Police: DNA links man to burglaries

A Valley Stream man was arrested Thursday on burglary charges after police identified him through DNA evidence left at one of the crime scenes, Nassau County's Third Squad detectives said.

Sakei Hicks, 32, of 46 E. Jamaica Ave., burglarized the Mystic Cellular Phone store at 81 Main St. in Hempstead on April 25, 2011, and a home on Prospect Avenue in Westbury on Nov. 2, 2012, police said Friday.

Hicks left a hat at the Hempstead crime scene, from which police said they collected DNA evidence.

Hempstead police arrested him at about 4 p.m. Thursday at Washington Street and Van Cott Avenue in Hempstead, police said.

Hicks took cellphones, assorted jewelry and electronic games from the store in Hempstead, police said, and a flat-screen television, a jewelry box and an unspecified amount of cash from the Westbury home.

Hicks faces charges of second-degree burglary and third-degree burglary and is scheduled to be arraigned Friday in First District Court in Hempstead.