LI CRIME BRIEFS

GARDEN CITY/Hempstead man charged in home burglaries

A Hempstead man has been arrested and charged with burglary and attempted burglary of several Garden City homes, Nassau County police said.

Pedro A. Alcantara-Medina, 19, of Liberty Ct., was arrested at 1:40 p.m. Wednesday by Hempstead police in conjunction with the following, Nassau police said:

Breaking into a Stewart Avenue home through a basement window and door at about 11:30 a.m. June 27; jewelry and $250 cash reportedly taken;

Breaking into a Meadow Street home through a basement window at about 3:10 p.m. July 10; nothing was reported taken;

Attempting to gain entry to a Hilton Avenue home through a rear basement window at about 3:50 p.m. July 10;

Attempting to gain entry to a Hilton Avenue home through a rear window at about 7 a.m. July 13;

Attempting to gain entry to a Garden Street home through a rear window at about 8 p.m. July 13.

Alcantara-Medina was charged with two counts of second-degree burglary and three counts of second-degree attempted burglary. He was to be arraigned Thursday in First District Court in Hempstead.

-- Patricia Kitchen

EAST ISLIP/3 armed men sought in home invasion, assaults

Three men "forcibly" broke through the front door of an occupied apartment on East Main Street in East Islip at 5:10 a.m. Thursday, displayed weapons and demanded "proceeds," Suffolk police said.

"They tied up the victims with duct tape, and they removed TVs, laptop and an assortment of personal property," said Det. Sgt. Jeff Walker of the Third Precinct.

A woman and one of the two men in the apartment were injured, police said. The man was treated at the scene, and the woman was taken to Southside Hospital in Bay Shore to be treated for a deep cut to her head and concussion, police said. Their names were not released.

Other details were not available.

-- Ellen Yan

FRANKLIN SQUARE/Man charged with skimming data from ATM

A Queens man was arrested after he was seen removing an electronic card skimming device from an ATM at the Astoria Federal Savings Bank on Hempstead Turnpike in Franklin Square late Wednesday night, police said.

Florin Ilea, 34, of 6122 Woodbine St., Ridgewood, had two fraudulently encoded American Express gift cards -- cards encoded, Nassau County police said, with information stolen from the Bank of America.

Police said plainclothes officers observed Ilea enter the bank and remove the skimming device from the ATM in question at about 10:40 p.m.

Ilea was charged with two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument and second-degree unlawful possession of a skimmer device. He was scheduled for arraignment Thursday in First District Court in Hempstead.

-- John Valenti