Police: 3 arrested in theft of tires, rims from new vehicles at Belmont Park

Nassau County police have arrested three men accused of stealing tires and rims from several cars in a parking lot on the grounds of Belmont Park in Elmont during a five-month period.

Peace officers from the New York Racing Association, which oversees Belmont, saw the three men in a private parking lot at 2150 Hempstead Tpke., on Friday and contacted Nassau police, who arrested the men "without incident" about 3:45 p.m., police said.

Arrested and charged in the case were Mikal Torres, 19, of 1288 New York Ave., Elmont; Andrew Conrad, 18, of 200 Averill Blvd., Franklin Square; and Aaron Maradiaga, 18, of 16 Melrose St., Elmont.

Police allege that from July 10 to Dec. 19, the men "did intentionally cause damage to and removed the tires and rims of various new automobiles" parked at the lot, police said. The damaged vehicles included a Ford Explorer, a Honda Accord, an Infiniti, a Kia Sorrento, two Subaru Crosstreks, a Nissan Altima, a Subaru Forester and a Subaru BRZ.

Torres and Conrad are each charged with five counts of third-degree grand larceny and eight counts of third-degree criminal mischief, police said. Maradiaga is charged with one count of third-degree grand larceny and eight counts of third-degree criminal mischief, police said.

All three are scheduled to be arraigned Saturday in First District Court in Hempstead.

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.