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Police & Courts

Heavy Rescue Squad Called In

An East Hampton woman is facing charges after she was injured in Sag Harbor early Sunday morning in a serious car accident.

Sag Harbor Village police said they responded at about 2:20 a.m. to  crash on Hampton Street and found a severely damaged 2007 Cadillac. Laura E. MacPherson, 28, was behind the wheel and conscious, police said, but had to be extricated from the car by the Sag Harbor Fire Department’s heavy rescue squad.

A helicopter flew her to Stony Brook University Hospital with unspecified injuries. She was released on Tuesday.

Police said Ms.

Apr 16, 2015
On the Police Logs 04.16.15

East Hampton Village

James Kelley, the East Hampton postmaster, called police on April 6 about a homeless 64-year-old man whom he wanted removed from the post office building. Police said they saw no reason why the man, who rents a post office box in the Gay Lane building, should be removed. The man said he had merely gone in to get his mail.

William DeJonge reported suspicious activity at his house at 18 Laforest Lane, occurring at some point since October.

Apr 16, 2015
Accuser's Best Friend Testifies in Rape Trial

Here from Ireland, woman known only as Fiona offers tearful recollection of the incidents of Aug. 20, 2013.

Apr 14, 2015
Detective Saw No Injuries on Jason Lee After Rape Claim

Aside from a cut on his cuticle consistent with nail biting, Mr. Lee appeared to have no injuries when photographed after the alleged incident, East Hampton Town Police Detective Ryan Hogan testified Thursday.

Apr 10, 2015
Facing ‘Signficant’ Jail Time

An East Hampton man who was charged on Sunday with driving while intoxicated, his third such arrest in eight years, could face “significant” jail time if convicted of the felony charges he is facing.

East Hampton Town police stopped Dalton D. Donegal, 39, a little before midnight on Three Mile Harbor Road in East Hampton, saying he was speeding and swerving across the double yellow line. Back at Wainscott headquarters his breath test reportedly produced a reading of .18.

Because Mr. Donegal was convicted of misdemeanor D.W.I. here in 2008, and of felony D.W.I.

Apr 9, 2015
He Was Caught on Camera

A Sag Harbor man facing a charge of petty larceny forgot the most basic maxim for criminals: make sure no one is watching.

Sag Harbor Village police said that at about 6:30 a.m. on March 31, Gregory P. Zaykowski, 34, was caught on surveillance cameras stealing car batteries from five vehicles parked at Harbor Heights service station on Hampton Road. Police were able to pinpoint the time because the service shop’s manager and former owner, Gregg Miller, ran back the video from the multiple surveillance cameras placed around the property.

Mr.

Apr 9, 2015
On the Police Logs 04.09.15

Amagansett

Daniel Gaunt of Coram parked his Ford van outside Luz’s Deli on the morning of March 30. He returned to the van to find that several items had been stolen from the middle console.

East Hampton Village

Three young skateboarders, ages 12 and 13, tried to go home with more than their boards on the evening of March 30. Police say that when they stopped the three on Accabonac Road, one was carrying a sign banning skateboarding in the village. The sign had been posted near the fork-in-the-road intersection of North Main Street and Pantigo Road.

Apr 9, 2015
Scammers on the Line

Another week closer to April 15, and there are two more reports of scammers posing as Internal Revenue Service agents. Both incidents occurred last Thursday.

Lee Young of Two Holes of Water Road, East Hampton, recognized immediately that he was being scammed when “Agent Ford of the I.R.S.” called him, demanding he send $3,130 using a prepaid card. East Hampton Town police traced the call to a Voice Over Internet Protocol number. These are used by grifters via programs like Skype, “and can be masked to look like any number,” the report says.

Apr 9, 2015
Jason Lee Trial Begins With Police Testimony

Prosecutor says Goldman Sachs director forced his way into a bathroom before raping a woman he had just met that night. His lawyer says sex was consensual.

Apr 8, 2015
Drivers Were Dry

Nowhere in East Hampton Town or Village, nor in the village of Sag Harbor, were any arrests made for drunken driving during the week just past. In Southampton Town, though, an East Hampton woman was charg­ed with the misdemeanor early Saturday morning. Ashley Tyler, 20, who was pulled over on County Road 39A for failing to stay in her lane, was released later that morning with a date on the Southampton Town Justice Court’s criminal calendar.

