This week’s police blotter reflects what appears to be a stepped-up enforcement effort tied to trustee oversight along the North Fork’s waterfront, with multiple summonses issued in quick succession for allegedly unpermitted bulkhead construction work on sensitive bluff and shoreline areas.
The cluster of enforcement actions, concentrated in Pebble Beach Farms in East Marion (pictured above) and focused on bulkheads and retaining walls, spotlights ongoing tension between coastal property owners and the regulations meant to govern erosion control and shoreline protection, where even small construction decisions can carry significant legal and environmental consequences.
March 23 – Around 3 a.m., while on routine patrol, a Southold officer observed a vehicle, parked, unoccupied and running at the North Ferry terminal in Greenport. A patrol officer attempted to contact the owner, a Greenport man, by phone, without success, according to a police report, which noted that the vehicle appeared to be running out of gas. The patrol officer shut off and locked the vehicle and left a voicemail for its owner.
Around 11 a.m., the owner of a commercial dumpster at a construction site on Main Road in Greenport contacted police to report illegal dumping. According to a report, the dumpster owner shared video footage of a white Chevy Tahoe throwing garbage and household items into the dumpster on March 15. The Tahoe’s license plate is registered to 61-year-old from Oakland Gardens, New York, who also has a residence in East Marion. Police spoke to the man’s wife, who said he would contact authorities when he got off work. The dumpster owner told police he wants the individual to pay for the removal of the trash and household items, the report said.
Three waterfront homeowners on The Strand in East Marion were ticketed last week for allegedly failing to secure permits to construct bulkheads and retaining walls on a bluff overlooking the Long Island Sound.
Around 11:15 a.m., police responded to a waterfront residence on The Strand in East Marion for a town trustee’s report of unpermitted work on a constructed bulkhead and retaining walls at the base of the bluff there. A police investigation alleges that the work began about a foot into the coast erosion area at the base of the bluff, and extended to the top of the bluff, according to a report — with retaining walls placed intermittently. Police contacted the homeowner, Demetrios Ziozis, 65, of East Marion, who was not at home at the time. According to the report, Ziozis said he was “aware of several permit-related issues” involving the property. He was issued several summonses related to the alleged violation, the report said. Twenty minutes later, also acting on a town trustee’s report, allegedly found a similar situation at a second residence on The Strand, where a constructed bulkhead and retaining walls had been built without the proper permits. That homeowner, Alex Koutsoubis, 80, of East Marion, also received summonses, according to the report, as did Nikolaos Katopodis, 59, of East Marion.
Also around 11:15 a.m., a Greenport contacted police to report a vehicle that he said had been parked near the corner of Webb St. and Second St. for over a month. Responding officers allegedly observed the car to be more than 12 inches from a curb and parked on a one-way street. They attempted to contact the vehicle owner, a 65-year-old Greenport man, without success, and subsequently issued the vehicle a parking violation.
Around 8 p.m., a 23-year-old Greenport West man contacted police to report an apparently stolen car key. The man told police he exited the King Kullen in Cutchogue and started his car, before returning to the supermarket, a routine he told police he regularly follows at the end of his work shift. He said that when he returned to his vehicle about 15 minutes later, the car was no long running and the key was nowhere to be found. The young man told police he didn’t know anyone who would take his key, and the supermarket manager said there were no security cameras that would have captured the incident.
March 24 – Around 11 a.m., police responded to a Narrow River Rd. residence in Orient for a trustee’s report that a shed was allegedly being constructed without the proper permits. Police issued a stop work order, according to a report, and contacted the owner. The owner asked police to serve the summonses to his attorney, as he was out of town, and police complied with the request, according to the report.
Around 4:30 p.m., police received a report a white pickup truck speeding in the parking lot of the Cutchogue East Elementary School, and passing four school busses with their lights on and their Stop signs deployed. Police canvassed the area in question without locating the vehicle. In a subsequent interview with a school official, the official told police that the father of a student was operating the vehicle, and that she had spoken with him and he was “remorseful about his actions,” saying that he was redirected to the western parking lot, and instead of driving out to Main Road and entering that area from the street, he “cut through the parking lot,” as he was “worried about picking up his son on time.” The official told police the man had apologized to her. No further action was taken, according to a report.
Around 5 p.m., a patrol officer allegedly witnessed a vehicle traveling westbound near Cox Lane and Main Road in Cutchogue with no registration sticker, and conducted a traffic stop. “Upon my initial approach, I observed the driver … actively smoking a marijuana blunt in my presence.” The driver, Shawn Collins, 37, of Gordon Heights, New York, told the officer he doesn’t have a driver license. “Due to Collins actively smoking marijuana while operating the vehicle,” the officer said he conducted standard field sobriety tests, which he said indicated no impairment. Collins was issued a number of summonses, according to a police report, and a passenger in the car who provided a valid driver’s license drove the car away.
Around 5:30 p.m., a Nassau Point Road resident contacted police to report that an unknown delivery driver came to her house and contacted her by phone to say he had delivered a package meant for a different address to her home, and “needed to return it or he would be in trouble.” The homeowner told police that she didn’t receive any packages not addressed to her, and gave an officer the driver’s phone number. When the driver gave the police the same story, he was advised that “he may be mistaken,” and was told not to return to the Nassau Point Road residence again. The driver acknowledged this and said he had contacted his supervisor, who said that everything “was fine.”
