Police: DNA links suspect to auto-stripping

A DNA match led to the arrest Monday of a Hempstead man in connection with a November auto-stripping theft at a nearby collision repair shop, police said.

Terence Rodgers, 46, of 3 Patterson Ave., was arrested by Hempstead Village police on Washington Avenue and charged with second-degree auto stripping and third-degree and fourth-degree criminal mischief. He is scheduled for arraignment Tuesday in First District Court in Hempstead.

Police said that DNA evidence obtained from the Nov. 20 crime scene at Thriftway Collision on Adams Avenue, Hempstead, was matched to Rodgers through the State DNA Index System on May 25.

Police said that Rodgers cut a chain-link fence to enter Thriftway, then broke into four vehicles there -- stealing car stereos from two of them.