Apr 2, 2015
On the Police Logs 04.02.15

East Hampton

An alert Stuart’s Lane woman noticed an unauthorized charge on her bank card in February. Jennifer Cunningham disputed the charge, which the bank then reversed. On March 23, after investigating, the bank informed her that someone had apparently been using her Social Security number in an attempt to change her address. The bank has changed the account number.

East Hampton Village

An Oceanside man called police Friday evening from Middle Lane, saying he had pulled his car over near Cross Highway to watch deer and gotten stuck in mud by the roadside.

Apr 2, 2015
Caught South of the Border

An armed robber who eluded a massive manhunt in Sag Harbor Village last month after running from his victim’s house was picked up on March 10, almost 2,500 miles away on the Mexican border. U.S. Border Patrol agents stopped him, 28 days after the robbery, as he tried to re-enter the country from Tijuana.

Ali S. Wisdom, 37, was arraigned on Friday in Southampton Town Justice Court on two violent B felony charges: armed robbery and use of a firearm while committing a crime. Justice Andrea Schiavoni set bail at $200,000 cash.

Mar 26, 2015
Felony Case in Doubt

A felony assault charge against a Springs man, William B. DePetris, has been reduced to a misdemeanor by the district attorney’s office, and even at that level, his attorney said last Thursday in East Hampton Town Justice Court, the charge is likely to be dropped.

The D.A.’s action was unusual in its timing. Mr. DePetris had been held in the county jail since his arraignment on March 8, unable to post $15,000 bail, and was not scheduled to return to court until today. The case was advanced to Justice Lisa R.

Mar 26, 2015
On the Police Logs 03.26.15

East Hampton

A Buckskill Road woman called police last Thursday, saying that she had had someone living in her house to walk her dogs for a few days while she was away, and had returned to find $50 in cash and a $600 Tiffany’s gift card missing. Neither had been left in the open. The card was found to have been used at Tiffany’s, which said it would issue Ms. Lewis a full refund if the merchandise is returned.

Mar 26, 2015
Parade Arrests Were Down

A lower, seemingly more sober turnout at Sunday’s Montauk Friends of Erin St. Patrick’s Day parade resulted in a noticeable drop in arrests from recent years, as well as a reduction in quality-of-life citations issued along the parade route.

“Over all, it was a peaceful and relatively quiet parade,” Chief Michael D. Sarlo of the East Hampton Town Police Department said Monday.

Mar 26, 2015
Two Are Granted Probation

Two cases that were first heard in East Hampton Town Justice Court are now concluding elsewhere after both defendants pleaded guilty as charged.

Leander D. Kobolakis, 23, who was charged in August with felony rape for having sex with a minor, entered the plea in the Riverside courtroom of State Supreme Court Justice Barbara Kahn on March 10, in a process known as “superior court information.”

In an S.C.I., the defendant waives the right to be indicted by a grand jury in exchange for an agreed-upon plea and sentence. Mr.

Mar 26, 2015
Unlicensed Driver Is Charged Again

A Montauk man was charged with driving while intoxicated Saturday night after he allegedly collided with two cars on Amagansett Main Street and then drove off. It was the second such charge in the past five months for Jaime Javier Guaman-Marca, 30.

Mr. Guaman-Marca told the East Hampton Town police officers who caught up with his badly damaged vehicle soon after on Route 27 that he was headed east near Indian Wells Highway when another vehicle pulled out in front of his 2002 Nissan van.

Mar 26, 2015
High-Speed Chase on Sunrise

New York State troopers arrested a 21-year-old from Sag Harbor before dawn on Sunday on multiple charges, including misdemeanor drunken driving, after clocking him at 97 miles per hour in a 55 m.p.h. zone. When asked for his driver’s license, the man handed over a learner’s permit.

According to a trooper who spoke about the arrest on Tuesday, two patrol cars were on the eastbound shoulder of Sunrise Highway, east of Exit 63.

Mar 19, 2015
On the Police Logs 03.19.15

East Hampton

Surfside Taxi, based in Montauk, is now also operating out of East Hampton, where it has opened an office. This has apparently created some ill will. A Surfside driver, Junior Vladimir Vega, was filling up at the Empire gas station on North Main Street when he was approached by a driver for another company, who, according to the police log, was “arguing in regards to the fact that Surfside should stay in Montauk, and not take business away from the East Hampton taxis.” What happened next was redacted from the report. Mr.

Mar 19, 2015
One Mack Truck, 2 Wrecks

A 2007 Mack truck owned by Mickey’s Carting was involved in two accidents within five days here last week, one of which resulted in its driver being taken to Southampton Hospital.

