Cops: 4 charged in Baldwin crime spree

Four teens were arrested on gun possession and robbery charges after they went on a crime spree in Baldwin for several hours late Saturday and early Sunday, Nassau police said.

Arrested were Isiah Cust, 19, of Baldwin; Jovan Finch, 19, of Island Park; Darrell McKoysmith, 17, of Hempstead; and Mansur Wajid, 17, of Roosevelt, police said.

In one robbery in Baldwin, a victim was walking down McKinley Street when she was approached by a suspect -- later identified as Finch -- who reached into her pocket and forcibly removed a cell phone, police said. Finch then got into a car that headed north on Western Boulevard, police said.

A short time later, four victims were sitting in a vehicle parked on Central Avenue when three men approached them, police said. One suspect held out a handgun and demanded the victims' valuables, and they complied, police said. The three suspects then got into a waiting car driven by a fourth suspect.

While on routine patrol, two officers stopped a car traveling east on Washington Avenue and as the car came to a stop a man got out of the front passenger seat and ran away east on Washington Avenue.

On the car's backseat the police found several cell phones, drivers' licenses and credit cards, which appeared to have been taken in robberies, police said.

A Nassau police canine unit found a loaded 22-caliber handgun, police said.

Cust, of 745 Marilyn Lane, Baldwin, is charged with two counts of robbery and two counts of criminal possession of stolen property.

Finch, of 31 Waterford Ave., Island Park, is charged with three counts of robbery and two counts of criminal possession of stolen property.

McKoysmith, of 66 Henry St., Hempstead, is charged with first-degree robbery, criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of stolen property.

Wajid, of 12 Willet Place, Roosevelt, is charged with four counts of robbery, three counts of criminal possession of stolen property, resisting arrest, and obstructing governmental administration.

The four face arraignment Monday at First District Court in Hempstead.

By JOSEPH MALLIA
Posted Monday, November 10, 2008

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