Police & Courts

On Friday at about 1:30 p.m., police received a call about “a possible deceased human body” found on a beach at Montauk State Park. Officers determined it to be “the silicone lower part of a female mannequin.”

The big booms are back, it seems, in Montauk. Late last Thursday night, a caller reported hearing one in the vicinity of the Surf Lodge. An officer responded but couldn’t find anything amiss, and the call was deemed “unfounded.” Two nights later, two more people made similar reports, but again, officers found nothing.

The East Hampton Town Police Department is seeking the public's help in finding Lucas T. Desario, a town resident who was last seen several days ago. Mr. Desario's vehicle and belongings were found on South Eton Street in Montauk earlier today.

Adina Azarian, an East Hampton real estate broker, her 2-year-old daughter, Aria, and her nanny, Evadnie Smith, who were killed in a plane crash along with the pilot, were like a family, Ms. Azarian had written. While she was a single mother, Ms. Azarian wrote that “the reality is, I do have a partner in raising her, she just happens to be a lovely woman with a backbone from Jamaica. . . . Every family is unique and in ours Aria rules the roost. . . ”

Surveillance camera footage helped police catch a man in a red truck who stole “Steven Tekulsky for Sag Harbor Justice” signs not far from the police station on Division Street in Sag Harbor on Saturday afternoon. He was charged with petty larceny and criminal possession of stolen property, low-level misdemeanors.

In the absence of other contested races in the upcoming Sag Harbor Village elections, all eyes have turned to the race for Sag Harbor Village justice, which pits two attorneys against each other. Steven Tekulsky, at present an East Hampton Town justice and an associate Sag Village justice, is running against Carl Irace, a Sag Harbor resident with no formal judicial experience.

Adina Azarian, an East Hampton real estate broker, and her 2-year-old daughter, Aria, were among those killed when the private plane in which they were returning to Long Island on Sunday crashed in Virginia. The pilot and a nanny were apparently also killed in the crash. 

Smoke was reported across the East End on Saturday morning, when residents awoke to the distinct smell of something burning. According to meteorologists with Environment Canada, the smoke is from a wildfire in the Province of Nova Scotia, where some 23,000 hectares of woodland (around 57,000 acres) have been burning in an out-of-control fire that started last weekend.

A Water Mill man was charged with felony driving while intoxicated Sunday afternoon. Police said his 5-year-old niece was asleep in the back seat of the car at the time of the traffic stop.

Late Saturday night or early Sunday, at a house on Clinton Street in Springs, vandals spray-painted the front door, a mailbox, and multiple cars with pink paint. A resident reported hearing “loud exhaust, possibly a dirt bike” around midnight.

What was reported to police dispatchers as a "smoldering battery" in a battery substation in East Hampton early Wednesday morning resulted in road closures and halted train service.

About 70 firefighters from seven departments battled a massive house fire on Sunday afternoon at 38 Farmstead Lane in Water Mill. One firefighter was treated at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital for heat exhaustion, and was released a short while later.

Maison Close Montauk on East Lake Drive, which had a grand-opening celebration planned this weekend, was completely ravaged by flames.

For the first time in over three years, Sag Harbor Village police assisted the State Police Department’s commercial vehicle enforcement unit with an inspection checkpoint in the village.

A Riverhead man is facing drunken driving charges for the third time in 10 years, making his latest charge, levied by East Hampton Town police on May 7, a felony.

East Hampton Town and Village police reported three accidents involving injuries this week.

The fire marshal was summoned on the morning of May 16 when a 35-year-old woman got stuck in the elevator at a commercial building on Newtown Lane in East Hampton Village. No problem. He turned the system off, then switched it on again. The elevator sprang to life, and the woman was able to exit safely.

Note to whoever has been dumping bags of fish carcasses into the Montauk Manor’s private dumpster: They’re on to you. A “terrible odor” on May 9 prompted a call to police.

East Hampton Town saw more reports of identity theft, fraud, larceny, trespassing, and sex crimes last year than it did in 2021, according to Police Chief Michael D. Sarlo's annual report. There were 17 calls about possible drug overdoses among adults, a five-year high, and officers made 41 percent more arrests, issued 49 percent more traffic tickets, and logged a collective 7,249 hours of training, an increase of 25 percent over 2021.

After 28 years fielding 911 calls as an East Hampton Village dispatcher, Gerry Turza will be hired at the May 19 East Hampton Village Board meeting for a new village position: fire and emergency medical services administrator. Mr. Turza served as chief of the East Hampton Village Fire Department from 2018 to 2022 and in many other roles, all in the field of public safety, for the last 30 years.

A bottle of 18-year-old Macallan Scotch whiskey valued at $475 was stolen from Amagansett Wine and Spirits on the afternoon of April 26. A man was seen putting the bottle under his sweatshirt while an employee was helping a customer. Charges will not be pressed, management told police, if payment is received or if the bottle is returned intact.

East Hampton Town officials indefinitely closed the rickety asphalt-covered bridge above the Long Island Rail Road track on Cranberry Hole Road in Amagansett after a sizable hole appeared in it on Sunday.

A Montauk businessman, Mark Ripolone, was indicted yesterday on charges of grand larceny and identity theft for allegedly stealing nearly $400,000 over a three-year period from a payroll company and his own customers’ bank accounts.

Unable to deliver a package at a South Flint Street, Montauk, residence for four days straight, a FedEx driver called the police on the afternoon of April 26 to make sure everyone there was okay. Officers were told that the family’s dog is not well.

Just before 8 a.m. on Monday, a fire broke out in Stephen and Missie Hesler’s home on Carlisle Lane in Sag Harbor, causing heavy damage to the house. Mr. Hesler was able to rescue the couple’s two dogs, Gus and Gabbie, from the flames.

Police officers conducted routine liquor-license checks of bars, restaurants, and liquor stores in Montauk, Springs, and East Hampton over the last two weeks, finding that all had up-to-date documentation.

A fight at Murf’s Tavern Saturday night led to the arrest of a “highly intoxicated” 27-year-old Sag Harbor man who screamed obscenities, berated the security guard, and threatened to “kick everyone’s ass” and “kill you.” He forcefully resisted arrest, police said, but officers — including some from East Hampton and Southampton who responded to the village’s request for assistance — were able to wrestle him to the ground and handcuff him.

In simpler times, the most prevalent scam to be on the lookout for was the so-called "Nigerian Prince" email scam, in which a fraudster would send out an email that persuaded a potential "mark" — often an older adult — to wire them some money in order to trigger the release of a bigger pot of money that was coming the victim's way. More recently, scammers have gotten menacingly creative and even use technology to take advantage of victims.

The East Hampton Village Police Department now has a newly promoted captain, lieutenant, and two sergeants, as well as a new full-time officer.

A Sag Harbor resident witnessed a worker loudly draining a Porta-Potty on Meadowlark Lane before 7 a.m. on April 12 and called the police. The worker was done with his task by the time an officer arrived, and told the officer he was unaware that the village prohibits noisy work before 8 a.m.