Around 6:30 p.m., police were called to a Breakwater Road residence in Mattituck for a landlord tenant dispute. According to a police report, a tenant in a shared living space claims he has been harassed by the landlord, who lives downstairs. The tenant told police he is “attempting to build a case against [the landlord] in the hopes of getting an order of protection” filed against her. The tenant had a security camera aimed at his personal belongings in the shared space, and claims the landlord “moved his camera to a different angle but did not damage it, put her own camera up next to [his], and did give the middle finger to the camera belonging to [him],” the report states. The landlord told police that the tenant’s camera had been facing the front door, not his personal property, and that she has a right to install cameras on her own property. She also told police, according to the report, that she doesn’t want the tenant living there. Police also interviewed the landlord’s father, who told police he pays the rent for the shared living space and allowed the tenant to sleep on the couch as a favor. The father said he would commence an eviction process to eject the tenant from the location. Police watched as both the tenant and the landlord took down their cameras.
March 25 – Around 5:30 p.m., police received a report of a vehicle failing to maintain its lane near Main Road and Peconic Lane in Southold. A responding officer located the vehicle and pulled over the driver — a Greenport West man — who told the officer he was swerving to avoid potholes in the road. The officer observed no signs of impairment in the driver, and no further action was taken.
Around 10 p.m., a Johnson Court resident in Greenport contacted police to report a vehicle performing a “burnout” in front of his house. A car burnout is the act of spinning a car’s wheels rapidly while remaining stationary, causing extreme friction that generates smoke and heat and leaves rubber marks in the road. Police located the vehicle in question. The 19-year-old driver told police he “had revved the engine because he was upset with [the Johnson Court resident’s teenage son] due to a prior dispute. The driver and his passenger were advised to avoid further confrontation with the Johnson Court teen, and the Johnson Court teen was advised to cease contacting the driver or the passenger.
March 27 – Around 12:45 p.m., a Greenport woman reported that her property was stolen from a white Toyota 4 Runner, which was parked on South St. in Greenport, and that she tracked the location of her allegedly stolen phone to a Bayview Farms in Aquebogue. She said that a white bag containing her cell phone, hundreds of dollars in cash, sunglasses, a bank card, two medical cards and a pistol permit. A 40-year-old Bronx man was questioned, and told police he found the white bag on the side of the road near Silvermere Road and Main Road. He said he was on his delivery route and planned to drop the bag off at a police station at the end of his shift. Everything except a folder containing the two medical cards, $100 cash, a state I.D. and the pistol permit were recovered, according to a police report, which noted that due to the Bronx man’s “cooperative demeanor,” no charges were filed in the case. Authorities returned to the area on South St. where the Greenport woman said her bag was taken, seeking security cameras that might have captured the incident, but were unsuccessful, according to the report.
Around 5:15 p.m, a 57-year-old Mattituck man reported to police headquarters to state that he “received numerous vaguely threatening text messages” from a 45-year-old Southold man, as well as multiple calls from a restricted number. The Mattituck man said that he had blocked the number that sente the messages. Police reviewed the messages, “which did not contain any threats of harm and did not constitute a criminal offense. The Matttiuck man said he did not want the Southold man contacted, but wanted the incident documented by police. No further action was taken.
March 28 – On routine patrol, an officer observed a vehicle failing to maintain its lane traveling eastbound on Middle Road in Cutchogue, according to a police report. During a traffic stop, Alkaleem Chavis, 37, of Mount Vernon was allegedly found to be intoxicated and was arrested for driving while intoxicated, according to the report.
March 29 – Around 2 a.m., a patrol officer was notified of an SUV traveling at a high rate of speed, and located a vehicle matching the description at the intersection of Route 48 and Depot Lane in Cutchogue. The patrol car followed the SUV east on Route 48, south on Ackerly Pond Lane, then north on Ackerly Pond Lane, and then east again on Route 48. While following the vehicle, according to a police report, the officer observed “multiple” traffic violations. When he turned on his sirens and lights at Route 48 and Youngs Ave., the SUV “fled south on Youngs Ave.,” and the patrol car gave chase, eventually losing sight of the SUV. A second officer located the vehicle in Greenport Village, also gave chase, and was able to identify the SUV’s license plate. A police sergeant “terminated the pursuit” near Route 48 and Hortons Lane, and the SUV was last seen driving south on Hortons Lane, according to the report.
Around 3 p.m., officers responded to a gas station on Main Road in Cutchogue for wellness check on a driver in a black Ford pickup truck. Responding officers observed the vehicle “to be involved in a minor … accident involving a dumpster,” according to a police report, and determined the driver to be intoxicated. Patrick Buckley, 68, of Cutchogue was arrested for allegedly driving while intoxicated.
Around. 8:30 p.m., police received a report of a vehicle failing to maintain its lane of travel near Chapel Lane and Main Road in Greenport West. A responding officer located the vehicle and allegedly also observed the vehicle failing to maintain its lane. Ariel Ochoa-Veliz, 36, of Greenport West, who police said had a strong odor of alcohol on his breath, bloodshot eyes and a half finished Modelo beer, “cold to the touch,” in the car. Ochoa-Veliz was arrested for alleged driving while intoxicated, according to the report.
In a previously unreported incident on Feb. 13, Greenport residents Latricia Lawrence, 47, and Victor Leverette, 61, were arrested for trespassing in the North Ferry terminal in Greenport.