WHITE PLAINS, NY — Kareem Johnakin, 47, of Bethlehem, PA and his co-defendant Patrick Williams, 53, of Brooklyn pleaded guilty to charges related to burglarizing several Yonkers and New Rochelle businesses in the spring and summer of 2017. Williams entered his plea March 7, 2019, and Johnakin entered his plea just as his jury trial was set to begin yesterday in Westchester County Criminal Court.
Specifically, Williams pleaded guilty to five counts of Burglary in the Third Degree, class D felonies, before Judge Barry Warhit for all five of the commercial burglaries listed in the indictment. He will be sentenced as a predicate felon May 10, 2019, to a maximum sentence of 3.5 to 7 years in state prison on each count.
Johnakin pleaded guilty to one count of Burglary in the Third Degree, a class D felony, April 1, 2019, before Judge David S. Zuckerman. He faces 2-1/3 to 7 years in state prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced July 10, 2019.
From May to August 2017, Williams and Johnakin broke into four food markets and a restaurant in the early hours of the morning of May 12, 2017 at the Yonkers Farm Market at 1101 Yonkers Avenue, Yonkers and stole $4,700; July 2, 2017 at the Rainbow Fish Market at 482 Main Street, in New Rochelle and stole $3,300; July 6, 2017 at the Green Dragon Restaurant at 150 North Avenue in New Rochelle and stole under $1,000; on July 6, 2017 at the Saw Mill Market at 317 Saw Mill River Road, in Yonkers and stole $13,300; August 3, 2017 at the Te Amo store at 321 Saw Mill River Road in Yonkers but defendants were scared off by an alarm.
In four out of the five incidents, the defendants entered food markets by forcibly pushing up metal roll-down gates and, in most cases, sliding underneath them. In the restaurant burglary, they smashed a glass door to get in.
The investigation was conducted with the assistance of Yonkers and New Rochelle Police Departments and the Westchester Intelligence Center.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Adrian Murphy of the Investigations Division and Matthew McCarty of the Superior Court Trial Division.