Police: Homeless man charged with burglary after attacks on 2 elderly women in their Mastic Beach homes
Composite Suffolk County police sketch of a man sought in assaults on two elderly women in their Mastic Beach homes. An arrest has been made in the case. Credit: SCPD
Suffolk County police say they have arrested and charged a homeless man who allegedly assaulted two elderly women in their Mastic Beach homes earlier this month.
Derrick Clancy, 42, was taken into custody Saturday afternoon on Carleton Avenue in Central Islip and charged with two felony counts of burglary, according to Suffolk police.
Police said Clancy climbed through an unlocked window and broke into the home of a 78-year-old woman at around 4 a.m. on Oct. 10. A week later, on Oct. 17, he broke a window and entered the home of another woman, 75, about 12:40 a.m., police said.
Police said Clancy assaulted the two women, who were alone at home at the time. The two women were transported to area hospitals for treatment of injuries that were not life-threatening.
Clancy was held overnight at the Sixth Precinct and arraigned Sunday at First District Court in Central Islip where he was remanded to custody without bail, according to online court records. He is scheduled to return to court Monday.
No defense attorney was listed in the records.
Police had urged residents in the area to take extra precautions, including keeping windows locked. One of the victims was able to sit with a police department artist and come up with a composite sketch of her assailant, police said last week.
The perpetrator did not steal anything from the homes, John Rowan, chief of detectives for the department, said at a news conference Thursday. The two houses are within a few blocks of each other, he said.
Rowan declined to say whether the attacks were sexual assaults.
Dandan Zou covers education for Newsday. Previously, she worked for a community newspaper in Maryland and a personal finance magazine in Washington, D.C.
