A Queens man charged in the theft of an $11,500 bracelet from an Oceanside jewelry store has been arrested and transferred to federal custody, Nassau County officials said Monday.
Nassau County police said David Beckham Adam, 19, of Jamaica, Queens, was taken into custody on Nov. 16 after police officers spotted him driving a gray 2015 Dodge Chrysler near Rockaway Turnpike and Peninsula Boulevard in Lawrence. Investigators said Adam presented a New York state driver’s license that was issued after he entered the country illegally.
Police accused Adam of stealing a gold bracelet from Kravit Jewelers, on Long Beach Road, on Oct. 23. A store employee had been showing several bracelets to a man and woman who said they were considering a purchase, police said. After the pair left, the employee noticed one of the bracelets was missing, according to police.
After an investigation and a review of surveillance video, police identified Adam as the man in the jewelry store.
County Executive Bruce Blakeman and Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder announced Adam’s arrest on Monday. He was charged with grand larceny. Officials said Adam was later transferred to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under the county’s cooperation agreement with the federal agency.
Blakeman said in a news release that under current state bail laws, Adam would otherwise have been released because the charge is nonviolent — a point he used to call on state lawmakers to revise those laws.
“Only through good police work and our cooperation agreement with ICE is this career criminal, this international criminal, removed from the streets of Nassau County,” Blakeman said in the release.
Ryder said investigators believed Adam is linked to a Romanian-based transnational theft group and that he is wanted internationally. Ryder also criticized state policies that allow undocumented residents to obtain driver’s licenses.
Police said the investigation is continuing and the search for the woman remains active.
