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By Michael V. Cusenza
Gotcha!
Investigators have arrested two suspects in connection with a recent string of knifepoint robberies of several borough eateries, according to police and published reports.
“An individual has been apprehended in connection to the commercial robberies,” the NYPD posted to its official Twitter page last Wednesday.
Lizette Beltry, 24, was arrested as she sat in what cops have characterized as the getaway vehicle outside a Dunkin’ Donuts on Northern Boulevard in Little Neck, according to a New York Daily News report.
Detectives pegged Beltry as Khalif House’s accomplice, allowing the suspect to quickly flee the scenes of the robberies. Authorities believe Beltry and House, 24, are responsible for 27 attacks spread out across the city, and Nassau and Suffolk counties. Their targets were Carvel, Dunkin’ Donuts, and Subway establishments. In each incident, cops said, House allegedly displayed a knife and fled with hundreds of dollars in cash.
In one of the borough robberies, on Wednesday, May 25, around 11:55 p.m., House allegedly stole a cash register drawer that contained $776 from the Dunkin’ Donuts on Cross Bay Boulevard in Howard Beach. The prolific perp knocked over at least six Queens restaurants in May and June, according to police reports.
After nabbing Beltry, the News said, cops were able to catch up to House at an apartment in Floral Park, Long Island.
Police believe that the duo might have initiated their sinister spree as far back as February, and that the illicit proceeds fueled House’s alleged drug habit.
michael@theforumnewsgroup.com