A mysterious backyard intruder turned out to be the pool guy, two lovestruck rivals settled their differences with a wrestling match in a Southold store and a Greenport shoplifting suspect blamed his medication for a disappearing bracelet and pair of gloves. Elsewhere on the North Fork this week, a dog named Otis became a clue in a trespassing investigation, a stranded boater rowed himself to safety and a Cutchogue landlord posed a rather unsettling question about ambulance rides. Just another week on the beat for Southold’s Finest.
Oct. 19 – Around 7 a.m., police responded to a location on Main Road in Southold for a report of a vehicle fire. A 36-year-old Southold woman told cops she was driving when she noticed smoke emanating from the hood of her car. She pulled over, she said, and got out before the vehicle was “fully engulfed in flames,” according to a police report. Southold firefighters responded and extinguished the blaze, and the driver was uninjured.
Too close for comfort
Around 11 a.m., police were called to an apartment complex on North Road in Greenport West to settle the latest dispute between neighbors there. According to a police report, a 35-year-old man told police his neighbors – a married couple – “constantly instigate arguments by making derogatory comments in his presence while he is outside his residence.” Yet the neighboring couple insisted the man “is an agitator and purposely creates a disturbance outside of his residence by talking loudly and making negative comments in reference” to the pair. A police report notes that the feuding neighbors “are known to not get along and have had issues with each other in the past.” Each side was advised to avoid the other while management “attempts to relocate or move” the married couple “to avoid further conflict.”
Around noon, police were called to Ruch Lane in Southold for a report of “screaming” at a resident’s house. The caller told responding officers that he heard screaming coming from next door around 9 a.m. Officers interviewed that neighbor, who said he had simply been calling his dog, and confirmed he was okay.
Around 2:30 p.m., police were called to an inn on North Road in Greenport West after the owner reported that someone had entered the lobby of the inn, walked into the kitchen and begun asking for food. Police were able to identify the individual, a 53-year-old East Marion man. They made contact with him and advised him that a notice of trespass was being signed against him by the inn’s owners, meaning that if he returned there, he could be arrested.
Oct. 20 – Around 8:15 a.m., Southold Town police responded to a property on Narrow River Road in Orient at the request of the Town Trustees, following a complaint about possible ongoing construction on an unpermitted shed. The property owner, a 61-year-old Rye man, told police he was in Berlin, Germany, and that a tarp covering the shed had blown off during a recent storm, exposing Tyvek house wrap installed before the storm. He denied that any additional work had been done. The Trustees confirmed that the original complaint concerned the visible Tyvek, not new construction. Police noted that the shed was already the subject of a pending court case and found no evidence of additional work. No further action was taken.
A pane in the glass
Around 6 p.m., police received a report of a broken window and broken door at a residence on Wiggins St. in Greenport. Police caught up with the tenant, who acknowledged that he was “out drinking” the night before and returned home around 1:30 a.m. to find the door handle broken off. He admitted to police that he broke a window to gain entrance to his residence, according to a police report, and said he had already arranged for the window to be repaired.
Oct. 22 – Around 10:15 a.m., an 84-year-old Fishers Island man called Southold Town police to report a sailboat that had been anchored about 150 yards offshore for two days. The man said he had seen someone aboard the boat struggling with its sail on Oct. 20 and hadn’t noticed any activity since. Responding officers found the sailboat still anchored, with no one aboard and no signs of distress. Police were unable to identify the boat’s owner through its Massachusetts registration and planned to continue monitoring the vessel.
Around 6:30 p.m., police received multiple reports of a tractor-trailer pulling down a wire near Main Road and New Suffolk Ave. in Mattituck. A responding officer located the downed wire, which was blocking road passage on Deep Hole Drive and Blossom Drive. A nearby resident, who didn’t witness the incident, showed cops tire marks on his grass, two overturned boulders and broken tree branches. Police deployed cones and contacted Optimum to complete repairs on the downed lines.
A bracelet, a muffin and a kiss
Around 9:15 p.m., police were called to a store on Front St. in Greenport for a report of shoplifting. Responding officers were shown video of a 68-year-old Northwest Harbor, N.Y., man “placing a bracelet and a pair of gloves in his vest pocket,” according to a police report. A responding officer made contact with the man and “proceeded to remove said items from [the man’s] vest.” The store owner signed a trespass order against the man, who told police his medication “leaves him confused and doing things he does not remember,” the report said. He sought medical attention and was transported by Greenport firefighters to a nearby hospital. The next day, around 1:30 p.m., the manager of a Front St. coffee shop in Greenport called police to report that the same man “had been harassing customers and kissed the hand of one employee, which made the employee feel uncomfortable,” according to a subsequent report. The Northwest Harbor man told police “he was only being friendly and had kissed the hand of the employee after she had given him a muffin.” Police advised the man that he was no longer welcome at the coffee shop, and he left without incident.
Dial ‘M’ for missing evidence
Oct. 23 – Around 2:30 a.m., a 19-year-old Hampton Bays man called Southold police to report that someone who turned up on his phone as “No Caller ID” left a message threatening him with “a gun or knife.” The Hampton Bays man told police he believed the threats came from a 20-year-old Greenport man, who he said was dating his ex-girlfriend, 19, of Riverhead. But the Hampton Bays man couldn’t produce the threatening voicemail, repeatedly changed his account of what happened and claimed another recording was on the phone of a Center Moriches woman — which he also couldn’t produce, according to a police report. The Riverhead woman told police she’d received calls from unknown numbers but had no contact with the Hampton Bays man. She said he had been repeatedly calling her throughout the night and that she had pending charges against him with Riverhead police over similar behavior. With no recording, corroborating witnesses or other evidence of any threats, police closed the investigation.
