On the Police Logs 02.14.19

East Hampton

Annijamila Qvist took a Ted’s Taxi from the Main Street Hampton Jitney stop to her house on Hedges Banks Road on the night of Jan. 31. While the taxi was pulling out of her driveway, it struck and damaged an electric driveway gate. The driver did not get out of the car to look at the damage or inform Ms. Qvist. Police spoke to the caretaker of the property, who said the estimated cost to repair the damage would be $1,500. Police spoke to the driver, who said she did not believe significant damage had been done and that that was why she had not reported the incident. She was issued a citation for leaving the scene of an accident with property damage. 

A Cove Hollow Road resident said she received a call from someone who identified himself as a Microsoft Windows representative and said she was eligible for a $500 refund, but that he would need remote access to her computer. She agreed and soon noticed that he had begun going through the files on her computer. He then instructed her to log in to her bank account so that the refund could be deposited there. He then claimed to have accidentally deposited $25,000 in her account. In return, he asked her to withdraw $22,000 as cash and FedEx it to an address. She said she understood at that point that it was a scam, and went to the bank to freeze her accounts. No money had been taken. She was also locked out of her laptop and feared her files may have been corrupted. 

Water was found leaking out of a second floor balcony onto the front porch and through the front window of a house on North Main Street on Feb. 4. A pipe had burst and the water needed to be shut off, police said. The East Hampton Fire Department and police officials tried unsuccessfully to contact the homeowners, and ended up breaking a pane of glass on a back door to gain access to the house and shut off the water. A burglar alarm was triggered, 

but no alarm company contacted police; there were no placards to indicate which alarm company monitored the house. Officers put a sheet of plywood over the broken glass and locked the door.

At some point in January, someone poured sugar into the gas tank of Basilio Parada’s Jeep Wrangler, which was parked in front of his house on Boatheader’s Lane. He noticed sugar around the gas cap when he went to fill up the Jeep on Feb. 4. He took it to a mechanic in Patchogue, who said there were about two pounds of sugar in the gas tank; it cost him $420 to fix the problem.

East Hampton Village

Police received a noise complaint on David’s Lane on Feb. 5 at about 12:15 p.m. An officer spoke to a contractor at a neighboring house who said he was breaking up concrete. The officer went back to the woman who had complained, and she said she would contact the village because she “did not approve of the changing landscape.” 

While on patrol, police found the Long Island Rail Road gates down at the Newtown Lane crossing on Feb. 5 at about 2:10 p.m., but no train coming through. The officer contacted the M.T.A. 

A Meadow Way resident contacted police after finding a box of medication left out on public property near the intersection of Meadow Way and Mill Hill Lane on the afternoon of Feb. 6. Police took the box and put it in the medical waste receptacle at headquarters. 

Police were called to Further Lane last Thursday morning after receiving a call reporting that a landscaper was allegedly installing a fence on the wrong side of a property line. The landscaper said he would contact the landscape architect to confirm the property lines and agreed to stop work until the neighbors could agree on where their properties began and ended. 

An employee at Restoration Hardware on Main Street approached an officer on patrol on Friday to turn over a gold necklace that had been found in the store in October of 2018. She said it is corporate policy to hold onto found items for about 90 days before turning them in to police. It is now in the lost-and-found locker at headquarters. 

A Montauk woman contacted police on Saturday to report that her mother had been the victim of an attempted scam. Her mother received a phone call from a person who identified himself as a PSEG employee named Peter, informing her that her electric bill was past due. The caller said the bill had to be paid immediately and that she should use MoneyPak prepaid cards from CVS to do so. She did not do so. Detectives are investigating. 

The Suffolk County highway patrol contacted village police to let them know that a Ford Explorer belonging to an East Hampton Village resident had been parked in their jurisdiction for several days and was about to be towed. Village police conducted a well-being check on the owner, who said he would move the sport utility vehicle. 

Montauk

George Berkhofer went to police headquarters in Wainscott on Jan. 30 to report that money had been stolen from inside his pickup truck. He said he had left his wallet in the glove box of his 2013 Toyota Tacoma when it was parked in front of his house on West Lake Drive the night of Jan. 29. When he got back in his car at about 5:15 the next morning, he found $100 missing from the wallet and about $30 in coins missing from the cubby in his dashboard. There were no signs of forced entry to the truck. 

A generator that had been chained to the back of a travel trailer on West Lake Drive was stolen sometime between Dec. 18 and 22. It was worth about $680.

Brent Becker, the houseman at the Montauk Fire Department, reported receiving three threatening phone calls at the Flamingo Avenue firehouse last Thursday. The calls are believed to be related to a YouTube video in which a man filmed members of the fire and police departments at a fire on Feb. 6, police said. Dawn Lucas, the district secretary, said she also received numerous phone calls of complaints regarding the YouTube video. She said they were “all male callers, different voices,” and that they “were very agitated in nature and cursing on the phone to her,” the report said. 

Springs

Someone tried to defraud two elderly Springs residents out of money via email back in January. After several emails back and forth, the couple’s daughter contacted police on Saturday. No money was lost and no personal information shared. 

A couple on Three Mile Harbor-Hog Creek Road received a call from an 800 number on Saturday at about 9 a.m. from a man claiming to be a technician from PSEG who said they were third on his driving route for the disconnection of electric services. Even though, they said, they always pay their bill on time, he told them they had an outstanding balance of $498.64. He gave them a phone number to call, and, when they did, the person who answered the phone told them they had not paid their bill. They were advised to buy a prepaid MoneyPak card for $500 at CVS, which would be applied to their account. Once the transaction was completed, they realized they were the victim of fraud and contacted police. 

Wainscott

Cables at the rear of Antique Lumber of the Hamptons on Montauk Highway were reported cut earlier this month. Chris White said he found the cables severed when he arrived at work on Feb. 4 at about 9 a.m. Nothing appeared to have been stolen. He said it would cost about $500 to repair. ­