LI Trio Face Burglary Charges After Breaking Into Home While Owner Vacationed, Police Say

VALLEY STREAM, NY — Three Long Island men are facing burglary charges this week after an investigation connected them to the burglary of a Valley Stream home while the homeowner was out on vacation, police said.

Nassau County police said 58-year-old Port Jefferson resident Vincent Repka, 53-year-old West Babylon resident Nikitas Margiellos and 63-year-old Port Jefferson resident Leonard Repka were arrested after an investigation into the burglary of the Valley Stream home.

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According to police, the 42-year-old man who owns the home left the house on April 10 for a family vacation and found that the home’s surveillance cameras weren’t working properly when he checked them on April 12. The homeowner asked a family member to go check the cameras, police said. Upon arriving at the home, this relative found that the side door to the house had been broken — with its framing ripped off — and the cameras had been moved and covered with tape, police said.

After arriving to investigate the home, police said they found a signal jammer and that the home’s internet wires had been cut. The investigation at the home revealed that the bedroom of the house had been ransacked and the floor had been damaged at the spot where a safe had previously been bolted down, police said. According to police, that safe had $460,000 cash and $500,000 worth of jewelry in it.

In the aftermath of their arrests, Margiellos, Repka and Repka are facing a second-degree burglary charge and will be arraigned Wednesday, police said.