Video, 911 call played at robbery trial

Dramatic video of the holdup of a Wyandanch post office and the recording of a postal clerk's distraught 911 call were played Monday in the trial of the Queens cousins accused of the crime.

The video and 911 recording were presented in federal court in Central Islip at the trial of Sharod Williams, 39, and Travis Walker, 25.

They are accused of masterminding a crew that not only did the Wyandanch robbery, but also that of a Far Rockaway jewelry store and six banks on Long Island and in Queens. They are charged with conspiracy, robberies and using firearms in robberies. If convicted of all charges and sentenced to the maximums, they could spend the rest of their lives in prison.

Williams' attorney, Randi Chavis, denies her client was involved in any of the robberies, as does Walker's attorney, Glenn Obedin.

On the tape, two men are seen overpowering postal clerk Edwin Silbey as he opens the back security door of the post office at 5 a.m. in October 2009, according to federal prosecutors Lara Treinis Gatz and Thomas Sullivan.

A few minutes later, one of the gunmen seizes postal clerk Theresa Hart as she arrives at the post office, prosecutors said.

The two gunmen, acting under orders from Williams and Walker, force Silbey to open a safe that contains $7,700 and then flee after taking the clerks' cellphones and keys, the prosecutors said.

On the witness stand Monday, Hart retained her composure in recounting the incident until she began to sob when she talked about giving up her cellphone.

"My son was in Iraq," she said sobbing. "It was the only phone I had to keep in touch with him."

In a phone call she made to the Suffolk County police 911 from a grocery store adjoining the post office after the robbers had fled, an obviously distraught and crying Hart says: "They were waiting for me by the door . . . They were hiding and they had all the lights off . . . I'm just scared . . . to be here right now."

The 911 operator reassures Hart that she doesn't have to go back to the post office, that some of the responding police will pick her up at the grocery store.