Crime & Safety

Burglar Nabbed In Plainview's Old T.B. Ward

Massapequa man accused of attempting to steal copper wire from former county property; second similar incident there in a year.

A Massapequa man was accused Wednesday of attempting to rip valuable copper wiring from the old Tuberculosis Hospital on the grounds of the former Nassau County complex in Plainview.

said they found James A. Vitale, 48 of 340 Massachusetts Ave., Massapqequa, inside the about 2:50 p.m. Tuesday as he attempted to remove copper wiring.

However, an alarm was triggered at the building at 1425 Old Country Road, sending police from the Eighth Precinct to the .

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Police located Vitale inside, where he was arrested without incident. Vitale is charged with third-degree burglary and possession of burglary tools. He was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday at First District Court in Hempstead.

This is the second time in the past year that was the target of burglars in that building: In March, an East Northport man broke into the old Nassau County Sanitarium and was nabbed with a trunk full of copper wire, police said. In that case, , 51, was discovered by police on routine patrol through the property. 

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The sprawling property, now owned by Islander's owner , was once owned by Nassau County. It was home to the county's long-since abandoned isolation hospital for T.B. patients. The ruins of the neo-Georgian building contain copper wiring, which, in its various forms, can be valuable and sold as scrap to dealers.


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