A Chartwells employee working on the St. John’s Queens campus faces multiple charges in connection with his alleged involvement in a Nassau County home invasion, Nassau County Police Department said.
Levy Robinson is being charged with robbery of the first degree, two counts of burglary of the first degree and four counts of weapons possession of the second degree.
Cops said he was one of two suspects in the incident, where local police responded to a burglary in progress after the men allegedly invaded a family home on Dana Avenue in North Valley Stream.
The responding officers that arrived at the home, broke down the rear door and rescued two adults and four children before engaging in a shootout with the suspects, police said.
During the gun battle, the other suspect Timothy Capers, 37, of Jamaica, took his own life with a self-inflicted gunshot, authorities said.
Robinson, 43, who lives in Jamaica about three miles south of the University, was arrested at the scene. Robinson worked as a Chartwells staff member on campus said Laura Musa, a Chartwells representative.
He was arraigned at First District Court in Hempstead on Wednesday, January 18, which was also the first day of the spring semester for students.
Because of the ongoing investigation, St. John’s and Chartwells officials would not comment on the incident or release information about Robinson. Dominic Scianna, vice president of Media Relations, said Robinson was hired by Chartwells, which is a service the University pays to run its various eateries on campus, and clarified that he is not a St. John’s employee.
Chartwells is a subsidiary of Compass Group, which is an international business dedicated to food and support services in 50 countries with more than 470,000 employees. The company was originally founded in the United Kingdom in 1941 and posted annual revenues of more than 15 billion pounds last year or nearly 25 billion dollars.
Compass Group operates Dine on Campus and Chartwells, which are dinning services dedicated to serving food to colleges and universities. Chartwells serves more than 200 campuses in America, and the dinning service feeds all seven cafeterias on the Queens campus.
“Chartwells is aware of media reports regarding the situation,” Chartwells said in a prepared statement. “Chartwells employees are subject to pre-employment background screenings. We will not provide further comments regarding the allegations, as it is the subject of law enforcement activities.”
In a follow-up call, Nassau County Police Public Information office said Robinson doesn’t have any prior arrest or convictions.
Robinson is due to make another appearance in Nassau First District Court on Thursday, Jan. 26.
