A 26-year-old Far Rockaway man is facing a first-degree robbery charge and a string of weapons counts after police say he held up two 15-year-old boys at gunpoint for their e-bike near Bayview Avenue in Inwood on Saturday night. No injuries were reported in the robbery or in the arrest that followed.
According to LongIsland.com, the two boys were riding an e-bike near Bayview Avenue when a male suspect brandished a handgun and demanded the bike. The teens complied, and the suspect fled on the stolen e-bike, per the outlet's report. Nassau County Fourth Squad detectives identified Lavon Smith as the suspect and arrested him.
Fourth Precinct officers located and took Smith into custody, and in the process recovered a stolen firearm, the outlet reported. Separate media reporting from Sunday noted that Smith was taken into custody without incident following the 9:34 p.m. robbery Saturday, and that the arrest itself produced no injuries, according to Long Island Life & Politics.
A Long List of Felony Charges
Smith was charged with robbery in the first degree, two counts of criminal use of a firearm in the first degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, criminal possession of a firearm, criminal possession of stolen property in the fourth degree, and menacing in the second degree, per the same account.
The charges carry substantial prison exposure under New York law. Robbery in the first degree is a Class B violent felony that carries a mandatory minimum of 5 years and up to 25 years in state prison for a first-time offender, according to New York State law, and applies when someone forcibly steals property while armed with a deadly weapon or displaying a firearm.
Criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree is a Class C violent felony punishable by a mandatory minimum of 3.5 years up to a maximum of 15 years, per New York State law, and applies to possessing a loaded firearm outside a home or business without a permit. Criminal use of a firearm in the first degree, also a Class B violent felony, authorizes courts to tack on an additional consecutive 5-year sentence when a defendant displays a loaded firearm during a Class B violent felony like first-degree robbery, according to state statute. Separately, criminal possession of stolen property in the fourth degree automatically becomes a Class E felony — carrying up to 4 years in prison — whenever the stolen property includes a firearm, regardless of its value, per New York State law.
Inwood's Border With Far Rockaway
Smith resides in Far Rockaway, just across the Nassau-Queens county line from Inwood, an unincorporated hamlet in Nassau County's Five Towns area. The two communities share a direct border and deep historical ties, according to Wikipedia, which notes Inwood was originally settled in the 17th century as Near Rockaway before residents voted to adopt the Inwood name in 1888.
The Nassau County Police Department's Fourth Precinct, headquartered in Hewlett, covers Inwood along with neighboring Five Towns communities including Cedarhurst, Lawrence, Woodmere, and Hewlett. Just across the border in February, the NYPD's 101st Precinct issued a public safety advisory warning Far Rockaway residents about street robberies targeting high-value personal property, as Hoodline previously reported, with officers emphasizing stepped-up patrols along commercial strips like Mott Avenue.
Arraignment Set for Hempstead
Smith is scheduled to be arraigned Sunday at the First District Court at 99 Main Street in Hempstead. Pre-indictment felony arraignments in Nassau County are processed centrally at that courthouse, which operates seven days a week, according to the Legal Aid Society of Nassau County. It remains unclear whether the recovered firearm has been linked to any other open investigations across the Nassau-Queens border, and the bail terms set at Sunday's arraignment had not been reported as of publication.
