Baseball Hat Leads LI Police To Burglary Arrest

Garden City police arrested an Elmont man on Tuesday for an attempted burglary that occurred in the Garden City in October.

According to police, the owner of a home on Meadow Street in Garden City received a notification on his phone on Oct. 27, just after 1:30 p.m., about a possible break in. He was able to view live video from his home's surveillance system and police say he saw an unknown car in his driveway and someone trying to break into a first-floor window in the back of the home. The homeowner called police.

Garden City police arrived at the scene. Police say the burglar saw them coming and fled the backyard and escaped the police, but left his baseball hat behind. Police say it was determined that the car in the driveway, a 2017 Honda Accord, was stolen from Baldwin on June 24, 2018.

An investigation involving forensic evidence from the baseball hat identified Kenta Shelton, 41, of Hempstead Turnpike, Elmont. On Feb. 5, Shelton was found on Fulton Street in Hempstead and was placed under arrest by Garden City police, along with help from the New York State Police, Nassau County Police and the US Marshall's Fugitive Task Force.

Shelton was charged with second-degree attempted burglary and third-degree criminal possession of stolen property. He is scheduled to be arraigned in First District Court in Hempstead on Wednesday.

Photo courtesy Nassau County Police Department