Crime Nearby: Prostitution Sting in Bethpage

Nassau County detectives have charged two women in connection with a prostitution sting in Bethpage. 

Narcotics/Vice detectives said the incident took place at the Bethpage Motel on Hempstead Turnpike on Friday about 10 p.m. An undercover investigation determined that Virginia Thebaud, 20, of 21 Hemingway Dr., Dix Hills acted as a lookout for police while Ann Marie Contesti, 42, of 120 Oakland Ave., Deer Park, offered an undercover officer to engage in a sex act for an undisclosed amount of money. 

Both women were taken into custody without incident. Virginia Thebaud is charged with promoting prostitution. Ann Marie Contesti is charged with prostitution. 

Both defendants were arraigned in First District Court in Hempstead on Saturday.

Freeport

A Freeport man was convicted Wednesday of multiple burglary charges after a two-month spree in which he stole cell phones, wallets, a laptop computer and the fire emergency vehicle of an East Meadow doctor, according to Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice.

Emania Shepard, 51, was found guilty of burglary in the second degree, four counts of burglary in the third degree, five counts of grand larceny in the fourth degree, and nine counts of petit larceny. He faces up to 15 years in prison at his April 17 sentencing.

Rice said that between December 2011 and January 2012, Shepard stole from one residential apartment and six businesses.

“This defendant took every available opportunity, from an unlocked door to an unwatched coat closet, to steal from his victims,” Rice said. “His willingness to blatantly steal from anyone and everyone made a criminal conviction inevitable, and his utter disregard for the laws that protect our communities has landed him in a prison cell for a very long time.”

Westbury

A jury has convicted a Hempstead man for robbing two women of their pocketbooks at gunpoint in the parking lot of a Westbury Costco, according to Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice. It took a jury about four hours to convict Randy Summerville, 32, of two counts each of Robbery in the First, Second, and Third Degrees, and one count of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Third Degree. He faces up to 25 years in prison at his April 8 sentencing.

Garden City

On Feb. 20, a joint investigation by Chase Bank staff on Seventh Street and the Garden City police resulted in the arrest of a 21-year-old female from Far Rockaway for grand larceny, attempted grand larceny and four counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument. The subject attempted to cash two forged checks in the amount of $4,600 when the alert bank staff determined that they were false, according to police.

West Hempstead

Two Flushing women were arrested for prostitution Wednesday at a West Hempstead day spa that has now had a total of eight women arrested over the course of the last two months.