Cops: Two teens arrested in Nassau smoke shop burglaries
Uzair Khan and Mathew Hartenstein. Credit: NCPD
Two teens, one of them from East Meadow, have been arrested and charged in a string of Nassau County smoke shop burglaries dating to December, Nassau County police said Thursday.
Uzair Khan, 18, of Bette Road, East Meadow, and Mathew Hartenstein, 20, of Kings Highway in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn, were arrested after an investigation into a burglary Saturday at the E-Smoke Shop at 2174 Hempstead Tpke., East Meadow, police said. That burglary occurred at 3:13 a.m.
A subsequent investigation by Major Case Bureau detectives then linked the teens to six additional burglaries: Pipes/Stuff Smoke Shop, 2384 Hempstead Tpke., East Meadow, Dec. 8 and Dec. 12; Twisted Smoke Shop, 347 Merrick Ave., East Meadow, Dec. 29 and Jan. 5; Arturo Smoke Shop, 5632 Merrick Rd., Massapequa, Jan. 12 and Tuesday. In each of the burglaries, police said, Khan and Hartenstein stole nicotine-based and CBD-based products.
CBD is a cannabis-derived extract used in a variety of items, from gummies to oils.
Police said Khan was arrested by investigators Wednesday near the intersection of Hempstead Turnpike and Avis Drive in East Meadow. Hartenstein was arrested Thursday on Clocks Boulevard in Massapequa, police said.
Each was charged with seven counts of third-degree burglary and were arraigned Thursday in First District Court, Hempstead. Both their cases were continued and they are next due in court on Feb. 6, according to online court records.
Hartenstein is represented by Legal Aid Society of Nassau County. No attorney information was available for Khan, records show.
John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”
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