Armed robbers hijacked a Long Island delivery truck carrying more than $1.2 million worth of Apple electronic products before zip-tying a pair of workers and leaving them in the closed cargo space, officials said.
The harrowing ordeal happened at Nassau County’s Americana Manhasset mall where a truck carrying popular MacBooks, iPhones, iPads and Apple Watches was robbed at gunpoint before the merchandise was ever unloaded, according to a federal indictment unsealed Thursday.
The holdup, which took place in January, occurred outside the mall’s Apple Store, where a pair of delivery workers rolled up with a truck around 8 a.m.
“As alleged, these defendants committed a violent and brazen daytime robbery that terrorized the victims and endangered the public at one of the most popular shopping centers on Long Island,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella said in a statement.
Nocella announced that a Bronx man and two Manhattan men had been indicted on charges related to the robbery, including robbery conspiracy and interstate transportation of stolen property.
Authorities said the three men, armed with handguns, approached the vehicle, and forced one of the workers into the back of the truck, securing his hands with zip ties.
They forced the other worker behind the steering wheel, and ordered him to drive to a secluded parking area behind an office building on Northern Blvd. in Manhasset, There, he was also zip-tied and forced into the back of the truck with his partner.
Moments later, a Home Depot truck rented with a fake Pennsylvania driver’s license pulled into the lot, and the gunmen moved all of the Apple merchandise into it, officials said.
When they were done, they closed the truck with the zip-tied delivery workers inside and took off.
box truck. As captured by surveillance cameras, the Home Depot truck (orange square) backed up to the rear of the delivery truck, so the cargo sections were aligned. The Apple merchandise was then moved from the delivery truck to the Home Depot truck. (USDOJ)
One of the victims was able to free himself and call 911.
Meanwhile, the robbers took their haul to a storage facility in Paterson, N.J., where they moved the stolen goods to a U-Haul truck and another vehicle, according to the indictment.
the CRV parked alongside. The storage unit was used to facilitate transferring the stolen merchandise from the Home Depot truck to the U-Haul truck and the other vehicle, seen above on the far right of the picture. (USDOJ)
The Home Depot truck was abandoned in the Bronx, and found a couple of days later by law enforcement officials, who lifted from it fingerprints of one of the suspects, officials said.
Investigators also used surveillance video from the storage facility to help track down the robbers, officials said.
“These individuals came into Nassau County and committed a robbery with weapons that put people in fear,” Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said in a statement. “We didn’t stop pursuing them until they were brought to justice.”
Arrested were Alan Cedeno-Ferber, 27, of the Bronx, and Michael Mejia-Nunez, 29, and Ennait Sirett-Padilla, 24, both of Manhattan.
The defendants were scheduled to be arraigned on Thursday.