A career criminal with nearly three dozen arrests under his belt could be spending the next three dozen years behind bars thanks to the quick actions of the 61st Precinct’s “Cops of the Month.”
Captain George Mastrokostas, the commanding officer of the 61st Precinct, explained that the thief proved he had no intention of shying away from his life of crime when he robbed a woman and burglarized a home in the mad minutes before Sergeant Michael Doyle and Police Officers Salvatore Granada and John Downey took him under arrest last month.
“In one day, this suspect was arrested for both burglary and robbery,” Mastrokostas told members of the 61st Precinct Community Council Wednesday. “We’re impressing upon the District Attorney’s office to make sure that they do everything they can to make sure he gets a lot of jail time.”
The action began on the morning of May 8 when the thief robbed a woman of her pocketbook in a driveway near the corner of East 2nd Street and Avenue T.
But the mugging is witnessed by a bunch of construction workers working nearby, and the thief scrambles off.
As cops were called to the scene, Mastrokostas said that the thief ran away to a nearby home.
“He goes into the yard, kicks in the front door and runs into a house,” Mastrokostas said. “He sees a purse on the table turns it upside down and was taking what he could when these guys arrived.”
The cops of the month entered the home and arrested the thief without incident.
Cops were currently trying to determine if the thief is responsible for any other robberies and burglaries in the area, especially since he has no problem committing multiple crimes in one day.
While none of the cops involved in the arrest are strangers to chasing down and arresting criminals, the collar was rather routine compared to another arrest that Downey was credited for recently – the arrest of three suspects in a gunpoint hold-up on Avenue U, council members remarked.
The arrest was a special treat for Sergeant Doyle, who is currently the precinct’s community affairs officer, officials said.
