Another rogue dock, a car gone missing after a boozy evening on the town, a suspected dumpster rendezvous, a pants-free motorist, a senior prank – cold busted – and a Greenport feud that just won’t seem to die all found their way into this week’s Southold Town police blotter. Authorities also investigated a stabbing at a Greenport gas station, a bicycle theft, multiple neighbor disputes and a string of incidents that underscored the often unpredictable rhythm of summer on the North Fork.
June 15 – Around 8:30 a.m., a 61-year-old Cutchogue man told police he was “unable to locate his vehicle after becoming intoxicated” and taking an Uber home the previous evening. Police were able to locate his car and direct him to its location.
Around 11:30 a.m., a Southold police marine unit responded to a waterfront home on Leeton Drive, next to Kenney’s Beach, for a report of a floating dock section drifting in the waters off the property. The dock has no identifying marks, but based on its construction, police believe it may have floated across the Long Island Sound from Connecticut. Police determined it was not a navigational hazard, and that in the coming tide cycle, the dock section would likely either wash up fully or float back to Connecticut. Two days later, it washed up on McCabe’s Beach, about a half a mile up the shore. Police arranged for the town’s Department of Public Works to respond the following day and retrieve and dispose of the dock section, according to a report.
Around 2:30 p.m., a 61-year-old Chester, N.Y. woman arrived at police headquarters to report a possible phone scam involving a brother and sister. The woman told police she had received a call from her brother in Allentown, P.A., who said “the local courts have a gag order on him and he needs $3,000 sent to him.” The woman said she was concerned for her brother’s well-being. Southold police contacted Allentown police, who did a wellness check and explained to the 54-year-old man that he is the “victim of a phone scam.”
Around 3 p.m., police received a 911 call from the phone of a 40-year-old Palm Coast, Florida man, coming from the vicinity of Mattituck High School. Police and school staff canvassed the area for signs of anyone in distress, without success. Efforts to reach the man by calling back his phone were also unsuccessful.
Romance behind the movie theater?
Around 4 p.m., police were called to Mattituck Plaza for a report of two young men and two young woman “possibly fornicating near the dumpsters behind the movie theater.” A responding officer went to the location and spoke to all four people. They stated that they were “just hanging out and that there were no sexual acts committed.” They said they come to the plaza “twice a week after school to get Starbucks and hang out.” The property manager who made the original complaint told police that the young people have left garbage at the location in the past, and requested that they leave. All four left without incident, according to a police report.
Around 6 p.m., Riverhead police contacted their counterparts in Southold to report a 911 call coming from an area along Sound Ave. in Mattituck, in which the caller stated that he “wanted to put bullets in his head.” A police officer and a sergeant canvassed the area around where the call pinged from, but were unable to locate anyone in distress. Numerous attempts to call back the number were unsuccessful. While police were able to identify the owner of the phone by a first initial and a last name, he could not immediately be located.
Around 9:30 p.m., police were called back to Mattituck High School, for a report of a group of youths “toilet papering” the school. Seemingly caught red-handed, the teens cracked quickly, admitting “they were doing a senior prank and they would clean it up,” according to a police report. The responding officer waited while the young people cleaned up the mess, and a custodian called to the scene checked the property and found no other issues, according to the report.
June 16 – Around 9:15 a.m., police received a Flock camera alert, and initiated a traffic stop on Wickham Ave. in Mattituck. Driver Lindsay Beale, 44, of Hampton Bays, was found to be driving with a suspended registration due to no insurance. The car was towned and Beale was issued a ticket for driving with a suspended registration, according to a report.
Poison?
Around 9:30 a.m., police were called to a home on Pequash Ave. in Cutchogue about an ongoing neighbor dispute. The 64-year-old homeowner told police her neighbor “had been spraying poison and that she was concerned for her well-being.” Upon further investigation, the woman explained that “whatever they were spraying on the roof of her neighbors shed was going to kill the plants in her yard and possible harm her dog or fish in her pond.” She told police she had cameras “all around her house” due to ongoing tension with the neighbors, and that on June 3, she recorded a landscaping company, which she said “sprayed the roof of her neighbor’s shed, causing some of the moss to fall of the roof and into her plants.” She said she intended to call the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration and “notify the DEC.” The homeowner was advised that this is a civil matter and that there was “no property damage nor damage caused by whatever was sprayed on the roof of the shed.” Police offered to follow up if there were further issues with the neighbors, and the homeowner was “content.”
Around noon, a 72-year-old Greenport woman arrived at police headquarters to report that a fraudulent check had been written in her name, and money withdrawn from her savings account. She told police she does not have checks linked to the account in question, and got no warnings or alerts from the bank that holds her accounts. She was advised to speak directly with the bank management. A detective was notified, according to a report.
U.S. Open ferry traffic frustrations
Around 1 p.m., a Sixth St. resident in Greenport contacted police over complaints about ferry traffic. She told police she has a very young baby and that the neighborhood is being plagued by the sound of honking horns. She said the drivers waiting on the ferry line “become agitated” when people pull into the ferry line from Sixth St. onto Wiggins St. The woman said the situation was so bad that she herself was “doing traffic control.” The woman “was advised not to do that in the future.”
Around 8:30 p.m., police were called to Veterans Beach in Mattituck, for a report of “youths partying and drinking.” When police arrived, the hot-footed hedonists were gone, according to a report.
