Southold police were kept busy last week with an eclectic mix of calls — from a mangled lawn mower on Main Street and an alleged cemetery trespass to a Greenport gas station heist and a 10-year-old who threw a fit and called 911 to complain that his mother had made him late for a costume party. Even the waters off Plum Island got in on the act, serving up a pair of real-life rescue dramas.
On Oct. 20, police were contacted by the caretaker of a private property on Main St. in Greenport who found a “badly damaged, broken and [apparently] abandoned” lawn mower and various lawn maintenance equipment on the corner of the property next to the road. A responding officer determined the equipment appeared to be on Greenport Village property and contacted the village to have it removed.
On Oct. 20, police were called to a residence on Cox Neck Road in Mattituck for a report of a sunken sailboat at a neighboring dock. A responding officer observed a 35-foot Bristol sailboat “fully submerged but … secured to the dock.” Police worked with the town assessor’s office to contact the owner, who said he would send a crew later that day to retrieve the vessel.
On Oct. 20, a restaurant owner in Southold contacted police to report a theft of services. The owner said someone placed an online food order totaling $71.01 using what he described as a fake name, email and phone number. A teenager familiar to him — identified in the report as a 12-year-old — came to pick up the order but could not provide the name on the receipt. The youth later disputed the charge with the credit card company and had the money refunded, according to the restaurant owner, who said the young man was part of a group that had previously bullied a young female. The owner told police he is installing surveillance cameras in the restaurant to guard against future theft attempts.
On Oct. 21, a 21-year-old Mattituck man allegedly stole another Mattituck man’s car from Mattituck Plaza and was later involved in a car accident in Riverhead from which he allegedly fled. Riverhead police conducted a traffic stop on Route 58 and determined the 21-year-old was driving the car without permission. The owner, who told police he had left the keys in the car before it was taken, signed a stolen vehicle affidavit. The case was processed by Riverhead police, according to a report.
At about 1:30 a.m. Oct. 21, a Skunk Lane resident in Cutchogue called police to report smoke in his house. Police and Cutchogue firefighters responded. “A kettle that was cooking on the stove was the cause of the smoke,” police said.
On Oct. 21, an East Marion resident who said she had had prior issues with hunters on her property told police she observed, through a Ring camera, a dark pickup truck drive up her driveway as two men emerged and approached her residence. She activated her home alarm system, and the men got back into the truck and left. Police reviewing the footage determined the vehicle to be a dark or black Chevrolet Silverado with a Southold waste disposal permit in the passenger-side rear window. Police said they will “attempt to identify the vehicle during routine patrols.”
On Oct. 22, an 18-year-old Mattituck man called police to say he had watched through a surveillance camera as a man was “walking around his boat” docked off West Mill Road in Mattituck. The camera had an audio function, and when the teen told him to leave, “he said no.” A responding officer was unable to locate anyone fitting the description in the area.
On Oct. 22, a Cutchogue resident running in next week’s elections reported the theft of political signs from the front yard. No cameras were in place to capture the incident, according to a report.
On Oct. 22, a man previously charged with threatening people with a machete — and more recently, menacing Greenport’s mayor with a broomstick outside Village Hall — was arrested again last week. While on patrol, police conducted a traffic stop on Main Road in Greenport West. The driver, Luis Ramirez-Morales, 21, of Southold, was arrested for alleged driving while intoxicated. Passenger Roberto Bachez-Reyes, 43, with no known address, was arrested after he repeatedly tried to leave the scene after being told he was being detained. Bachez-Reyes, who is well known to local police, is part of a group of men who congregate and drink alcohol in the Adams St. parking lot in Greenport.
On Oct. 23, the owner of a gas station on Main St. in Greenport West reported a burglary. According to a police report, around 4 a.m. that morning, a suspect pulled into the station in a white pickup truck and forced entry through the front door by breaking the glass and the locked key box. The suspect stole $2,799 in cash and two packs of Marlboro Red 100s before fleeing in an unknown direction. An employee discovered the theft around 4:30 a.m. Detectives are investigating.
On Oct. 23, a resident at an apartment complex on North St. in Greenport contacted police to say she was being harassed by two Greenport residents. She signed a notice of trespass against Stanley Lawrence, 57, of Greenport.
On Oct. 23 around 6 p.m., a Cutchogue man reported that “an adult male with long hair and a beard [was] walking in the median” near Middle Road and Elijahs Lane. A responding officer located a man fitting that description walking eastbound along the shoulder of Route 48. The man told police he was out for a walk and on his way home. No further action was deemed necessary.
On Oct. 24, police received a report of a man sleeping on the sidewalk on Main St. in Greenport. Police determined the subject to be a local man with no known address, who collected his belongings and left the area, according to a report.
On Oct. 24, Rogelio Puluc-Sinay, 52, of Laurel, and Hector Villagran, 64, with no known address, were arrested for allegedly trespassing in a cemetery on Main Road in Mattituck.
