Trouble On Hedges Banks
The owner of an $85,000 B.M.W. was informed this week that his car had been stolen from his driveway on Hedges Banks Road, East Hampton, and driven into Three Mile Harbor.
A nearby homeowner watched incredulously as the incident happened and reported it to East Hampton Town police.
Just an hour later, a Range Rover belonging to another Hedges Banks family was found crashed and abandoned on Alewife Brook Road.
Police believe the two incidents are related, and could be tied to other mischief over the week on Hedges Banks Road.
Witness's Account
The eyewitness account may help the investigation. A Three Mile Harbor Road resident just happened to be looking out over the harbor through binoculars around 7:35 a.m. Friday, when he saw the B.M.W. being driven into the harbor from the end of Soak Hides Road.
The witness told police he saw three young men in a dark-colored Chevy Blazer or similar sport-utility vehicle sink the luxury car and leave in the Chevrolet.
Police arrived to find the 1995 B.M.W. 740, owned by Martin Roman, almost completely submerged - only the rooftop was visible. A wrecker was called in to haul the car back onto land.
Just over an hour later, a Suffolk County Water Authority backhoe operator called police to complain there was an abandoned Range Rover lodged up against an S.C.W.A. hydrant on Alewife Brook Road.
As it turned out, both cars had been taken the night before from driveways on Hedges Banks Road in Northwest. The Range Rover is registered to Wendy Levine, police said.
There was still more trouble on that road during the week. On Saturday, Robert Mockler called to report his house had been rummaged through, though only three bottles of liquor appeared to be missing.
A few days earlier and a few doors down, Robert MacBarb found a screen window removed and fingerprints left on the window. He told police it happened Dec. 9, because his dog had been barking between 11:30 p.m. and midnight that night.
Burglaries
Police received several other burglary reports last week, in other parts of town.
Mark Casey of Queens reported Sunday that a 27-inch color TV, a VCR, and a stereo system were missing from a house on Jacqueline Drive in Amagansett. Mr. Casey's brother, Gregory Casey, who lived in the house, was killed in a car crash last month.
Karmen Miller of Whooping Hollow Road, East Hampton, reported on Friday the theft of $1,400 in cash from a back room. She gave police the name of a possible suspect.
Finally, a $1,200 computer was stolen during the night last Thursday from a Newborn Construction trailer parked off Montauk Highway in East Hampton near where the state is doing road work, Dennis Kellerman reported. Someone broke the padlock to get inside, police said.