By Rich Bockmann
Kevin L. Cheeks, who was convicted last month of robbing an Oakland Gardens nail salon in 2009, was sentenced last week to 25 years to life in prison, according to the Queens district attorney’s office.
The 44-year-old South Ozone Park resident has a long criminal record and thus received the mandatory minimum sentence, the DA said.
Cheeks arrived at the Shinki Nail Salon, at 212-08 Union Tnpk., Dec. 12, 2009, in the ambulette he was assigned to drive by his employer, Sigma Transportation Inc., of West Hempstead, L.I., DA Richard Brown said. The vehicle, which was marked “Sigma ambulette number 16,” was equipped with a GPS tracking unit, the DA said.
Around 1 p.m., Cheeks entered the salon saying he had a gun, forced the salon’s four customers and three employees to the rear of the store, relieved them of their valuables and then proceeded to empty the cash register, the DA said.
When he rushed to the back of the building to look for his cell phone, one of the employees ran outside and into a nearby diner, the DA said. Just then, Cheeks walked past the front of the diner and was identified by the employee and several witnesses, who saw him speed away in his marked vehicle, the DA said.
Cheeks was arrested when he returned the vehicle to work the next day, and the GPS tracking records confirmed that the ambulette was in the vicinity of the salon at the time of the robbery, the DA said.
“With today’s sentence, the public can rest assured that the defendant, a persistent felony offender, will spend a lengthy time behind bars and no longer be a threat to society,” Brown said. “He can use his time to think about how a simple GPS vehicle tracking device and a few mouse clicks led to his undoing. Such technology clearly gives new meaning to the old adage ‘You can run, but you cannot hide.’”
Cheeks has a history of violent crime. In 1987, he was sentenced to two to six years in prison on the charges of first-degree robbery and intimidating a witness from an incident in Queens. In 1993, he was convicted of second-degree robbery and first-degree sexual abuse from an incident in the Bronx, for which he served about 15 years, according to a spokeswoman for the DA.
Reach reporter Rich Bockmann by e-mail at rbockmann@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.
