Two suspects who allegedly pretended to be collecting church donations to get their way into a 90-year-old Long Island woman's apartment to rob her have been arrested on hate crime charges.
Authorities say they believe Monday's robbery targeting Dottie Sundberg, a retired nurse, is part of a larger burglary pattern at the Greenlawn apartment complex, which caters to people age 62 and older.
That the robbery targeted an elderly person makes it a hate crime under a little-used state ordinance, police said. The two suspects, a 23-year-old woman and a 24-year-old man, were arraigned Tuesday on charges of burglary as a hate crime, a felony.
Sundberg said she gave the duo $20 as a church donation and they stole her iPad and some cash while she was distracted. She says she was livid after the theft, but primarily mad at herself.
Officials ask anyone else who may have been victimized by the suspects to call Suffolk County Hate Crime at 631-852-6323.
