Alan Christhofer Cedeno-Ferrer, Michael Mejia-Nunez, Ennait Alexis Sirett-Padilla charged with stealing $1.2M in Apple products from Americana Mall in Manhasset

A three-count indictment unsealed in federal court in Central Islip on Thursday accused three New York City residents of brazenly hijacking a delivery truck outside the Apple store at the Americana Manhasset mall and stealing $1.2 million worth of laptops, iPhones, iPads and other merchandise in January.

Alan Christhofer  Cedeno-Ferrer, 27, Michael Mejia-Nunez, 29, and Ennait Alexis Sirett-Padilla, 24, were arrested on Thursday morning in a joint operation involving the FBI, the NYPD and Nassau police, according to Joseph Nocella Jr., the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

The defendants pleaded not guilty to Hobbs Act robbery, Hobbs Act robbery conspiracy and interstate transportation of stolen property during an arraignment on Thursday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Anne Y. Shields in Central Islip. Shields ordered the three to be detained without bail.

“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,” Nocella said in a statement.

Attorney William Wexler, who represented Mejia-Nunez at the arraignment, and Masooma Javaid, of Federal Defenders of New York, who represented Cedeno-Ferrer and Sirett-Padilla, declined to discuss the case after Thursday’s hearing.

If convicted of the charges, the defendants face up to 30 years imprisonment. All three were born in the Dominican Republic and entered the United States illegally, prosecutor Paul Scotti told Shields, and they could be deported after they complete their sentences.

The heist took place at about 8 a.m. on Jan. 3 at Americana Manhasset , according to court papers, after two delivery workers arrived at the mall and waited for the Apple store to open so they could unload merchandise before making deliveries to Roosevelt Field mall in Uniondale and Walt Whitman mall in Huntington Station.

A black Honda Accord pulled up to the truck and three masked men, armed with handguns, exited the car and approached the workers. The masked men forced one worker, identified in court papers as Victim 1, into the back of the truck, where they zip-tied his hands, court papers said.

The other worker, Victim 2, was ordered at gunpoint to drive the truck about a half mile to a secluded parking area behind an office building on Northern Boulevard. The gunmen ordered him to the back of the delivery truck, and his hands were also zip-tied, prosecutors said in court papers.

Surveillance video showed a Home Depot box truck, rented by Cedeno-Ferrer using a fake Pennsylvania driver’s license, arrive at the scene and back up behind the delivery truck. The Apple merchandise was then moved to the Home Depot truck, prosecutors said. When they were finished, the defendants closed the door to the delivery truck with the victims inside. The temperature outside the truck was below freezing that morning, according to court papers.

One of the victims was able to free himself and call 911. Nassau police arrived within minutes and found the victims.

The stolen Apple products were taken to a self-storage facility in Paterson, New Jersey, that had been rented by Mejia-Nunez and Sirett-Padilla, court documents said. The Home Depot box truck was abandoned in the Bronx and found by law-enforcement officials on Jan. 5. Cedeno-Ferrer’s fingerprints were found on a copy of the rental agreement recovered inside the truck.