Long Island Crime Briefs

MINEOLA / Convicted sex offender gets 5 years probation

A Mineola cardiologist who pleaded guilty late last year in an Internet sex sting has been sentenced in State Supreme Court in Queens to 5 years' probation and mandatory sex offender treatment.

Dr. Jose Poulose, who practices in Williston Park, was accused of using an explicit video and a promise of Godiva chocolates to lure an undercover detective posing as a 14-year-old girl to a sexual encounter in 2007.

Poulose, 44, who used the screen name "pleasuremanforu" in his chats, pleaded guilty in November to the crime of first-degree attempted dissemination of indecent material to a minor, a felony.

Under the terms of a plea bargain, Supreme Court Justice Fernando Camacho on Tuesday ordered Poulose to pay a $5,000 fine, imposed limits on his Internet use and ordered him to forfeit computers used in the crime.

Poulose still has his medical license. A spokesman for Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said he faces "possible loss" of the license but was not required to surrender it as part of the sentence.

Although Poulose anticipates disciplinary proceedings before the state Office of Professional Medical Conduct, he hopes to be allowed to continue his practice, his lawyer said.

"This conduct . . . has nothing to do with his medical practice," said the lawyer, Richard Furman.

The state board had no comment.

WEST BABYLON / Man arrested in string of bank, pharmacy heists

Suffolk detectives said yesterday they have arrested a West Babylon man in a string of bank and pharmacy robberies in southwest Suffolk but still are looking for a suspected getaway driver.

In the thefts, cash and prescription drugs including OxyContin and Vicodin were stolen at gunpoint by another man, located but not yet charged by Suffolk police, during pharmacy stickups in West Babylon and West Islip, police said.

Police said they arrested Gerald Ott, 25, on Jan. 13, who is accused of being the getaway driver in three of the robberies.

Ott, of 1461 12th St., is charged with two counts of first-degree robbery in connection with the stickup of Aldo Pharmacy in West Islip in November and Belmont Pharmacy in August. He's also charged with third-degree robbery in connection with the Jan. 7 holdup of the Chase Bank branch in West Babylon.

Police tracked down the unidentified suspected gunman - found unconscious in a Pennsylvania motel room - on Jan. 17.

The man was unconscious because he had overdosed on drugs, said Det. Lt. Robert Edwards of the First Squad detectives. He remains in extremely critical condition, authorities said.

Police believe this man found in Pennsylvania also robbed Path Pharmacy in West Babylon in August and Belmont Pharmacy in West Babylon earlier this month. Cops still are looking for the getaway driver in those robberies, Edwards said.

- MATTHEW CHAYES

DEER PARK / Cops arrest pair, seize 800 pounds of marijuana

Police Wednesday seized 800 pounds of marijuana worth $6 million and arrested two people involved in shipping it to Deer Park, authorities said.

Johana Velez, 30, of Half Mile Road in Central Islip, and Rolando Morris, 39, of upstate Newburgh, were charged with first-degree criminal possession of marijuana. Morris also was charged with weapon possession for a handgun in his possession, police said.

The arrests were made by State Police when the shipment, allegedly arranged by Morris, was delivered to a warehouse in Deer Park, authorities said.

Their arraignments were pending yesterday.