Around 5 p.m., police were called to Bailie Beach Road, where a Mattituck Parks District employee reported a possible burglary at the Scout lodge there. Someone apparently entered the lodge, which was unlocked, and kicked in a wooden basement door. Tiles were also taken down but not damaged, according to a report. Nothing appeared to be missing, according to the employee. An investigation is pending, according to police.
Around 10:30 p.m., police responded to a residence on Green Hill Lane in Greenport West after a homeowner told police he saw on his surveillance camera an unknown subject, who appeared to be wearing a black hoodie and holding a flashlight and “something that looked like a knife,” entering a gate into his backyard. The homeowner said a white Jeep Wrangler had pulled into his driveway an hour before, “but quickly left.” Multiple units responded, including a K-9 dog and police drones, which scanned the area from above while cops canvassed on the ground, without locating a suspect. The next day, the homeowner called police and said the individual in the hoodie was a pool company employee who was there to shut off the water.
A life lost off Southold’s shores
Oct. 24 – Around 7:15 a.m., Southold Town police responded to a boating accident east of Southold Town Beach that left a 48-year-old Corona, Queens, man dead. According to police, Luis Alciviades Encalada Ojeda was fishing with two others aboard a small boat when it began taking on water. All three entered the water, but the 48-year-old drowned after attempting to retrieve belongings from the sinking vessel. Emergency responders located the man on the beach, where he was pronounced dead. The two other boaters were treated at the scene and were uninjured. The Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s Office responded to assist with the investigation.
Around 11 a.m., a 48-year-old Brooklyn man called Southold Town police to report a kayaker in distress near the eastern end of Truman’s Beach in Orient. Police and the Orient Fire Department responded, but by the time they arrived, two men aboard the sinking kayak had been rescued by a passing blue-and-white boat. The men, a 27-year-old Brooklyn resident and a 23-year-old man who refused to provide his address, were brought safely ashore by Orient firefighters. Neither reported injuries or requested medical attention. Police Marine Unit officers towed the sinking kayak back to shore without further incident.
At about 11:30 a.m., a Southold Democratic Committee member arrived at police headquarters to report that several electoral signs had been removed from the side of Main Road near Peconic Lane overnight and “replaced with approximately 15 Republican signs.” Police checked surveillance cameras in the area, but none were facing the area where the incident took place. A police report said that “there are no further investigative leads at this time.”
Around 3:30 p.m., a 63-year-old Chappaqua man called Southold Town police after his boat’s engine failed about 300 feet off the private beach at Peconic Landing in Greenport. The man, who was alone aboard, was attempting to row ashore using emergency oars when officers arrived. He made it safely to the beach without assistance or injury and told police he expected to have the engine repaired or replaced the following morning. Officers then gave him a ride to Truman’s Beach in Orient, where he had launched the boat, so he could retrieve his vehicle and trailer.
Love hurts
Around 7 p.m., police responded to a Main Road store in Southold for a report of a fight. Responding officers reviewed store surveillance video and “observed two males wrestling in the store.” Police then located the two combatants, “who stated that they were involved in a verbal argument over a girl they both liked and it turned physical.” Both parties “were calm, and agreed to call the police if the need arose.”
Oct. 25 – Around 1:30 a.m., police responded to a motor vehicle accident on Main Road in Southold. The driver, who was injured, “admitted to drinking alcoholic beverages,” had an odor of alcohol and bloodshot, glassy eyes, according to a police report. Vincent Pomara, 53, with no known address, was arrested for alleged driving while intoxicated. Field sobriety tests were not performed due to his injuries, and he was transported to a local hospital in the company of police.
A dog named Otis on the wrong side of the law
Around 11:45 a.m., a 62-year-old Southold woman called police to report that two people walking dogs had been repeatedly crossing her property on North Parish Drive to reach the beach. The woman said the trespassing had been going on for several weeks and that her security cameras had captured the pair, including audio of one calling a dog named “Otis.” She told police she had never given them permission to cross her property and wanted them warned to stay away, but declined to press charges or post no-trespassing signs. Responding officers searched the area but couldn’t locate the dog walkers. Police advised her to call again the next time her cameras spotted them.
Around 7 p.m., Southold Town police responded to a landlord-tenant dispute on Main Road in Cutchogue. A 69-year-old woman told officers that her 83-year-old landlord had confronted her husband about an unfamiliar woman’s car blocking the driveway, which belonged to the couple’s son. Although the car was moved without incident, the tenant said the landlord became upset and asked her husband, “Do you like driving in ambulances?” She interpreted the remark as a threat. The landlord denied threatening anyone but acknowledged that an earlier conversation with the husband may have become heated over the couple’s unpaid rent. Police advised both parties that the dispute was a civil matter and took no further action.
Oct. 28 – Around 9 p.m., Southold Town police responded to a head-on collision on Route 48 near Elijah’s Lane involving an 80-year-old Southold man driving eastbound in the westbound lane. According to police, the man’s 2018 Ford struck a 2020 Chevrolet driven by a 23-year-old Brightwaters man who was traveling westbound in the proper lane. The Southold man was airlifted by Suffolk County police helicopter to Stony Brook University Hospital for treatment of his injuries, while the younger driver was transported by ambulance to Peconic Bay Medical Center. The extent of their injuries was not disclosed.
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.
