Police: Elmont man arrested, charged for Nassau burglary spree

An Elmont man was arrested and charged in a series of burglaries in Nassau County. Eric Barnett was charged with 12 counts of burglary Wednesday. Police say the 50-year-old broke into at least 12 businesses

News 12 Staff

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Oct 12, 2016, 8:45 PM

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Updated 2,991 days ago

An Elmont man was arrested and charged in a series of burglaries in Nassau County.

Eric Barnett was charged with 12 counts of burglary Wednesday. Police say the 50-year-old broke into at least 12 businesses across the county since July.

According to officials, he committed about three burglaries a month at bagel shops, liquor stores and pizzerias.

Officials say Barnett was targeting places that many Long Island residents frequent, stealing anything he could.

"The losses in most of these cases were U.S. currency, cigarettes, lottery tickets, incidentals but the property damage was quite significant and he was a one-man crime wave," says Chief Steven Skrynecki.

Police say in most cases, Barnett would break in through the roof of the shops.

Detectives say the parolee was arrested after being spotted climbing over a fence and breaking into the back of Associated Supermarket in Hempstead early Tuesday morning.

Barnett is being held on $100,000 bail.

He has 15 prior arrests and nine convictions on his record.