Winter held the North Fork in its quiet grip last week, but the police radio never quite freezes over. Officers made bench warrant arrests, retrieved a stolen backpack from behind a Front Street dumpster and dealt with an allegedly intoxicated duo causing a disturbance at Greenport’s library. There was a baffling blinker “protest” against local churches, apologetic ice fishermen, an agitated beekeeper and a film crew’s trash traced back to a horror-movie set.
Feb. 2 – Around 11 a.m., Christian Digirolamo, 57, of Laurel, was arrested on an outstanding bench warrant and detained pending arraignment, according to a police report.
Around 12:30 p.m., a license plate reading camera alerted police to a car traveling eastbound on County Road 48 with a suspended registration. Police stopped the car on Middle Road in Cutchogue and determined that the registered owner, Eric Wong, 34, of Shelter Island was the subject of an outstanding bench warrant on Shelter Island for alleged vehicle and traffic offenses, according to a police report. Wong was arrested and transported to the North Ferry terminal in Greenport and turned over to the custody of the Shelter Island Police Dept.
Around 1:30 p.m., an employee of a company that provides damage prevention services for underground utilities reported that he was on Sigsbee Road in Laurel, marking water lines in the roadway. He said he had set up a traffic cone and his transmitter in the southbound lane, when an unknown blue sedan with tinted windows ran over the traffic cone and transmitter, damaging both, according to a police report. The sedan was last seen heading westbound on Peconic Bay Blvd. Police notified Riverhead police and canvassed the area for the sedan without success.
Around 5 p.m., a 60-year-old man flagged down a Southold patrol officer to report that at about noon that day, a male riding a bicycle had stolen his backpack, outside a Front St. convenience store in Greenport. Police reviewed camera footage from the convenience store and observed a Greenport man, 45 and known to police, riding away with the backpack in question, according to a police report. The victim told police he didn’t want to press charges, but only wanted his property back. He said it had been swiped while he was a few feet away charging his phone. Police went to the Greenport man’s residence, and he admitted to taking the backpack but said he left it near a dumpster behind Front St. Police escorted him to the dumpster and located the stolen backpack, which was returned to its owner. No further action was taken, according to a report.
Feb. 3 – Around 9 a.m., a Greenport man, 80, called police to report that a 47-year-old Greenport woman who is well known to police from previous encounters, wouldn’t leave his home, was intoxicated and “acting like an a—hole.” Police arrived and escorted the woman off the man’s property. Around 2:30 p.m. the same day, police were called to the North Ferry terminal because the same woman was allegedly intoxicated and loitering in the terminal. She told police she was waiting for a ferry to Shelter Island to see her fiancé. She was told she couldn’t loiter in the terminal, according to a report, and left without incident. The following day, employees at Greenport’s Floyd Library contacted police to report that the woman and a 61-year-old man “have been causing a disturbance at the library for the past week” and appeared to be intoxicated. Notices of trespass were signed against the pair, meaning that if they return to the library, they will be arrested.
Around 10 p.m., a New Suffolk Ave. resident in Mattituck called police to report two subjects ice fishing on Maratooka Pond. The resident told responding officers that he was concerned about the fishermen being out on the ice, and claimed they accessed the frozen pond by walking along a path for local residents only. The fishermen voluntarily walked off the ice for an interview with police. They presented valid fishing licenses, and were “respectful and apologetic” for using the residents only path. They said they did not see the public path to the pond due to snow covering it. No further action was taken.
Feb. 4 – A manager at a vineyard on Ackerly Pond Lane in Southold contacted police to report that one of the outdoor air conditioning units on the property had caught fire and caused a gas leak, according to a police report. Southold firefighters responded, and shut off all power valves before advising the manager to contact National Grid.
Around 2 p.m., police received an anonymous report that a vehicle was traveling westbound on Main Road in Mattituck “with the blinker on and the driver waving her hand out of the window.” According to a police report, the vehicle is registered to a 68-year-old Cutchogue woman, “and this is her normal driving habit.”
Around 5 p.m., a patrol officer was flagged down with a report of a car parked on the shoulder of the road near the intersection of Main Road and Tabor Road in Orient with the hazard lights on. Police canvassed the area without success before visiting the home of the registered owner. The car owner, 73, of Greenport West, “was slightly agitated and not allowing [officers] to speak and explain the reason for coming to his home,” according to a police report. “He further state[d] that he is a beekeeper and parked his vehicle on the side of the road … due to snow.” No further action was taken.
Also around 5 p.m., police were called Main Road and Pequash Ave. in Cutchogue for a report of an erratic driver. The vehicle was gone when police arrived, but they contacted the vehicle owner, a 68-year-old Cutchogue woman, “who stated that she was okay and apologized for using her blinker in protest of the local churches,” according a report. She was “advised to use her blinkers appropriately.”
Feb. 6 – Shortly after midnight, a Deerfoot Path resident in Cutchogue contacted police to report “a heavy odor of smoke in the area.” Police and Cutchogue firefighters responded and canvassed the area. They determined the smell was coming from “smoke being emitted from multiple chimneys in the area.”
Around 11 a.m., a Middle Road store owner in Mattituck contacted police to report that an unknown male dumped five black garbage bags near her dumpster behind the business. The incident was captured on surveillance video, and upon investigation police found an Amazon box with a Breakwater Road address. Cops arrived at the listed address and found that the house appeared to be empty, but there was a damaged vehicle in the driveway. Police contacted the homeowner, who told them the name they found on the Amazon box was a friend of his son. He said the young man was staying at his home with his son “while they were filming a horror movie.” He apologized and vowed to contact a cousin on Bray Ave. to come pick up the garbage, and, failing that, he said he would drive out from Plainview himself that day to rectify the situation. The store owner was advised of the investigation’s findings, and was satisfied, according to a report.
All individuals named in police reports are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law. Charges may be reduced, dismissed or result in an acquittal.