You may now capture the crook.
Minutes after exchanging their wedding vows, a Long Island couple helped chase down a sticky-fingered guest who tried to make off with their gift checks and cash, cops said.
The suspect — the invited boyfriend of the groom’s niece — was first spotted by West Sayville Country Club maitre d’ Ann-Marie Botsch fidgeting in a closet around midnight Saturday at the wedding reception in the glittering facility on Great South Bay, witnesses said.
“I called the bride over and asked her if she had asked anyone to hold her gift box,” Botsch told The Post. “She had no clue what I was talking about.
“I said, ‘Joanna, there’s a gentleman who has your gift box.’ ”
The infuriated bride, Joanna Williamson, 51, and her new husband, Larry, 53, immediately jumped into action, marshaling a group of tuxedoed guests to help them pursue the suspect.
Omar Santiago, 18, of Irvington, NJ, darted into a bathroom to try to escape, allegedly stuffing the envelopes into his pants as the pursuing crowd closed in on him, witnesses said.
“The bride, groom, and another guest backed him into the bathroom,” Botsch said. But then “they saw an empty [money] box in the stall. Somehow, he ran past all of us. I don’t know how. He ran into the woods near the tennis courts, and they caught him over there.”
“The groom and a good five or six gentlemen chased him down,” Botsch said. “When he ran past us, he actually had all the envelopes down his pants.
“He had a lot of envelopes on him. The police recovered 15.”
Suffolk County cops slapped handcuffs on Santiago, who was bloodied during the takedown.
All of the gift checks and cash were recovered, and the Williamsons immediately took off for their honeymoon at Disney World in Florida, friends said.
A source said that there were thousands of dollars worth of cash and checks in the box and that the hardworking Williamsons of West Islip desperately needed the money.
Santiago was first scheduled for arraignment yesterday, but his appearance was postponed because of injuries suffered during the melee.
“He had a big cut on his ear,” Botsch said.
A neighbor of the Williamsons who was at the bash said the debacle nearly ruined what was an otherwise lovely event.
”[The bride] is very upset about the whole thing,” said the neighbor, Laurie Previti. “It’s just tragic this had to happen.”
The couple has been together for years, a neighbor said. The groom, who has a job at a computer-manufacturing facility, and the bride met while working in a bike shop.
Another friend of the couple said the fact that one of their relatives brought Santiago to their special day really took the cake.
“The guy was a stranger to everyone,” she said.