Cops: Florida man broke into Lynbrook home, stole car in Hewlett

A Florida man is accused of breaking into a car and using the garage door opener to gain access to a Lynbrook home, and stealing a car from another house, police said.

Nassau County police said Jordan Whitfield, 24, of Lakeland, Florida, was arrested Wednesday following an investigation. He was charged with second-degree burglary, third-degree grand larceny and fourth-degree criminal mischief.

Police said Whitfield ransacked a car parked in the driveway of a home on South Williams Street in Lynbrook shortly before 2 a.m. on Monday, removing a garage door opener and using it to gain access to the garage and then the home.

He was confronted in a hallway by the homeowner, who police said awakened when he heard the garage door open.

The homeowner chased Whitfield from the home before anything was stolen, police said.

A subsequent investigation by Fifth Precinct detectives revealed that Whitfield allegedly also stole a car Monday from a home on Kent Drive in Hewlett, police said.

Whitfield was arraigned Friday at First District Court in Hempstead. Bail was set at $110,000 bond or $55,000 cash, which Whitfield did not post, according to court records.

With Laura Blasey

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”