On the Police Logs 04.19.18

East Hampton Village

A noise complaint sent a police officer to Toilsome Lane at 6:44 a.m. on April 9. The officer found contractors for National Grid doing some work. They agreed to stop work until 7 a.m., as required by village law.

Police received three reports of seals in distress on village beaches last week. The first call came on the morning of April 9 from someone walking a dog on Main Beach. Police “located the seal,” they wrote in their report, adding that “it was injured and appeared to be okay.” They also told the caller to “in the future, stay away from seals with his dogs.”

The next seal-in-distress call came from Wiborg’s Beach on Friday afternoon. An officer reported finding “a small harbor seal sunbathing on the shoreline.” A manager at the nearby Maidstone Club told police that she had been in contact with the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation.

The third call of the week also came from Wiborg’s, this time on Saturday morning. Once again, police reported that the seal appeared to be unhurt, “with no negative problems at this time.”

An East Hampton woman reported a suspicious incident on April 9, telling police that she had pulled her 2013 Honda onto the shoulder of Montauk Highway near Cove Hollow Road that afternoon when another woman pulled in front of her. This woman got out of her car and started yelling at her, before slapping her side mirror and leaving the scene. Police checked the area but could not find anyone matching the given description.

A report of two horses running loose in the area of Montauk Highway early in the morning on April 10 appears to have been unfounded, police said.

The owner of a Lily Pond Lane residence went to police headquarters on Friday afternoon with a shotgun. He told police that when he bought property here in 2012, a friend in California sent him the shotgun and some gym equipment. He said he could not recall the last time he had used the shotgun and wanted to leave it with police to be destroyed. Police checked it, reporting that it was “safe and empty.” Sgt. Matt Bennett, the department’s firearms supervisor, was notified. 

 

Montauk

Danielle Fromm of Laurel Drive contacted a website last Thursday, seeking to buy a female bull terrier puppy. She said she then received a call from a man telling her to do a bank transfer of $800 to an account number he gave her, and that her puppy would be delivered by Saturday afternoon. But that didn’t happen. The incident report, though heavily redacted, says that she confronted the man over the phone. Police are investigating. 

 

Sag Harbor

Last week the automated teller machine outside Bridgehampton National Bank on Bay Street was once again vandalized. Tara Fordham, a bank employee, told police that a man wrapped a debit card in two $1  bills, then stuck it into the machine’s slot, jamming it on Friday afternoon. There have been at least three similar incidents in the past couple of weeks, possibly involving the same vandal. Ms. Fordham said it costs about $600 to repair the damage each time. Police are still investigating. 

On the same day, Muhammad Ali of People’s United Bank on Main Street told police that he had discovered and removed a skimmer device, used by criminals to steal card information from A.T.M.s. He also removed a small pinhole camera that had been placed on the machine and aimed at the keypad to steal PIN numbers.

Police received a report about a white van that slowed down by Marine Park, where two young girls were playing. The girls told police that the man appeared to be staring at them. After they ran and told their father, he tried to get a photo of the van as the man drove away. It was described as having a roof rack and a red stripe.