2 Suffolk Parking Lot Thieves Arrested After Medford Crash: PD

MEDFORD, NY — A man and a woman — accused of swiping pocketbooks from various supermarkets on the south shore of Suffolk — fled a traffic stop and were involved in a car crash in Medford, police said.

Suffolk police said Tariasha Smith was driving a 2015 Volkswagen Jetta inside the Lidl supermarket parking lot in Oakdale at about 10:15 a.m., when she noticed a woman left her pocketbook in a shopping cart, as she was putting her groceries in her car.

Smith’s front-seat passenger, Robert Hengeveld, grabbed the pocketbook from the car, and the pair then partnered in a similar grab at ShopRite in Patchogue, about 20 minutes later at 10:35 a.m., police said.

Police said that a short time later, 5th Precinct Patrol Officer Vincent Maxwell saw a car, which matched the description associated with the swipes at Lidl and ShopRite, driving northbound on Route 112 in Patchogue, and stopped it. Smith and Hengeveld gave Maxwell their identification, but sped away, fleeing northbound in the car on Route 112 at a high rate of speed, police said.

Maxwell did not start a pursuit, and followed the car from a safe distance, police said, adding, that Smith eventually lost control of the Jetta when she tried to make a turn on Peconic Avenue in Medford and it struck a tree at about 10:50 a.m. Smith and Hengeveld ran away “before being caught a very short time later” by Maxwell and Officer Dennis Stewart, police said.

Detectives later learned Smith and Hengeveld were responsible for larcenies at these locations:

• Giunta's Meat Farms of Bohemia, 4585 Sunrise Hwy, Bohemia, on July 25, at about 2:20 p.m.
• ShopRite of Lake Ronkonkoma, 601 Portion Rd., Lake Ronkonkoma, on July 26, between 11 a.m. and 5:35 p.m.
• ALDI supermarket, located at 367 Sunrise Hwy, Patchogue, on July 27, at about 6 p.m.
• Stop & Shop, located at 5701 Sunrise Hwy, Holbrook, on July 27, at about 6 p.m.
• Lidl supermarket, located at 450 Sunrise Hwy, Oakdale, on July 28, at about 10:15 a.m.
• ShopRite of Patchogue, located at 95 Sunrise Hwy, Patchogue, on July 28, at about 10:35 a.m.

Detectives said they would like to remind drivers to always be aware of their surroundings and to “keep an eye” on their valuables “at all times.”

Fifth Squad detectives charged Hengeveld, 50, who is homeless, and Smith 25 of West Babylon, with eight counts of fourth-degree grand larceny, three counts of fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property, and third-degree fleeing an officer in a motor vehicle, police said.

Hengeveld and Smith will be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip at a later date.