On the Police Logs 02.04.16

East Hampton

A Montauk teen left her mother’s 2010 Toyota Tacoma pickup truck parked at a friend’s house off Pantigo Road Friday night as she joined a group of youths out for the evening. In the morning, the truck would not start. It was discovered that someone had poured Cascade dishwashing detergent into the gas tank. The truck was towed to Marshall and Sons Service Station in Montauk. Repairs will cost anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000.

A 2005 Pontiac parked outside a Morris Park Lane house was badly damaged overnight on Saturday. Darren Nelson told police he discovered in the morning that someone had tried to pry open the trunk; then, when that failed, smashed the driver’s-side window, entered the car, and sprung the trunk latch, opening it. It does not appear from the report that anything was stolen.

An East Hampton teen’s bloody nose, inflicted by a Montauk teen, brought a police officer to the nurse’s office at the high school last Thursday morning. The boy who threw the punch told the officer the other boy had slapped him. No charges were pressed, but the school has taken disciplinary action against both youths.

Two hours after the fight, a student tried to pay for his lunch at the cafeteria with a counterfeit $10 bill. Police spoke with the student and determined that the teen had no knowledge that the bill was a phony.

An administrator at the Retreat reported that her Apple iPhone 6, along with its Lilly Pulitzer case, was stolen on Friday morning by an ex-resident of the facility. Thalia Olaya told police she had driven the woman, who had been discharged, to the East Hampton train station, along with her mother. After dropping them off, Ms. Olaya discovered that her phone was missing. Police are investigating.

East Hampton Village

An investigation of a possible burglary at the Red Horse Market was closed on the morning of Jan. 25 after police determined that damage to a door, which had spurred the market’s manager to dial 911, was “non-criminal” in nature.

Police were called to Stop and Shop around noon Jan. 25 to investigate a “customer causing a disturbance.” The man, described as very tall, very drunk, and wearing a dark jacket, was gone when they arrived at the supermarket.

Also on Jan. 25, a construction worker found himself locked inside a white van parked outside the building site at Dayton Lane and Church Street, and called police for help. Before police arrived, a passing postal worker opened a door from outside, freeing the man.

A traffic control officer found $102 in cash and a prepaid debit card lying by the curb outside Cittanuova restaurant Friday morning and turned it in to a police officer, who took it to headquarters.

Montauk

Summer can’t be far away. Scammers are again taking to Craig’s List, listing houses they do not own as being for rent. One such house is on Homeward Lane, off East Lake Drive. Maureen Taylor got a call from a savvy woman who had seen her house listed, Googled the address, and discovered that the person to whom she was about to send $4,500 as down payment for a summer rental was not Ms. Taylor, the rightful owner. Police and the F.B.I.’s Internet crime division were informed on Jan. 23, and the listing has been removed.

Northwest Woods

Two small potted Alberta spruce trees were stolen from the porch of a Montauk Avenue house while the owner was away on the night of Jan. 21. Kenneth Smallwood valued the plants at $10.

Springs

A Hollyoak Avenue woman managed to steer clear of an attempted scam on Friday. After receiving a call from someone claiming to be an agent from the Internal Revenue Service and threatening to have her arrested if she did not immediately pay “back taxes,” Jaime Palacios called her accountant, who told her to contact police. There has been a rash of similar calls this winter all across the nation, and the I.R.S. has issued periodic consumer warnings about them.

Someone armed with a potato gun targeted Chelsea Walker’s 2003 Honda on Springs-Fireplace Road last Thursday night. The Fort Pond Boulevard woman told police that as she approached Harbor Boulevard she saw an oncoming “lifted pickup truck, possibly white, with KC Hilites off-road round lights on the roof.” As the two vehicles passed each other, she heard what sounded like a “smack,” and found, upon arriving home, that her driver’s-side headlight had been shattered by a potato. “The headlight housing still had remnants of potato and potato skin in it,” police reported.

A wallet containing $200 cash and a pair of Costa sunglasses disappeared Saturday night from the cabin of a 1983 Ford pickup parked on Gardiner Avenue. Michael Davis valued the stolen sunglasses at $350.