The Kings Point Police Department arrested a Great Neck man last week in connection with the recent abduction of a woman at gunpoint from a U.S. Merchant Marine Academy bus stop during which the suspect attempted to sexually assault the woman as he drove around Great Neck.
Sirus Kashimallak, 50, of Cherry Lane, was apprehended last Thursday after he approached an unidentified woman at the same Kings Point bus stop where he allegedly abducted an unidentified 38-year-old woman last month.
Police said Kashimallak attempted to engage the woman in conversation, but the woman declined because she recognized him from a police sketch and immediately called 911.
“We’ve updated our own (911) system here,” Kings Point Police Department Commissioner Jack Miller said. “Years ago, if you called 911 it would go to Nassau County. Now, if you call 911 from a phone in Kings Point it comes right to our police station. So, we saved that extra time and the sergeant put it out to the cars. (Officers) saw him and stopped him on Middle Neck Road down by Beach Road.”
After being arrested, Kashimallak was positively identified by the woman he allegedly abducted last month and charged with second-degree kidnapping and first-degree sexual abuse. He was arraigned in First District Court in Hempstead last Thursday and released on a $2 million bond, police said.
“This is a great relief for the residents,” Miller said. “We did a lot of work on this. There were some primary suspects that came in once the flyer came out that we were looking at right from the beginning. Anytime something like this happens it’s encouraging to get him off the streets as soon as possible.”
For Kings Point Civic Association President Marsha Rotman, the arrest came as a relief to her organization.
“People seem sort of in disbelief about the whole thing,” Rotman said.
Last week, the civic association announced it would hold an emergency security meeting to discuss the abduction on Thursday, Dec. 8 at 7 p.m. at John F. Kennedy Elementary School.
Representatives from the Nassau County and Kings Point police departments were scheduled to attend the meeting, which Rotman said was still important to hold despite Kashimallak’s arrest.
“Very few people still have information about this,” Rotman said. “The second reason (to have the meeting) is because the police have asked for other victims or people who might have had contact with him to come forward. I feel since there’s been so little publicity that it would be good in the community. There’s still a lot of uneasiness about this whole thing.”
Following the incident last month, the Kings Point Civic Association made posters and distributed 400 flyers around its community.
The bright-orange laminated flyers included a sketch with Kashimallak’s likeness and the news release issued by county police, Rotman said.
“We put them around the old village,” she said. “The storekeepers have to get credit because they distributed the flyers.”
Although Miller was encouraged to see Kings Point residents so engaged with the investigation, he said he wished the civic association would have gone about its actions somewhat differently.
“I love having the community proactive,” Miller said. “I just wish the community, especially the civic association, I wish they’d contact the police to discuss what they’re going to do.”
Kings Point police also created flyers and strategically distributed them in areas in accordance with the department’s investigation, Miller said.
“I didn’t want to flood this area with flyers,” he said. “Apparently they put out 400 flyers. We put out the flyers in the area where we felt we needed them and I think those were the flyers that led to the 911 call at the academy. The second girl worked there and she saw the flyer that we had dropped off.”
Miller said the Kings Point police could have been assisted in this investigation by the village’s proposed camera system, which has drawn criticism due to its cost to residents.
“This suspect passed the victim three times,” Miller said. “If we had our cameras up where we wanted them, he would have passed the cameras three times. He would have been arrested that night.”
“I hope the residents stay on it because it’s a great tool for us,” he added. “It makes our jobs a lot easier.”
Police are still looking to receive information from anyone who may have come into contact with Kashimallak, Rotman said.
“It’s really a community that’s been involved with this,” Rotman said. “I think the police are correct. This didn’t just come out of the blue. It’s not just two incidents. I think there were many, many more.”
