By Nathan Duke
Police said they arrested a 29−year−old Bronx woman Friday shortly after a Douglaston man allegedly witnessed her and two other burglars leaving his home on Douglas Road and chased after them.
Marie Nikgjonan, of the Bronx, was arraigned Saturday before Queens Criminal Court Judge Marc Whiten and held on $15,000 bail, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said. The defendant, who will return to court Feb. 18, was charged with burglary and criminal mischief, the DA said. If convicted, she could face up to 15 years in prison, he said.
A spokesman from Bayside’s 111th Precinct said they were searching for two other suspects, both of whom are believed to be men, in the incident. He said nothing was actually stolen from the house.
The three suspected burglars entered the Douglaston home through a rear window, the DA said. The home’s owner spotted them leaving the house through the back door and chased after them through a marsh area behind the home, the 111th Precinct spokesman said.
Upon returning home, the house’s owner had noticed that two of the screens on his kitchen windows as well as a dog door flap had been torn off, the DA said.
Nikgjonan was arrested around 6:45 p.m. Friday after she was stopped at Little Neck Parkway and 38th Avenue in Douglaston because she matched the description for a burglary suspect.
The 111th spokesman said there has not been a burglary problem in the neighborhood. There were eight incidents reported between Jan. 26 and Feb. 1 in the community, as opposed to six incidents reported during that same period of time last year, according to precinct statistics.
The total number of break−ins this year is 24. Police had reported 21 incidents at this time last year.
Reach reporter Nathan Duke by e−mail at nduke@timesledger.com or by phone at 718−229−0300, Ext. 156.
