Cops: Great Neck man nabbed in burglary spree

A police officer responding to a storefront alarm in Merrick early Sunday caught a 31-year-old Great Neck man running from the scene.

Nassau County police said a subsequent investigation linked the man, David Mintz, of 4616 Iris Lane, to a string of burglaries in Great Neck, Uniondale, Port Washington and Merrick, most of them this month -- one dating to last October.

Mintz was charged with 11 counts of third-degree burglary and two counts of attempted burglary. He was held Monday afternoon pending a $15,000 cash or bond bail.

Police said Mintz was arrested at 4:45 a.m. Sunday after a Seventh Precinct officer, responding to the alarm at Sushi Ko restaurant on Merrick Road, saw him "running from the rear of the store."

Police said an investigation found that Mintz had used a brick to break the rear glass door to the restaurant, then had stolen an undisclosed amount of cash from the register. That cash was recovered.

Police said a subsequent investigation then linked Mintz as a suspect to a string of burglaries, including: Oct. 9, at a store on Front Street in Uniondale, where no proceeds were taken; Sept. 2, when he forced open a rear door at a business on North Station Plaza, Great Neck, stealing cash; Sept. 3, when he broke the front door glass at a business on South Middle Neck Road, Great Neck, stealing cash; Sept. 4-5 when he entered a storefront on Haven Avenue, Port Washington, taking cash, then entered a storefront on Main Street, Port Washington, taking cash, and a second storefront on Main Street, stealing a lock box from the office; Sept. 7-8, when he broke into a business on Merrick Avenue, Merrick, stealing cash, then attempted to break into another business on Merrick Avenue, smashing a window, but was unable to gain entry.

Police said Mintz also is suspected in break-ins at two other businesses on Sept. 7-8, one on Merrick Avenue and the other on Merrick Road. The first saw cash taken, police said, in the second the burglar left empty-handed.