Joseph R. Dowling of Sag Harbor, 24, has been indicted on two felony charges citing the sale of heroin to an undercover agent. The indictment will be unsealed today in the courtroom of Justice Timothy Mazzei in Suffolk County Court, Riverside. Bail will be set at that time.
According to his file in Sag Harbor Village Justice Court, Mr. Dowling, who has been in jail since July 23, confessed to detectives that he had used a mailbox at 33 Lighthouse Lane, near his house on Brandywine Drive, to drop off a quantity of heroin, and returned a while later to pick up his payment. “It was easier to put the stuff in the mailbox because no one was at the house behind where I live,” he said.
On Aug. 18, Mr. Dowling is scheduled to appear in East Hampton Town Justice Court to face charges of violating probation. He was sentenced in February to three years’ probation after pleading guilty to reduced charges stemming from a 2014 incident; he was originally charged with two felony drug counts.
Another 24-year-old on probation, Frederic Stephens Jr. of East Hampton, was arrested Sunday morning at closing time outside the Memory Motel in Montauk, where the rapper Busta Rhymes had performed a set. Mr. Stephens reportedly confronted the arresting officers, telling them, “I’ll knock you out. You know that. We’re bangers. We will bang you right now, blue.”
Police said he refused to be handcuffed after being charged with disorderly conduct, and that after they did handcuff him, he refused to walk to the patrol car. Two officers reportedly picked him up and carried him to the back seat. As he was being put inside, he allegedly kicked an officer in the leg, bringing on a second violation charge, harassment, as well as a more serious count, resisting arrest, a misdemeanor.
His probation status followed a prior guilty plea on felony drug charges. East Hampton Town Justice Stephen Tekulsky set bail at $100, which was posted.