Robbery at Lynbrook pharmacy

Robbery at pharmacy

Lynbrook businessowners took part in apprehending a man who police said had just robbed Picker Pharmacy at 3:15 p.m. on Nov. 7 in Lynbrook.

"I was walking up the street and saw a man walk out of Picker," said Harry Levitt, co-owner of Mur-Lee's Mens and Boyswear on Atlantic Avenue. "I didn't think anything of it until Stu Neufeld, owner of Miller's Hardware, and Kanti Vadsola, owner of Picker, were standing there, looking towards the parking lot."

Levitt said that Neufeld pointed to a man, and said that he was the one who just jumped the counter at Pickers, grabbing a bottle of oxycotin.

"When Stu pointed the direction the man was going I turned to him and said 'let's get him!' Stu  said the police were called and I just started running after the guy. I noticed he had taken off his hoody and thrown it in the trash and was now taking off his other sweatshirt."

Realizing that the man may not fit the description that police were given regarding his clothing, Levitt began to follow the man closely while calling the police on his cell phone, telling them that he was tailing the man at a safe distance on Merrick Road. "When the police pulled up I pointed the guy out to them — otherwise he would have gotten away. The best part is that this was the same guy who had robbed Picker the Saturday before."

According to Nassau County Robbery Squad detectives, the man they arrested was Joseph Chieffo, 27, of Clinton Avenue.  They said that after entering the pharmacy at 18 Atlantic Avenue, he  jumped over the counter and made verbal demands to the pharmacist for Oxycodon. After obtaining an undetermined amount of pills, Chieffo fled the store on foot, police said. He was located at the A&B Deli, 245 Merrick Rd. in Lynbrook, and was placed under arrest without incident. Pills taken from robbery were recovered upon Chieffo’s arrest.

After further investigation, detectives did determined that the defendant was also responsible for a robbery of oxycodon that occurred at the Pickers Pharmacy on Nov. 5 at 3:30 pm.
Chieffo is charged with two counts of Robbery in the third degree, and was arraigned on Nov. 8 at First District Court, Hempstead.

Arrests
On Oct. 30 at 1:07 a.m., a 29-year-old Hempstead man was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated and operating the wrong way on a one-way street on Broadway in Lynbrook.
On Nov. 1 at 10:46 p.m., a 43-year-old Inwood man was arrested and charged with circumvention of interlock device (a court ordered ignition interlock device), operating with restricted license and operating a motor vehicle while using a hand-held cell phone on Sunrise Highway in Lynbrook.
On Nov. 2 at 5:00 p.m., a 49-year-old Rockaway Beach man was arrested and charged with for leaving the scene of an accident with personal injury on Merrick Road in Lynbrook.

People named in Crime Watch items as having been arrested and charged with violations or crimes are only suspected of committing those acts of which they are accused. They are all presumed to be innocent of those charges until and unless found guilty in a court of law.