An off-duty NYPD detective helped nab three teens who’ve been on a pistol-packing rampage, after he spotted them burglarizing a Long Island home, police said yesterday.
Milton Nelson Jr. and Krystal Andreacchio, both 18 and from Deer Park, and Brandon Mata, 16, of Islip Terrace, quickly gave up their attempt to break in to an Islip Terrace home at around 4 a.m. Wednesday when they realized someone was watching, cops said.
They allegedly tried to flee, but they weren’t fast enough for New York’s Finest.
The unidentified detective provided Suffolk County cops with a description of the suspects and the getaway car’s license plate.
Cops quickly arrested them, and quickly linked the group to four other burglaries – at homes of people they knew in the Islip Terrace area – as well as to four gunpoint robberies of food deliverymen, authorities said.
Cops said the teens had called three Islip Terrace Chinese restaurants and one Deer Park Domino’s Pizza using a cellphone that was stolen during their crime spree.
Then they’d allegedly order food and wait for the unsuspecting delivery workers to arrive – so they could hold them up.
Police are investigating whether the delivery scam was part of a gang-initiation ritual, a law-enforcement source said.
No one was hurt in any of the holdups.
At their arraignment in Central Islip First District Court yesterday, each was charged with robbery, burglary and attempted burglary.
Mata was held in lieu of $10,000 bail, while Nelson and Andreacchio were held without bail until they get a court-appointed lawyer.
Andreacchio’s mom, who was at the arraignment, would say only, “I’m proud of my daughter.”
None of the teens had police records, cops said.