Employee Charged With Theft

New York State troopers arrested a Southampton Town Highway Department employee on Friday following an investigation into stolen material and the use of a payloader after business hours.

A GPS that monitors the movements of town equipment alerted town officials that a payloader at the highway yard on Corwith Avenue in Bridgehampton was moved on March 10 after hours. Trooper Frank Bandiero, a public information officer for the state police, said an investigation revealed that Roosevelt Sykes, a 47-year-old listed in town records as an automotive equipment operator, had accessed the yard and used the payloader to remove material from a pile of asphalt millings, put it in a pickup truck, and take it to his home in Riverhead. 

Mr. Sykes was charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and petty larceny, misdemeanors, and trespassing, a violation. He was released from the Riverside barracks with an appearance ticket and is due in Southampton Town Justice Court on May 4.

State police conducted the investigation rather than Southampton Town police because Mr. Sykes is a town employee, Mr. Bandiero said. Highway Superintendent Alex Gregor did not return a request for comment.