Crime

Cops nab suspects in Ridge mail carrier robbery

February 15, 2017 Helen Klein

Image via Google Maps

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The police have arrested a pair of perps suspected in the theft of a postal worker’s keys.

The 68^th Precinct anticrime team picked up 21-year-old Gasim Kromah, and his alleged getaway driver, 22-year-old Jelmainer Reyes-Fortunato, when Kromah allegedly used the keys – which open all the mailboxes along the postal worker’s route — to remove mail from a private mailbox.

The keys were taken from the postal worker at Ridge Boulevard and 93^rd Street on Monday, February 13, when Kromah allegedly simulated a firearm in his waistband. The duo was arrested on Tuesday afternoon, February 14.

Captain Joseph Hayward, the precinct’s commanding officer, said that Kromah, who fit the description of the perp, had been spotted by plainclothes officers “using the keys to enter a mailbox” in the lobby of a building near 93^rd Street and Marine Avenue. He was placed under arrest, as was Reyes-Fortunato, who was waiting outside. The postal worker’s keys were recovered from Kromah by the arresting officers.

Following the arrest, Hayward said, Kromah was “chosen out of a lineup and IDed as the possible perp.” He was charged with petit larceny, criminal possession of stolen property and robbery. Reyes-Fortunato was charged with petit larceny and criminal possession of stolen property with respect to the February 14 incident.

“The officers’ deployment and eagle eyes led to the successful recovery of the keys and the identification of the perpetrators in less than 24 hours,” noted Hayward.