Trial opens for 2 accused in robbery spree

Two Queens men headed a robbery crew that terrorized victims at the Wyandanch post office, a Far Rockaway jewelry store, and six banks on Long Island and Queens, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

Sharod Williams, 39, and his first cousin, Travis Walker, 25, both of South Ozone Park, "stopped at nothing in the pursuit of the almighty dollar -- doing what they did best in the family business, the business of robbery," assistant U.S. attorney Lara Treinis Gatz said Thursday at the opening of their trial in federal court in Central Islip. They are charged with conspiracy, robberies and using firearms in robberies.

Defense attorneys, however, said their clients were not guilty and are the victims of false testimony given by the actual robbers and other criminals looking to get lighter sentences.

Treinis Gatz and fellow prosecutor Thomas Sullivan introduced dramatic videos from surveillance cameras of all the crimes, including the robberies of the Gold Fashion Jewelry Store in Far Rockaway in November 2009 and the Wyandanch post office that October.

In the Gold Fashion video, a person prosecutors say is Williams is shown grabbing Jooill Pahk, the elderly father of the store's owner, as he tries to flee, knocking him to the ground and putting a knee to his throat.

On the video, prosecutors say, you can hear Pahk screaming and moaning as the suspect rips a gold chain from his neck.

Evidence against Walker includes records from a cellphone tower that put him at the scene of the early morning Wyandanch robbery, the prosecutors said.

Williams and Walker were arrested after a joint investigation by agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, detectives of the Nassau police robbery squad and postal inspectors, prosecutors said.

Walker's attorney, Glenn Obedin, said that the evidence against his client is overwhelmingly from cooperating witnesses, who were caught committing felonies and are seeking lighter sentences with false testimony.

"They have one chance in life -- to make you believe them," Obedin said. "They have nothing to lose and everything to gain, if you believe them."

Obedin, whose client was not charged in the jewelry store robbery, discounted the cellphone tower records, saying it only showed his client's cellphone was near the post office, not that he was involved in the robbery.

Williams' attorney, Randi Chavis, denied that the person in the jewelry store robbery was her client. Chavis said the government's case was built on "mistakes . . . innocent mistakes . . . careless mistakes."