Alix Dure woke up in jail this morning.
Dure, 19, pleaded Guilty Monday to reduced charges involving a car he was accused of stealing. Nassau cops said the car was left, unlocked, with keys inside, parked in front of a Chinese restaurant on Old Country Road in Mineola by the owner the evening of December 27, 2022. The car belonged to a man who went into the restaurant to pick up someone's dinner.
Dure and his friends were walking down Old Country Road, say cops, when one saw the 2019 Toyota Camry outside Panda House restaurant. The group jumped into the Camry and took off, according to police.
The car was recovered a few hours later on Hoffman Avenue in Elmont, about 15 miles away, parked, with the teenagers inside. Dure and his friends ran -- but not fast enough. Police apprehended all four teens.
Court documents do not indicate who drove the car or identify Dure's underage accomplices.
But Dure was old enough to be charged with Grand Larceny for stealing a car -- a Felony crime. Due to their ages, the other teens were charged as juveniles.
A Grand Larceny car theft charge requires proof the accused intended to steal the car -- take it permnanently from the owner and keep it. On the other hand, a joy ride in someone else's car -- driving it without the owner's consent -- while illegal, is a much less serious Misdemeanor.
Big difference.
Dure pleaded Guilty to a Misdemeanor charge in return for a more lenient sentence. He was represented by a public defender, Garden City lawyer Leonard B. Isaacs.
Dure's plea deal also covers a Felony drug possession charge. 3rd Precinct Police said they recovered 4000 Milligrams of Ketamine, somewhere, during these arrests. But it remains unclear who, if anyone, had possession of the illegal narcotics or if they were simply found in the delivery man's Toyota. The law assumes "constructive possession" in such cases, charging everyone with access to the drugs.
Dure was sentenced by Judge Anthony Paradiso immediately after his Guilty plea: 364 days in the Nassau County Jail, Carman Avenue, in East Meadow. The plea "covered" other charges.
This was not Dure's first brush with the law. He had just finished a visit to his Probation officer at 400 County Seat Drive in Mineola before driving off with the delivery man's car, say police. That will likely be a bigger problem in the days ahead.
