Police: 2 stole copper tubing worth $20G

Two Queens men face arraignment Saturday in First District Court in Hempstead after their arrest on charges they stole $20,000 worth of copper tubing from a Greenvale baseboard heating manufacturer, Nassau County police said.

Sixth Squad detectives said Lance Simpson, 36, of Rosedale, was a maintenance worker at Slant/Fin, at 100 Forest Dr., and with help from Bennie Miller, 35, of Jamaica, who was not an employee, took the copper tubing.

The thefts occurred between Nov. 28, 2011 and Feb. 19, 2012, police said.

Simpson would enter a secured area of the building where the tubing was stored and take several boxes and hand them to Miller, police said.

Detectives arrested the men on Friday. Each is charged with three counts of burglary, grand larceny, fraud, money laundering and conspiracy, police said.

They await arraignment Saturday morning.