June 17 – Around 11 a.m., police and Mattituck firefighters were called to a location on Sound Ave. in Mattituck, for a report of a fire. A responding officer observed the owner of the property “burning wood and insulation on a self-made fire pit.” Mattituck firefighters extinguished the fire, and a fire marshal issued a stop work order, telling the man he needs to obtain a building permit to continue any construction at the site.
Just before midnight, police received a report of possible gunshots or fireworks in the area of Bittersweet Lane in Peconic. Responding officers canvassed the area without success.
Damaged flower beds
June 18 – Around 6 p.m. an East Marion resident contacted police to report that she could see an unknown individual performing work on her property through her security camera. A responding officer found a PSEG employee there, who said a large tree has fallen onto the woman’s property, bringing down utility wires, and that he couldn’t access the damages wires without going on her property. He said he needed to be on the property to complete the repairs. A police officer conveyed all this information to the East Marion woman, who “was displeased and stated that [the PSEG worker] was trespassing and damaging her flower beds.” The officer advised the woman that accessing her property was necessary to repair the wires. “Despite the explanation, [she] remained dissatisfied with the situation and stated that she intended to contact PSEG to file a complaint.
Around 8 p.m., police received a report of “vehicles speeding up and down Jockey Creek Drive” in Southold, which gave a description of the car. The description matched a car known to be owned by a 54-year-old Southold, so authorities went to his home, according to a police report. He told them his friend had been driving the car, “but that he was not driving.” Police told him they had descriptions of two cars that were allegedly speeding up and down the street. He was advised to refrain from speeding and unsafe driving, and the man told them he understood and would relay the warning to his friend, a 34-year-old Southold man. Police were not able to immediately locate the younger man at his home address, according to a police report.
The sound and the fury
June 19 – A 43-year-old Greenport West man has turned up in police reports for the fourth time in two weeks. Around 1 a.m., police were called to the parking lot of a waterfront restaurant at the end of Main Road in Greenport. A 54-year-old Greenport man told police the younger man “approached his property line, at which point a verbal dispute ensured. The complainant told police the Greenport West man “acted confrontational toward him and yelled, ‘You’re a f—ing p—-. Step over the property line and let’s solve this now. It’s only a matter of time I catch you off your property!,” according to a police report. A witness confirmed the incident as described to police. The Greenport West man “denied threatening [the complainant] or intending to cause him harm. During the interview, the Greenport West man “appeared intoxicated,” according to a police report, and was advised not to operate his vehicle, which was parked nearby. The Greenport West man left the area on foot without further incident.
Later the same day, around 6 p.m., the Greenport West man returned to the Front St. business owned by the original complainant, where the Greenport West man’s partner has worked for years, and was allegedly “visibly intoxicated and threatened the store owner again. While the store owner originally declined to press charges, he told police that evening that he will do so if the Greenport West man’s behavior continues. The case remains open and investigation is pending, according to a report.
About a week earlier, on June 12, around 11:30 p.m., the same complainant called police on the same Greenport West man. According to a police report, the Greenport West man came into the complainant’s Front St. establishment and caused a disturbance, one of “numerous times [he has] caused problems” at the restaurant in recent weeks. A notice of trespass was signed against the Greenport West man, barring him from entering the establishment again without risking arrest. About four hours later, he called police to report “his wife passed out” in a car in the parking lot of same waterfront restaurant where the Greenport West man allegedly called the complainant a slur last week.
Got pants?
June 19 – Around 2 p.m., police were called to the corner of Middle Road and Wickham Ave. in Mattituck for a report of a “male with his pants off standing outside of his vehicle.” Police units canvassed the area but were unable to locate the allegedly pants-free man.
Stabbing in Greenport
Around 4:30 p.m., police responded to a gas station on Main St. in Greenport West for a report of a fight, and found a 34-year-old Greenport West man suffering from “an apparent stab wound to the lower back.” Greenport Fire Dept. medics responded and provided medical treatment at the scene. Upon further investigation, according to a police report, it appears the victim and a Greenport man, 33 and well-known to police, got into a verbal argument that escalated. The Greenport man “produced a knife and stabbed [the victim] once in his lower back,” before fleeing the scene. Detectives later located and interviewed the 33-year-old, and investigation is ongoing, according to a report.
Blinded by the light?
Around 9 p.m., police received a report of a vehicle traveling northbound on Kenney’s Road that “nearly struck” a family on foot, while attempting to make a left turn onto North Sea Drive. The 68-year-old Southold man was apologetic about the incident, according to a police report, and said that the setting sun impaired his visibility and he didn’t see the family until the last moment. Reached by phone, the father of the family insisted that the driver “had a marijuana joint in his mouth, that the vehicle smelled strongly of marijuana and that [the driver] was absolutely incoherent.” Police requested the family’s location to do an in-person interview, but the father refused to provide any information about himself or his family, according to the report. He insisted on speaking to the officer’s immediate supervisor. “Although [the driver] has recently exited the showers, [the officer] did not detect the odor of marijuana on [the driver’s] body.” Throughout the interview, the police report notes, the driver was “coherent and responsive.” The family was contacted again, and again asked for an in-person interview. The father, according to a police report, “continued to refuse and expressed significant dissatisfaction before the conversation concluded.”
June 20 – Around 6 p.m., police received a report of a bicycle stolen from the bike rack in front of a Greenport grocery store on South St. Police interviewed staff, who told them there were no security cameras outside the building.
June 21 – Around 6:30 a.m. police were called to Inlet Pond County Park for a report of four individuals fishing on the beach. The individuals, from Flanders, Mastic and Riverside, were advised that fishing is not permitted on the beach, and they left without incident.
