Man Held on $50,000 Bail

A Southampton man already facing criminal charges across Long Island was hit with a new one early Saturday morning in Sag Harbor.

Sag Harbor Village police stopped John P. Coen’s 2013 BMW on Route 114 in North Haven after he made an illegal U-turn on Main Street in the village and swerved back and forth while crossing the bridge. Charged with drunken driving at the felony level, he refused to take either a roadside breath test or the Breathalyzer test at headquarters. A computer check revealed a license suspension in July 2011 following a conviction for driving while intoxicated, and several other suspensions since then.

Mr. Coen, 56, has been arrested three times since July 15, when he was charged with felony grand larceny in a case related to domestic violence; he was said to have stolen a credit card. He was due back in court on that case today, in Riverside, where he is being held in jail, unable to meet $50,000 bail on the latest charge.

Suffolk County police stopped him for speeding on Nov. 13 and charged him with misdemeanor unlicensed driving. Two days later in Massapequa, Nassau County police arrested him for drunken driving, a felony because of the 2011 conviction.

Justice Lisa R. Rana, presiding over Sag Harbor Village Justice Court on Saturday, had much to sift through during Mr. Coen’s arraignment. “There are some things I would like to say,” he said to her as it began. She warned him in response that everything he said was being recorded, and could be used against him.

Justice Rana tried to pin down his address, which he gave as Setauket following his Massapequa arrest. He has a couple of addresses in Southampton, she noted, including Hunting Ridge Road. “That was my marital residence for 30 years. I recently left there,” he said.

The district attorney’s office had asked for bail of $75,000, Justice Rana told the defendant. Noting that he has other arrests on his record besides the three since July, she set the high bail.

“I have no money,” he said. “All my stuff was tied up, my house, my deed,” in his divorce, he said. “I am trying to climb out of this hole. I have a partner whose 9-year-old son I am responsible for.”

“Sir, I honestly suggest that you not continue [talking],” Justice Rana said. “You have been charged with felonies, and this is not your first time down this road.”

Also arraigned on a D.W.I. charge in Sag Harbor court Saturday was a French visitor to East Hampton, Jerome F. Besson, who was arrested on Montauk Highway in East Hampton earlier that morning. His arraignment was moved to Sag Harbor since Justice Rana was already dealing with Mr. Coen’s case there.

Mr. Besson, 36, told Justice Rana, in French, through an interpreter, that he is an “artist, a painter” by trade, and that he was a tourist in America, soon to return to France. His breath test, police said, produced a blood-alcohol reading of 0.08, just over the legal limit.

Normally, with such a low reading, he could probably have been allowed to plead to a lesser offense, but there was a complication. This was not Mr. Besson’s first visit to the South Fork, nor was it his first drunken-driving arrest. In 2006, he pleaded guilty in Southampton Town Justice Court to a reduced charge of driving with ability impaired, a violation, and his license was suspended. Living in France, he never had it restored.

That meant that the charge against him was a felony: driving with a license suspended due to an alcohol-related conviction. “I understand. I am so sorry,” he told Justice Rana in English.

“I need you to understand, you are not going to be able to leave this country until this has been handled,” she said, setting bail at $500. She scheduled him to appear in East Hampton Town Justice Court today.

East Hampton Village police made an arrest on misdemeanor drunken-driving charges early Sunday morning after pulling over a Springs man, Jorge Manuel Rivadeneira, 34, on Montauk Highway near Stephen Hand’s Path. His 2003 Nissan Maxima was speeding, officers said.

At headquarters on Cedar Street, Mr. Rivadeneira’s breath test reportedly produced a reading of 0.18, leading to an elevated misdemeanor charge of aggravated drunken driving. He was released later that morning after posting $350 bail.­