Multiple Charges After Traffic Stop

Jorge L. Marin, 29, of Montauk was arrested by East Hampton Town police after a traffic stop on Montauk Highway in East Hampton early Saturday morning and was charged with two felonies: possession of liquid marijuana, a controlled substance, and possession of a stolen debit card. He also was charged with two misdemeanors, possession of over two ounces of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, namely a digital scale. Police said they found the marijuana and the scale hidden in the trunk lining of the 2012 Toyota Camry Mr. Marin was said to be driving.

The traffic stop was initiated, police said, because Mr. Marin had been swerving across lane lines.

The liquid marijuana was in the form of 16 smoking cartridges, according to police. As for the marijuana itself, Mr. Marin allegedly told the arresting officer, “My friend smoked weed in the car earlier. That must be his.”

Police said the debit card was discovered in Mr. Marin’s possession while he was being processed on the other three charges at headquarters in Wainscott. The card belonged to a worker at Gurney’s Resort and Spa in Montauk, where Mr. Marin is employed, police said. The worker, who was not named by police, told them she had no idea how Mr. Marin had gotten her card, that she did not know him, and that she had canceled it after discovering it missing earlier this month. 

Mr. Marin, who has a Valley Stream address on his driver’s license, lives at the Memory Motel in downtown Montauk. The motel is one of several in Montauk owned or leased by Gurney’s for its employees. His attorney, Carl Irace, told East Hampton Town Justice Lisa R. Rana during Mr. Marin’s arraignment late Saturday morning that the reason the arresting officer had given for searching the car was questionable. 

“I’m not trying the case now,” Justice Rana responded, setting bail at $5,000. Mr. Marin was taken to county jail in Riverside, where bail was posted the next day. “There is a lot we can use to defend this case, and we look forward to that opportunity,” Mr. Irace said on Tuesday. 

An East Hampton High School student was charged with two misdemeanor counts of criminal mischief last Thursday.

The charges followed an incident a little after 6 p.m. as the teen was leaving the school. Apparently enraged, he pushed over a shelving unit, damaging it. Then, while trying to open a door with a double pane of shatterproof glass, he did so with such force that the frame cracked and the glass that was supposedly shatterproof shattered. 

The 18-year-old’s name was not released since he has been charged only with misdemeanors and is eligible for youthful offender status. 

The cost of repairs was estimated at $4,500. The penal law that he is accused of breaking is triggered when someone recklessly damages property valued in excess of $250. However, a defendant can be charged with a felony if the damage was intentional and exceeds $1,500. If charged with a felony, the teen would have lost the right to have his identity withheld under the statute governing youthful offenders. 

He was released after posting $250 bail with an appearance ticket and will be arraigned in April.