Police: 5 charged in Suffolk robberies

Five people, including two teenagers, were arrested Thursday and charged in connection with a series of robberies, including at a Bay Shore pharmacy and a Brentwood church.

Suffolk County police said the armed robbery Tuesday evening of the Health Mart Pharmacy on Candlewood Road, where three masked men tied up four female employees with zip-ties before stealing cash, jewelry and cellphones, fit a pattern consistent with six other robberies committed since late December.

Not all of the men arrested were involved every robbery, police said, though some of them were involved in each of the incidents.

Arrested were Edwin Acosta-Martinez, 23, of 15 Ludlum St., Huntington Station; Carlos Velasquez, 17, of 135 W. Bay Shore Rd., Bay Shore; Wilmer Velasquez-Cruz, 27, of 110 McKinley St., Brentwood; Mario Chincilla Rodriguez, 23, of 170 E. 23rd St., Huntington Station; and Jonathan Portillo, 16, of 246 Lincoln Ave., Brentwood.

Police said Portillo was not involved in the Health Mart Pharmacy robbery, but said he was involved in previous robberies.Acosta-Martinez was charged with six counts of first-degree robbery, and Velasquez was charged with six counts of first-degree robbery, third-degree criminal possession of a weapon and three counts of fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

Acosta-Martinez was being held on $1.25 million cash or $2.5 million bond and Velazquez was being held without bail.Velasquez-Cruz was charged with five counts of first-degree robbery; Rodriguez and Portillo were each charged with three counts of first-degree robbery.

Velasquez-Cruz was being held on $1 million cash or $3 million bond. Rodriguez was held on $750,000 cash or $1.5 million bond and Portillo was being held on $300,000 cash or $900,000 bond.

The defendants are scheduled to appear in court March 5.Police said the businesses robbed included: A&D Jewelry on New York Avenue in Huntington Station on Dec. 27; Lempa Deli on Calebs Path, Central Islip, on Dec. 30; Off the Track Quick Mart on Deer Park Avenue, Babylon, on Jan. 6; Iglesia Universal Church on Suffolk Avenue, Brentwood, on Jan. 11; Chapi Deli on West Hills Road in Huntington Station on Jan. 26; and Mi Tierrita Restaurant on Suffolk Avenue in Brentwood on Feb. 13.

No drugs were taken in the pharmacy robbery. An investigation by First, Second and Third Squad detectives and the Criminal Intelligence Section led police to a gray 2000 Ford Mustang and the arrest of four of the men. Police said a search of the car recovered weapons and proceeds from the Health Mart robbery.