Knifepoint robbery spree suspect in custody

Valley Stream woman detained at crime scene being questioned

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A 24-year-old man was arrested in Floral Park on Wednesday after a large manhunt in Queens the night before, and police say he’s the person who used a large knife to rob more than two dozen businesses in Nassau and Suffolk Counties and Queens in recent months.

Khalif House, of Hempstead, was arrested in a parking lot in Floral Park shortly after 10 a.m. following a tip from a resident. A 24-year-old Valley Stream woman was also detained after she was spotted ducking down in a late-model, gray Honda Accord that matched the description of one that Nassau County police linked to the pattern of robberies. She is being questioned and has not yet been charged.

Nassau County Police Department Chief of Department Steven Skrynecki said that 27 cases are being investigated as part of the pattern, which targeted Subway, Dunkin’ Donuts, 7-Eleven and Carvel stores. Thirteen were in Nassau, 10 were in Queens and four were in Suffolk. “The pattern was discovered here in Nassau County beginning in March,” Skrynecki said. “Indications are that the pattern might have been existing in New York City as early as February.”

He said that police are confident that the two people in custody are responsible for most, if not all, of the robberies that fit the pattern. Officials did not indicate that the suspect was being investigated for the more than 20 similar robberies that have occurred in Valley Stream since February 2015.

“This is going to be a federal prosecution. We are heading in that direction right now,” Skrynecki said, and called the investigation “very fluid.”

NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said that after two robberies in May, NYPD detectives connected two February robberies to the pattern. The robberies began to intensify in frequency, Boyce said, with incidents occurring on June 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6.

During one of the two attempts on Tuesday night, a dollar store clerk fought back and chased the suspect outside. That prompted a massive police response, Boyce said.

“We had about 80 people deployed … throughout southeast Queens,” he said. “They held their deployment due to the fact that he did not get any money. We felt he would strike again and he did.”

Officers approached a man they believed to be the suspect outside a Dunkin’ Donuts on Hillside Avenue in Douglaston, Queens, and he fled.

“We chased him through several backyards and he seemed to have gotten away at that point,” Boyce said. “Going through the night, we continued our search for him and later on that day we got him about nine blocks away, in Floral Park.”

Boyce said that database checks had not previously brought House to detectives’ attention because he had no prior robbery arrests.

Boyce said the suspect would keep the knife in his pocket and only reveal a portion of it to his victims before demanding the cash. The knife has not been recovered, he said.

The FBI is involved in the investigation, and are examining charges under the federal Hobbs Act, which applies to crimes that involve robbery and interstate commerce.

Police said that more information would be made public as the investigation continues.