In Jail for the Holidays

Last Thursday was the final day in 2014 for criminal cases to be adjudicated in East Hampton Town Justice Court. Several men learned that day that they would be spending the holidays, as well as the next few months, in county jail after being sentenced for various misdemeanor crimes.

Michael J. Perrone, 48, who is originally from Oakdale but has split much of his time this year between Montauk and the county jail, was sentenced to two six-month terms, to run concurrently. It was the second time this year that he had been sentenced to jail by East Hampton Town Justice Lisa R. Rana.

The latest sentences were for two unrelated events in October. First, on Oct. 3, he was arrested on a felony charge of criminal mischief for vandalizing a 1996 BMW parked behind the Memory Motel in Montauk, following an altercation with the car’s owner. Ten days later, he was arrested again, this time on a misdemeanor charge of possessing stolen property — a Hampton Cruiser bicycle that had gone missing from downtown Montauk a few days earlier. Last Thursday, he pleaded guilty to both crimes, with the criminal mischief charge being lowered to the misdemeanor level.

Justice Rana had sentenced Mr. Perrone to 90 days earlier this year after he had been charged with several misdemeanors in Montauk.

Beyond East Hampton Town Justice Court, though, Mr. Perrone has more legal problems on his hands. Just days after his October arrests in Montauk, he was picked up by Suffolk County police on a number of charges stemming from several incidents UpIsland, including a charge of felony burglary. He has been in jail ever since that arrest. Those cases are still pending in county court in Riverside. Mr. Perrone is being held at the jail there.

 

Two Grand in Razors

Sanusi A. Jalloh of Hempstead, who turns 42 on Sunday, also received a six-month sentence. He pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of petty larceny. He had been facing two felony charges of grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property. On July 1, wearing a heavy winter coat, he entered the CVS drugstore in East Hampton Village and stuffed the inside of the coat with $2,000 worth of Gillette Fusion razors.

As with Mr. Perrone, he also has legal problems elsewhere, having been arrested by Nassau County police on multiple misdemeanor charges in October. He is being held in Nassau County jail.

A third man was sentenced to six months by Justice Rana, though somewhat reluctantly and with a hope for a better future. As part of his sentence for violating the terms of probation, Christopher J. Piacentine, 23, is going into a mandatory substance-abuse program called STOP D.W.I., STOP referring to a Special Traffic Options Program.

Sometimes, Justice Rana told Mr. Piacentine, jail can be “the catalyst to turn someone’s life around. You’re going into jail, and you’re going into STOP D.W.I. When you get out, that is going to be the really hard part.”

 

Asleep in a Minivan

A man charged with misdemeanor drunken driving in East Hampton now faces much more serious charges at the county court level. Sean MacDonnell, assistant district attorney, told the court last Thursday that the local charge against Jungsik Lee is being dropped because he has been indicted on several felony charges stemming from the incident.

Mr. Lee, 60, of Elmhurst, Queens, was the driver of a minivan headed west on Pantigo Road on Aug. 17 with three passengers inside when he allegedly fell asleep behind the wheel, causing the vehicle to crash into a lamppost between Gay Lane and Accabonac Road. All three passengers ended up at Stony Brook University Hospital with internal injuries, while Mr. Lee was taken to Southampton Hospital.

Mr. Lee was arraigned on Aug. 19 on the misdemeanor charge by East Hampton Town Justice Steven Tekulsky, who had been one of the firemen who rescued Mr. Lee’s friends. Mr. Lee told Justice Tekulsky that they had been returning from a Montauk fishing trip at the time of the accident. Blood was drawn from Mr. Lee, and the initial results that were given to Justice Tekulsky prior to Mr. Lee’s arraignment showed a blood alcohol level of .11 of 1 percent, a level considered legally intoxicated but relatively low.

However, the indictment from a grand jury in Central Islip, handed down on Oct. 29, states that Mr. Lee’s alcohol level was much higher, at .18 or more. He has been charged, based on that reading, with six felonies related to vehicular assault. His case is being heard in the courtroom of Acting Supreme Court Justice Fernando Camacho in Central Islip. Justice Camacho’s court handles violent vehicular crimes such as assault and manslaughter on the East End.

Mr. Lee, who was arraigned on the felony charges on Nov. 20, is free on $10,000 bail. He is due back in Justice Camacho’s courtroom on Jan. 7.