Police & Courts

Note to whoever has been dumping bags of fish carcasses into the Montauk Manor’s private dumpster: They’re on to you. A “terrible odor” on May 9 prompted a call to police.

East Hampton Town saw more reports of identity theft, fraud, larceny, trespassing, and sex crimes last year than it did in 2021, according to Police Chief Michael D. Sarlo's annual report. There were 17 calls about possible drug overdoses among adults, a five-year high, and officers made 41 percent more arrests, issued 49 percent more traffic tickets, and logged a collective 7,249 hours of training, an increase of 25 percent over 2021.

After 28 years fielding 911 calls as an East Hampton Village dispatcher, Gerry Turza will be hired at the May 19 East Hampton Village Board meeting for a new village position: fire and emergency medical services administrator. Mr. Turza served as chief of the East Hampton Village Fire Department from 2018 to 2022 and in many other roles, all in the field of public safety, for the last 30 years.

A bottle of 18-year-old Macallan Scotch whiskey valued at $475 was stolen from Amagansett Wine and Spirits on the afternoon of April 26. A man was seen putting the bottle under his sweatshirt while an employee was helping a customer. Charges will not be pressed, management told police, if payment is received or if the bottle is returned intact.

East Hampton Town officials indefinitely closed the rickety asphalt-covered bridge above the Long Island Rail Road track on Cranberry Hole Road in Amagansett after a sizable hole appeared in it on Sunday.

A Montauk businessman, Mark Ripolone, was indicted yesterday on charges of grand larceny and identity theft for allegedly stealing nearly $400,000 over a three-year period from a payroll company and his own customers’ bank accounts.

Unable to deliver a package at a South Flint Street, Montauk, residence for four days straight, a FedEx driver called the police on the afternoon of April 26 to make sure everyone there was okay. Officers were told that the family’s dog is not well.

Just before 8 a.m. on Monday, a fire broke out in Stephen and Missie Hesler’s home on Carlisle Lane in Sag Harbor, causing heavy damage to the house. Mr. Hesler was able to rescue the couple’s two dogs, Gus and Gabbie, from the flames.

Police officers conducted routine liquor-license checks of bars, restaurants, and liquor stores in Montauk, Springs, and East Hampton over the last two weeks, finding that all had up-to-date documentation.

A fight at Murf’s Tavern Saturday night led to the arrest of a “highly intoxicated” 27-year-old Sag Harbor man who screamed obscenities, berated the security guard, and threatened to “kick everyone’s ass” and “kill you.” He forcefully resisted arrest, police said, but officers — including some from East Hampton and Southampton who responded to the village’s request for assistance — were able to wrestle him to the ground and handcuff him.

In simpler times, the most prevalent scam to be on the lookout for was the so-called "Nigerian Prince" email scam, in which a fraudster would send out an email that persuaded a potential "mark" — often an older adult — to wire them some money in order to trigger the release of a bigger pot of money that was coming the victim's way. More recently, scammers have gotten menacingly creative and even use technology to take advantage of victims.

The East Hampton Village Police Department now has a newly promoted captain, lieutenant, and two sergeants, as well as a new full-time officer.

A Sag Harbor resident witnessed a worker loudly draining a Porta-Potty on Meadowlark Lane before 7 a.m. on April 12 and called the police. The worker was done with his task by the time an officer arrived, and told the officer he was unaware that the village prohibits noisy work before 8 a.m.

The East Hampton Town Police Department responded this week to multiple calls about speeding drivers on residential streets.

Residents of Springs were jarred on Monday evening as a Suffolk County police helicopter and Southampton Village K-9 unit aided in a search for a man who had fled his house on Neck Path on a bicycle after brandishing what appeared to be a gun.

Whose trees are these? A village employee called in the law on Saturday afternoon when he suspected a Lockwood Lane homeowner was illegally pruning trees on village property. The pruning is paused for now, while a code enforcement officer investigates.

East Hampton Town police recently levied drunken-driving charges against two men who had been convicted of D.W.I. within the last 10 years.

East Hampton Town police spent Tuesday morning investigating an anonymous email threat received overnight by multiple school districts and ultimately deemed it “noncredible.”

Someone broke into the basement of the Memory Motel in Montauk on March 26 and destroyed more than $250 worth of bottles of Jagermeister and Maker’s Mark liquors. Employees cleaned up the mess.

Van Kay Quick, who retired as a captain after a 35-year career in the East Hampton Town Police Department, had been a president of the East Hampton Police Benevolent Association and the Police Association of Suffolk County and spearheaded the computerization of the department's records in the late 1980s.

An East Hampton moviegoer complained to police on Friday afternoon that the theater manager had taken a picture of him. The manager told police she had taken a photo not of him, but rather of the dog he had brought with him to the theater.

The Sag Harbor Village treasurer told village police last Thursday that money had been stolen from a village payroll account to the tune of $10,200 via fraudulent checks.

Shane Filasky of East Hampton has been sentenced to one to three years in prison after pleading guilty to a felony count of third-degree attempted robbery of an East Hampton store on Jan. 26, 2022.

It took four parking tickets and a week of close monitoring by traffic control officers, but a car with Tennessee license plates, which had been left on Main Street in Sag Harbor between 4 and 6 a.m. for several days in violation of the village code, was moved over the weekend after police finally made contact with its owner.

A Bronx man was charged Sunday morning in East Hampton Village with four misdemeanor counts of criminal possession of a weapon during a traffic stop on Pantigo Road at Methodist Lane.

A retired East Hampton builder is raising money to bring a mobile trailer resembling a small house — complete with kitchen, living room, and bedroom — to the community here to teach kids what to do if a fire breaks out at home.

Reflecting a trend among police agencies across the country, officers of the East Hampton Town and Sag Harbor Village Police Departments will soon be outfitted with body cameras thanks to grants received from New York State's Department of Criminal Justice Services.

A 39-year-old Florida man has been charged in East Hampton Town with felony criminal contempt after a domestic incident in which police said he showed up drunk at a Montauk residence and harassed a person whom he had been ordered to stay away from.

A confused driver reported a traffic hazard at around 7:30 a.m. on March 7. The light at the three-way intersection of Baiting Hollow Road, Toilsome Lane, and Woods Lane appeared to have been turned so that it faced the wrong direction. Police blamed the wind and called for maintenance on the light.

Legislation introduced at last week’s East Hampton Village Board to create a standalone Ambulance Department “to provide a municipal paid and volunteer general ambulance service in the village and contracted-for areas of the Town of East Hampton” so alarmed a faction of the ambulance corps that it scheduled an emergency meeting. The law will be the subject of a public hearing on March 17.