WESTERLEIGH — A woman who slept through a four-hour burglary in her home woke up and chased the thieves who then dragged her down the street in their getaway van as they sped away, a law enforcement source said Wednesday.
Michael Olsen, 21, Alexa Yodice, 19, and Anass Kahany, 18, broke into a Garrison Avenue home on Sept. 30 shortly after midnight through the cellar door, police said.
The trio spent four hours inside the home and took more than $10,000 worth of jewelry, clothing, Macbooks, an Xbox and a passport before they tried to flee in a white van, authorities said.
The woman sleeping inside the home woke up as the burglars were leaving and chased after them, grabbing onto the van near the passenger-side window as it drove away, the source said.
The driver hit the brakes causing the woman to fall to the ground and she was dragged by the van several blocks, prosecutors said. The incident caused bruising, swelling, redness and cuts to the woman's leg.
The suspects were arrested more than two hours later in front of a Grant City home and charged with burglary, assault, criminal possession of stolen property and petit larceny at their Sunday arraignment, the Staten Island District Attorney's office said.
Yodice had Alprazolam, prescription sedative, on her during the arrest and was also charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance, the DA said.
Kahany's bail was set at $5,000 bond, $1,500 cash and Yodice's at $5,000 bond, $1,000 cash, according to court records.
Yodice's lawyer did not want to comment on the story and Kahany's could not be reached.
Olsen was held without bail and has been arrested several times this year for drug and weapon charges, court records show. He was previously convicted of attempted endangering of a child in 2016, the Staten Island Advance reported.
"We're running a parallel investigation to the DA's office and hopefully what we find will exonerate Michael," his lawyer, Louis Gelormino, said.
