Bethpage Man Convicted After One-Man Crime Spree

A Nassau County jury convicted a Bethpage man on charges related to a violent October 2009 crime spree, including robbing a teenage girl and severely beating an elderly man.

Leonidas Cotsifas faces up to 50-years to life in prison due to his status as a persistent violent felony offender. Cotsifas reportedly went on a one-man crime spree in October 2009 that included robbing a teenage girl, attempting to steal a woman's car at a gas station while her son was still in it, and beating a 71-year-old man so severely that he required a three-month hospital stay.

It took a jury eight hours to convict Cotsifas, 51, of Bethpage, of first degree assault, two counts of first degree, three counts of second degree burglary, unlawful imprisonment, third degree grand larceny, criminal possession of a weapon, possession of stolen property, endangering the welfare of a child, criminal possession of a weapon, petit larceny, attempted grand larceny, and possession of burglar's tools.

According to the Nassau District Attorney's office, at about 10:30 a.m. on October 1, 2009, Cotsifas entered the first-floor apartment of a two-family home on Centre Avenue in Bellmore. Cotsifas then moved up the stairs to the second-floor apartment where he confronted an 18-year-old girl who lived there with her family. Cotsifas threatened the girl with a crowbar, stole her laptop computer, and left the house.

Shortly thereafter and still on-foot, Cotsifas attempted to steal a Chevy Trailblazer at the Valero gas station on the corner of Sunrise Highway and Centre Avenue. The owner of the vehicle was pumping gas when Cotsifas got into the driver's seat and attempted to drive away with the vehicle owner's 12-year-old son still sitting in the passenger seat. When the vehicle owner banged on the driver's side window, Cotsifas exited the vehicle south on Centre Street and then west on Nassau Street, where he broke into the basement of another home.

Cotsifas used a brick paving stone to brutally beat the 71-year-old man who was living in the basement apartment he broke into, then bound the victim's legs with electrical wire, put on articles of the victim's clothing, and shaved his head to alter his own appearance before leaving the apartment with the victim's cash and gold jewelry valued at more than $20,000.

The victim suffered a traumatic brain injury and a broken jaw and nose and has had to undergo extensive therapy to re-learn how to walk and speak. He now requires 24-hour nurse care. Cotsifas was arrested by police called to the area by the first two victims.