SUSPECT CAUGHT IN

Police from the 69 Precinct last weekend apprehended a suspect after he allegedly robbed and tried to invade the home of an East 82 Street resident.

Plainclothes police, including those assigned to the local precinct’s auto theft unit and the Anti-Crime Unit, along with uniformed officers, responded to an emergency call that two men with guns had attempted to force the resident into his house in order to rob it.

When they arrived, Sergeant Patrick Hickey and Police Officers Moritza Bermudez and Anthony Depperman were met by the 38-year-old victim who told them that when he walked to his house near Avenue J from Rockaway Parkway at about 1:30 a.m. on Sunday, September 8, he thought he was being followed by two men. He knew he was right when, as he arrived home, one of the men, Darin Webster, 20, address unknown, approached him, displayed a .45 automatic handgun and told the victim to give him the keys to the house.

When the victim told him he didn’t have his keys, Webster took him around to the side of the house and hit him on the side of his head with the butt of the gun, causing a bruise to the victim’s temple. Webster’s accomplice, meanwhile, also produced a firearm and took an undetermined amount of cash and a wallet from the victim.

The victim’s wife, meanwhile, was in the house and called 911, informing the dispatcher what was happening and, as police arrived within minutes, the thieves fled on foot. Sergeant Hickey transmitted a description and direction of flight on his walkie-talkie radio and anti-crime officers Sergeant Kevin Barney, along with Officers Thomas Vanschuyler and Jarrod Lasky, on Anti-Crime duty in the vicinity, canvassed the area and picked up Webster. His accomplice was not apprehended.

Captain Robert Johnsen, commanding officer of the precinct, said a loaded .45 handgun was recovered under a car near where the robbery took place. Johnsen said Webster has a record of arrests dating back to 2000. He was taken to the Foster Avenue stationhouse and charged with attempting to invade the home, and robbery.