Uniondale man surrenders on weapons, drug charges, police say

A Uniondale man turned himself in to Nassau police Sunday in connection with an incident last last week involving drugs and handguns, one of them stolen, authorities said.

Manuel Espinal, 18, of 560 Park Ave. faces charges of criminal possession of a controlled substance and two counts of criminal possession of a firearm. He was held on bail of $10,000 bond or $5,000 cash at arraignment Sunday at First District Court in Hempstead.

Espinal surrendered Sunday at the Nassau County Police Department, police said.

According to detectives, a 17-year-old girl went to Espinal’s home Wednesday to retrieve a cellphone and clothing she had left there. Espinal threw her clothing outside, but refused to give her the cellphone, police said.

Espinal then put a handgun into a duffel bag and ran upstairs, police said, adding that the girl then called police from a neighbor’s home and the man fled on foot.

When police got to Espinal’s house, they saw a black duffel bag containing a loaded .45-caliber Remington model 1911R handgun reported stolen from Hampton, Virginia, on June 26, and a loaded 9-mm Hi-Point model C-9 handgun, police said.

Also recovered were five clear plastic bags containing what police described as a “brownish green leafy substance” believed to be marijuana, a bottle containing a purple liquid believed to be codeine and 85 pills with the number “5” and the letter “r” believed to be oxycodone.