Second Safest City Blog

Bronx resident Alexis Santiago, 37, was sentenced to prison time after being found guilty on charges of 2nd degree grand larceny, 1st degree identity theft, 2nd degree forgery, 2nd degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, 1st degree attempted assault, and attempted aggravated assault on a police officer.

The charges stem from an incident that started in New City, when Santiago attempted to purchase a $52,000 vehicle from a local dealership using another man’s identity. The NY DMV recognized a discrepancy when the car was registered, and notified the dealer. The dealer in turn notified the Clarkstown Police, who attempted to arrest him when he returned to pick up the car. The arrest didn’t go smoothly, and Santiago attempted to drive into one Clarkstown officer, who had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit. Clarkstown Police failed to apprehend Santiago, who made it as far as Fort Lee, NJ before being arrested by New Jersey State Police. While being apprehended in New Jersey, he attempted to run over those officers as well.

Clarkstown Police arrested 24-year-old Jessica Toodle of Vallejo, California on charges that she possessed a forged North Carolina driver’s license and nine forged credit cards. She was arrested when police responded to the Best Buy at the Palisades Center mall after she allegedly attempted to purchase merchandise with the forged documents. Store employees claimed Toodle tried to purchase three cell phones valued at $1,650 with the forged documents. Police also discovered she had eight other forged credit cards and receipts totaling over $20,000 for merchandise.

Toodle was charged with 21 counts of possession of a forged instrument in the second degree, nine counts of criminal possession of stolen credit cards and four counts of grand larceny in the fourth degree.

According to the Rockland Urinal News, crime takes no holiday vacation, not even in the Second Safest City.

Clarkstown Police are on the lookout for criminals this holiday season. According to Clarkstown Police Detective Fred Parent, who works with the mall stores on security and crime issues, “There are organized [criminal] groups coming to the mall.”

Even Mayor Darden from Spring Valley got in on the action and tried to help fight crime at the mall … passing traffic with police lights to keep people safe during the holidays.