Hempstead crook arrested for 99th time
BY RICHARD WEIR
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, January 16th 2008, 4:00 AM
Slattery for News Raymond Cote
Cedric McCants
<!-- ARTICLE CONTENT START -->There are rap sheets and then there are rap sheets, such as Cedric McCants' 93-page epic, which is worthy of entry into the Career Criminal Hall of Shame.
"Normally, they're like three to five pages long," Nassau County police Detective Lt. Raymond Cote said of the average criminal's arrest report. "This man's is 93 pages long. It's the longest I've seen in my career."
When Nassau County cops nabbed McCants, 52, on Monday for allegedly committing a string of commercial burglaries, it marked the 99th time that the Hempstead man has been arrested, police said.
His life of crime dates back to 1971, when he was arrested at age 16 and charged in an armed robbery in Brooklyn, according to police.
"Mr. McCants is ... a one-man walking crime wave," said Nassau County Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey. "When he is free, society is at risk."
McCants was being held in lieu of $400,000 bond following his arraignment yesterday in 1st District Court in Hempstead on four felony burglary charges.
Investigators said that in October, he broke into four medical and law offices in the Garden City area and stole $16,000 worth of laptops, which he hawked on the street for as little as $100.
Nassau County police believe he may be linked to as many as 10 recent break-ins, including the Nov. 13 theft of computers from a state Department of Motor Vehicles office in Westbury.
McCants' 98 prior arrests included 197 charges for a variety of crimes, including burglary (8), robbery (3), assault (4), larceny (35), criminal possession of stolen property (37) and a medley of other alleged misdeeds, according to police.
McCants has 78 convictions, including eight felonies and one violent felony, and has served 15 sentences, most of them no longer than six months in jail, according to records.
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He was released from prison in 1995 after serving a four-year sentence, only to do four more stints behind bars - his last one ending Jan. 10, 2007.
"Usually, when he's inside jail, he behaves himself," Cote said. "When he gets out, he commits crimes. ... His job is a burglar."
And clearly, McCants works hard at his craft, police said.
But Mulvey said he wants to put McCants out of business, and said his department will ask Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice to prosecute McCants as a "persistent felon" and sentence him to the maximum - a 14-year term.
"I'm going to push hard for significant upstate prison time for this career criminal," Rice said. "It's clear from his record that he simply can't be trusted unless he's behind bars."
Police said McCants should be locked up for life.
"No sentence can be long enough for Mr. McCants," Cote said.
BY RICHARD WEIR
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, January 16th 2008, 4:00 AM
<!-- ARTICLE CONTENT START -->There are rap sheets and then there are rap sheets, such as Cedric McCants' 93-page epic, which is worthy of entry into the Career Criminal Hall of Shame.
"Normally, they're like three to five pages long," Nassau County police Detective Lt. Raymond Cote said of the average criminal's arrest report. "This man's is 93 pages long. It's the longest I've seen in my career."
When Nassau County cops nabbed McCants, 52, on Monday for allegedly committing a string of commercial burglaries, it marked the 99th time that the Hempstead man has been arrested, police said.
His life of crime dates back to 1971, when he was arrested at age 16 and charged in an armed robbery in Brooklyn, according to police.
"Mr. McCants is ... a one-man walking crime wave," said Nassau County Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey. "When he is free, society is at risk."
McCants was being held in lieu of $400,000 bond following his arraignment yesterday in 1st District Court in Hempstead on four felony burglary charges.
Investigators said that in October, he broke into four medical and law offices in the Garden City area and stole $16,000 worth of laptops, which he hawked on the street for as little as $100.
Nassau County police believe he may be linked to as many as 10 recent break-ins, including the Nov. 13 theft of computers from a state Department of Motor Vehicles office in Westbury.
McCants' 98 prior arrests included 197 charges for a variety of crimes, including burglary (8), robbery (3), assault (4), larceny (35), criminal possession of stolen property (37) and a medley of other alleged misdeeds, according to police.
McCants has 78 convictions, including eight felonies and one violent felony, and has served 15 sentences, most of them no longer than six months in jail, according to records.
hno:He was released from prison in 1995 after serving a four-year sentence, only to do four more stints behind bars - his last one ending Jan. 10, 2007.
"Usually, when he's inside jail, he behaves himself," Cote said. "When he gets out, he commits crimes. ... His job is a burglar."
And clearly, McCants works hard at his craft, police said.
But Mulvey said he wants to put McCants out of business, and said his department will ask Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice to prosecute McCants as a "persistent felon" and sentence him to the maximum - a 14-year term.
"I'm going to push hard for significant upstate prison time for this career criminal," Rice said. "It's clear from his record that he simply can't be trusted unless he's behind bars."
Police said McCants should be locked up for life.
"No sentence can be long enough for Mr. McCants," Cote said.
