Cops: Man tries to extort $20 for lost cellphone

A homeless man was arrested in Hicksville on Thursday for trying to extort $20 from a woman whose lost phone he had found, Nassau police said.

Police said when a 22-year-old woman called her missing cellphone to try to locate it, Lamont Holloway, 46, answered. Lamont told her he would return her phone in exchange for $20, and they decided to meet at the Hicksville train station Thursday about 3 p.m.

When they met, Holloway no longer had the phone, but demanded $20 from the woman. They began arguing and the police were called, a Nassau police spokesman said. The cellphone was not recovered.

Holloway was arrested and charged with attempted fourth-degree larceny for attempting to coerce money out of the woman, police said.

Holloway will be arraigned Friday at First District Court in Hempstead.