Cops: Hospital worker stole from patient

A housekeeper at Franklin Hospital Medical Center in Valley Stream stole money and jewelry from a sleeping patient, Nassau County police said Monday.

Jonathan Aponte-Gonzalez, 27, of Queens Village, was arrested at 1 a.m. Monday at the hospital on grand larceny, forgery and identity theft charges after police said he took a purse from a woman patient on Feb. 7.

The patient, 54, was sleeping when Aponte-Gonzalez removed the purse from her bed, police said.

Later, he got a cash advance of $60 from one of the woman's credit cards and then sold some of her jewelry at a pawnshop, police said.

Aponte-Gonzalez is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday at First District Court in Hempstead.

Franklin Hospital is a member of North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, which runs a background check on all workers prior to employment, health system spokeswoman Kristen Longo said.

Aponte-Gonzalez, an employee with the health system since 2007, "has been suspended pending the completion of the investigation into the events of Feb. 7, 2012," North Shore-LIJ said in a statement. "The hospital and the North Shore-LIJ Health System are cooperating with the Nassau County Police Department investigation, and will be performing an internal investigation."