East Hampton Town Police Chief Michael Sarlo has urged town residents to “be mindful of basic crime prevention practices, such as locking cars and front doors at night, paying attention to surroundings, and promptly reporting suspicious activity,” following a string of apparently unrelated crimes.
Among the more serious was a Main Street traffic stop that led to a series of firearms-possession charges. The driver, Alexis Ramirez-Reyes, 19, was arraigned in Town Justice Court soon after, and, unable to make bail, was remanded to the county jail in Yaphank. He was indicted late last week on three felony charges of weapons possession and two misdemeanors related to resisting arrest, and is to appear in Suffolk County Criminal Court this morning.
Another concerning incident was last month’s home invasion on Old Stone Highway in Springs, where a man displaying a knife threw an elderly woman to the floor and stole cash.
Despite camera footage capturing a still shot of him, he remains at large.
“Our basic message to the public is that our community is extremely safe by all crime reporting statistics, one of the safest in the state, yet we are not immune from crime nor are we exempt from dangerous criminal activity,” Chief Sarlo said in his message to the community.
He stressed that “while the past few weeks have had several concerning incidents, the yearly crime reporting statistics show no significant changes.”