Cops: Roosevelt man caught stealing at Bloomingdale's was sought in 2013 income tax refund theft scheme

A man arrested Monday and charged in connection with a petty theft at Bloomingdale's in East Garden City was connected to a 2013 income tax refund theft scheme after an investigation, police said.

Jerald Gadsden, 23, of 355 Washington Ave., Roosevelt, was charged with third-degree grand larceny and second-degree possession of a forged instrument, police said. He also was charged with petit larceny.

Nassau County police said they had been searching for Gadsden in connection with the theft of more than $23,000 in income tax refund checks from Liberty Tax of Hempstead in 2013, but had been unable to locate him -- until the thefts at Bloomingdale's.

An accomplice was arrested in September 2013 in connection with the Liberty Tax theft scheme, police said. The accomplice also was charged with third-degree grand larceny and second-degree possession of a forged instrument, police said. The accomplice is not being identified because the status of that case could not be determined.

Gadsden was arraigned Tuesday in First District Court in Hempstead and held pending a bail of $2,000 bond or $1,000 cash. He was represented by Legal Aid, which does not comment on cases.

Police said Gadsden and the accomplice were employed by Liberty Tax, located on Main Street in Hempstead, and removed refund checks from client folders -- depositing the checks into their own personal accounts at the Nassau Educator Federal Credit Union.

The two deposited a total of 12 checks worth in excess of $23,000, police said. They then withdrew those funds via ATMs and point-of-sale transactions, according to police.

Police said the checks belonged to Liberty, which had paid clients a refund amount -- then had clients sign over their checks. As a result, the loss was not to individual clients, police said, but to Liberty Tax.

With Ellen Yan

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”