Henry R. Sanchez, 41, of East Hampton was headed south on Red Dirt Road in Springs on the afternoon of March 10 when he drove off the road, striking a bank of hardened snow. He lost control of the truck, town police said, plowing farther off the road. The truck flipped over onto its side and came to a stop against some trees. Mr.

Mar 19, 2015
A Carpenter Is Charged

A Sag Harbor carpenter was arrested Monday in East Hampton Village on two felony counts of burglary, as well as possession of stolen property. His victim, village police said, was a client on Huntting Lane.

Raymond Arthur Card, 64, was picked up on Toilsome Lane Monday afternoon. Village police said they found a stolen Citarella gift card for $100 in his pocket.

Mr. Card admitted to police, in a signed statement on file at East Hampton Town Justice Court, that he had opened Kathryn Krone’s kitchen door with a wall board knife.

Mar 12, 2015
Arrested and Rearrested

Two East Hampton men recently convicted of driving while intoxicated were arrested again last week on the same charge.

Edwin M. Uzhca-Chafla, 27, was arrested shortly before midnight on Saturday. East Hampton Town police said he ran his 2011 Toyota into a tree on Three Mile Harbor Road near his residence, then walked away from the scene.

Mar 12, 2015
His Bail Is Set at $15,000

Early Sunday morning, following an alleged attack on two men on Amagansett’s Main Street, East Hampton Town police arrested William B. DePetris III, 26, on multiple charges including felony assault. Mr.

Mar 12, 2015
Icy Crash Hurts Passenger

During the snowstorm last Thursday morning, a Chevrolet Avalanche pickup truck slid on the ice and into an oncoming Chevrolet Equinox.

Mar 12, 2015
Police Department Made Do With Less in 2014

The East Hampton Town police had to do more with less in 2014, according to an annual report released by the department, as presented to the town board on Tuesday by Chief Michael D. Sarlo. The department saw a record number of calls to action for a force that shrunk by one, with a sharp drop in penal law arrests.

The retirements of six senior personnel, including three of the department’s top detectives, as well as Edward V. Ecker Jr., the former chief, has necessitated shifting officers into new jobs, with new responsibilities that require training, Chief Sarlo said on Tuesday.

Mar 12, 2015
Cyclists Support Their Own

The case of Jason E. Monet, a Stamford, Conn., man charged with three felonies in connection with a collision on Napeague last June, took an unexpected turn Friday in a Central Islip courtroom.

Mr. Monet, according to East Hampton Town police, was drunk when his 2013 BMW swerved across Montauk Highway into the Ocean Vista resort, directly in front of an oncoming Yamaha motorcycle. The cycle’s operator, Sidney R.

Mar 5, 2015
Home Is an Unheated Shed

A man who has been living throughout the frigid winter in an unheated shed in East Hampton without plumbing or other facilities called town authorities last week to report his living conditions.

According to East Hampton officials, the man’s landlord has been accepting $400 a month from the Suffolk County Department of Social Services to provide housing for him.

Approximately 10 summonses were issued to Luz Lopez Vargas for violations of health, safety, and zoning codes, Betsy Bambrick, the head of East Hampton’s Ordinance Enforcement Department, said Tuesday.

Mar 5, 2015
I.R.S. It’s Not

It is tax season, a fact grifters are well aware of. Two local residents, Janet Fensterer of Amagansett and William Scholl of Springs, recently received telephone calls from people claiming to be Internal Revenue Service agents. Mr. Scholl told police he hung up on the caller because he had just sent in his 2014 tax forms and was sure he did not owe any back money. Ms.

Mar 5, 2015
On the Police Logs 03.05.15

Amagansett

Police were called to Main Street near Indian Wells Tavern early Saturday morning to deal with a fight. No arrests were made, and all details of the incident were redacted on the police report.

East Hampton Village

A resident of one of the cottages at Bayberry Close off of Main Beach called police early on the morning of Feb. 23 to report his power was out and he didn’t have any heat.

Mar 5, 2015
Sentenced in Burglary

The second of four men arrested in October on felony burglary charges following a break-in at Damark’s Deli on Three Mile Harbor Road in Springs pleaded guilty in East Hampton Town Justice Court last Thursday to reduced charges and was sentenced to six months’ incarceration.

Lucas M. Ward was brought into court in leg shackles and handcuffs by Suffolk County sheriffs. It was his 22nd birthday.

East Hampton Town police arrested him on Oct. 3. He was released five days later when no indictment was brought, but was back in custody just over two months later following a Dec.

Mar 5, 2015