Cops: 4th man charged in mailbox explosions

A fourth man has been arrested and charged with blowing up mailboxes in Elmont on Monday, police said.

Jorge Martinez, 21, of Deer Park, was arrested in Westbury on Tuesday at 8:40 p.m., Nassau County police said. He was charged with three counts of first-degree criminal mischief.

The charges are felonies.

Martinez, of 112 W. 24th St., is scheduled for arraignment Wednesday in First District Court in Hempstead.

Three other men were arraigned Tuesday on felony charges that they used fireworks to blow up mailboxes -- those arrests made after the sport utility vehicle they were in overturned during a police chase, prosecutors said.

Daniel Aviles and Jacob Guerrero III, both 21, and John Pinzon, 20, were jailed Tuesday after being arraigned in First District Court.

Pinzon, of 724 Maple Place, West Hempstead, was later released on bail. The status of Aviles, of 190 Grant Ave. in Farmingdale, and Guerrero, of 731 Arthur St. in West Hempstead, wasn't immediately available. Each also was charged with three counts of first-degree criminal mischief.

In a statement to police recounted in court records, Guerrero said the friends bought a 12-pack of Heineken from a 7-Eleven and then went to a West Hempstead pool hall.

The statement said the trio later left the pool hall and were driving around when they decided to use the fireworks.

"John Pinzon and I got out with a firework that I had. John held the firework while I lit it. John then dropped it in a postal mailbox and we ran to the car and sped away," according to Guerrero's statement.

The first incident was reported at 2 a.m. Monday by a Hunnewell Avenue homeowner, who said his mailbox and mail inside it had been destroyed by fireworks, police said. Police said that at 5:15 a.m. a U.S. Postal Service mailbox at Madison and Cross streets also was damaged by fireworks. An explosive also had been placed in a mailbox on Clement Avenue in Elmont, police said.

The men were arrested after their SUV overturned as they were fleeing from Fifth Precinct officers, who had spotted them tailgating a car, screaming out the windows and swerving back and forth on Hawthorne Avenue in West Hempstead, police said.

After being released on bail Pinzon said he had nothing to do with the mailbox incidents.

Police said Aviles also is charged with first-degree and third-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, third-degree unlawful fleeing of a police officer, reckless driving, driving while intoxicated and multiple vehicle and traffic law violations.

Aviles' driver's license also was suspended.

Outside the courthouse on Tuesday, Aviles' brother, Dennis, 25, called him "a great kid. . . . We all make mistakes."

Judge Douglas Lerose set bail for Aviles at $16,000 bond, $8,000 cash, and for Guerrero and Pinzon each at $12,000 bond, $6,000 cash.