On Oct. 24, Marcus Ameden, 40, of Greenport, was arrested on narcotics charges following the execution of a search warrant by the East End Drug Task Force and Southold police at a residence on Knapp Place in Greenport.
On Oct. 24, a Southold 10-year-old called police, crying, because his mother had apparently made him “late to the trunk-or-treat event at Cutchogue Elementary School,” according to a police report. As Southold police respond in person to every 911 call, an officer visited the home and interviewed the child in the presence of his mother — and determined there was no emergency. The child told the officer his mother “got him Chinese food and he felt better afterwards.” The officer told the child that 911 is only for emergencies.
On Oct. 24, a New Suffolk resident contacted police to report that while walking along Main St. near Second St., she noticed a 66-year-old neighbor “having trouble returning home with her walker.” When she offered to assist, the neighbor “yelled and cursed at her” before entering her residence. The witness told police she was concerned because the neighbor had never acted that way before. A responding officer determined the woman was intoxicated, though she promised to remain inside her home for the evening, according to the report.
On Oct. 25, police received a report of men drinking in Mitchell Park in Greenport. A responding officer allegedly observed Ramon Rodriguez, 41, with no known address, holding an open container of alcohol and issued a village summons.
On Oct. 25, a Greenport woman reported finding “two identical Connecticut driver’s licenses” in the Adams St. parking lot. Police, who took possession of the licenses, said they could not locate records matching the information.
On Oct. 25, a town employee reported vandalism inside a shed at Jean Cochran Park in Peconic. A locking latch on the barn door was damaged, according to the report, and cans of blue marking paint were used to graffiti the interior walls and water jugs. The town employee noted that since a local soccer club moved to a different field, the shed has been left unattended for several weeks.
On Oct. 25, a Bray Ave. resident in Laurel reported that a man was passed out on her property. Police located Jose Arias Gregorio, 62, with no known address, “in the bushes on the side of the residence.” Police determined he was intoxicated, and he left the area after refusing medical attention.
On Oct. 25, police responded to a report of a multi-person fight on North Road in Greenport. The fight apparently began when Michael Minutillo, 69, of Freehold, N.J., struck a 35-year-old Culver City, Calif., woman across the face. She pressed charges, and Minutillo was arrested.
Around 5 a.m. Oct. 26, a Southold police marine unit responded to the north side of Plum Island for a report of a sinking vessel with three people aboard “preparing to abandon ship.” The U.S. Coast Guard, Suffolk County police aviation unit and Orient Fire Department also responded. By the time Southold police arrived, the Coast Guard had removed the three people from the boat, which remained partially submerged with about eight feet “still exposed above the water surface.”
Around 9 a.m. the same day, a Southold police marine unit responded to a report of two people in the water after their vessel overturned when it was struck by a wave near Main Road in Orient. Upon arrival, the pair were being assisted by a Southold police officer and members of the East Marion Fire Department. One man was taken to a nearby hospital to be evaluated for hypothermia, and the other declined medical assistance.
Just before midnight Oct. 26, police were called to a Main Road location in Mattituck by Puluc-Sinay — arrested two days earlier for trespassing in a cemetery — who was now claiming he had not been paid for work he did for a Mattituck man. Upon arrival, Puluc-Sinay was too intoxicated to explain how much he believed he was owed, according to a police report. The Mattituck man told police he had hired Puluc-Sinay to put protective paper on the windows of a nearby building ahead of a paint job but dismissed him because he was intoxicated, paying him about $100 and telling him to leave. Puluc-Sinay then knocked on the man’s door on three occasions demanding to be paid, and on one occasion threatened to vandalize the man’s truck if he wasn’t paid, according to the report. The man signed a notice of trespass against Puluc-Sinay.
In county law enforcement news, the Southold Police Dept., in conjunction the Suffolk County Police Dept. (SCPD) and the state Dept. of Transportation, conducted an enforcement operation on Saturday, Oct. 25, on the Long Island Expressway and in Southold, targeting passenger-carrying vehicles. Law enforcement officials inspected 10 passenger-carrying vehicles and placed two of the 10 out of service for failure to comply with federal and state transportation requirements, according to a SCPD press release. One of those vehicles was towed due to a suspended state registration, authorities said. The release said that 17 property-carrying vehicles were also inspected during the operation, and six were put out of service for state and federal violations.
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.
I would like to nominate for a Nobel Peace Prize the Southold police officer who responded to the irate 10-year-old victim of the elementary school Trunk-or-Treat pre-Halloween fiasco. I also would like to nominate for a Pulitzer Prize the journalist who reported, wrote and possibly even edited that story — recognizing the investigative journalism that revealed “The child told the officer his mother ‘got him Chinese food and he felt better afterwards.’” Who doesn’t love a happy ending?
“with no known address”. Does this mean that these men are homeless?