broken and used to enter the home. At approximately 8:50 a.m., one defendant exited the window and returned about 30 minutes later with a hand truck, which was passed through the window into the residence. Surveillance video showed all four men leaving with two safes containing cash, firearms, watches and other property valued at approximately $1 million.
An investigation by the Nassau County Police Department’s Major Case Squad determined that Michaels purchased a hand truck from a home improvement store in Elmont during the burglary. Cellphone records recovered photos of Michaels and Smith posing in a Pennsylvania warehouse with cash, the victim’s watches and the victim’s firearms on the same day as the burglary. Green appeared in the background of one of the photos. Michaels and Smith were wearing the same clothing seen on surveillance video outside the home.
“Through terrific detective work by investigators and my prosecutors, and the defendants’ own hubris, these men now find themselves heading to prison,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said. “Incredibly, after absconding with the proceeds of their theft over state lines, the men memorialized their crime in photographs, posing with the cash, watches, and guns they stole in the very same clothes they wore when committing the crime. Staring down nearly a decade behind bars, these defendants are not smiling now.”
Michaels was arrested on April 11, 2024, in New Castle, Delaware, by the U.S. Marshals Service. Smith was arrested on the same day in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by the U.S. Marshals Service. Green was arrested on March 5 by detectives from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
The case is being prosecuted by Senior Litigation Counsel Ania Pulaski of the Major Offenses/Homicide Bureau, under the supervision of Bureau Chief Jared Rosenblatt, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for the Litigation Division Kevin Higgins. Green is representing himself. Michaels is represented by Greg Madey, Esq. Smith is represented by George Michel, Esq.
