A 71-year-old Old Brookville homeowner was struck in the shoulder with a crowbar after confronting an intruder inside his own home in July, and police say they have now arrested both men accused in the break-in. Richard Lewis, 54, and Norbet Roseway, 45, both of Brooklyn, face first-degree burglary and first-degree robbery charges in connection with the attack, which happened on Brookville Lane.
According to longisland.com, the incident unfolded on July 18, 2026 at 12:55 p.m., when the homeowner was inside his house and heard a loud noise coming from his sunroom. He was confronted by an unknown subject who struck him in the shoulder with a crowbar before fleeing the scene with an unknown amount of currency, police said. The report, citing the Nassau County Police Department, does not specify which of the two defendants allegedly swung the crowbar or detail each man's role in the break-in.
Separate Arrests, Months Apart
The case took months to resolve. Lewis was located in Brooklyn on October 28 with the assistance of the NYPD 73rd precinct and taken into custody without incident, the outlet reported. He was arraigned the following day, October 29, at First District Court. Roseway was not apprehended until Wednesday, when the NYPD warrant squad helped track him down in Brooklyn; he was taken into custody without further incident, and his arraignment was scheduled for Thursday at First District Court in Hempstead, though the outcome of that proceeding has not been reported.
Both men are being charged with Burglary 1st and Robbery 1st, according to the same account. The report does not address the current condition of the homeowner or the severity of his injury, nor does it place a value on the currency taken.
A Broader Push Against Home Burglaries
The Old Brookville case comes as Nassau County grapples with a shifting burglary landscape. ABC7 reported that county police counted 25 residential burglaries so far during the period it described, down from 34 over the same stretch a year earlier — but officials said the share of break-ins happening while residents are home has gone up. In response, Nassau County Police announced a multi-jurisdictional burglary and stolen-car task force bringing together Nassau and Suffolk county police and prosecutors, the NYPD, New York State Police, and the FBI, with the agencies agreeing to share technology and intelligence while providing enforcement personnel on the ground, per the station's report.
Crowbar-wielding burglary crews have cropped up elsewhere in Nassau County in recent years. Long Island Press reported that four members of a burglary crew operating in New York and New Jersey were sentenced to prison for a string of attempted and successful break-ins across several Nassau communities in 2023 and early 2024, during which they tried to gain entry to more than a dozen homes using a crowbar to pry open doors and windows. Furquan Ahmad and Jawaun Whitted each received 10-year sentences, as did Fazon Farrington, while Raquil Hayes was sentenced to three and a half years after pleading guilty to two counts of attempted burglary, the outlet noted.
It remains unclear whether Lewis and Roseway's case is connected to that earlier crew or to the broader task force effort announced by county police. For now, the Old Brookville case stands as the latest example of the pattern officials have flagged — a burglary that turned violent when the homeowner was present, leaving him struck by a crowbar in his own sunroom before the intruder got away.
