Police & Courts

Stephanie McNamara Bitis, the former general manager of two Sag Harbor radio stations, 92.9 and 96.9 WEHM who is currently vice president of sales at Dan's Papers, pleaded guilty in a federal court on Monday to a felony charge of fraud.

At Montauk's Shagwong Tavern on Saturday night, a sweatshirt hanging in front of a sign pertaining to the alcohol beverage control law led to the arrest of Richard Cintron, the manager, for failing to place the sign in "conspicuous view."

At 2 a.m. on Nov. 10, what sounded like an attempted break-in at a house on Walker Avenue, activating the burglar alarm, turned out to be a family of possums scurrying around the screened-in porch entrance.

A Sunday evening windstorm prompted tornado warnings to interrupt television programming in the area -- and caused some damage in parts of Long Island, including Springs.

Late afternoon and evening continue to be dangerous times for both drivers and deer.

A Hillside Drive West woman, told that there had been a complaint about her laughing and shouting at 1 a.m. Saturday, said she "did not realize she was being so loud‚" and would move inside.

Southampton Town has asked the public to weigh in with its perception of the town's Police Department in a survey titled "Your Opinion Matters." Offered in English and Spanish.

A 911 call reporting an abandoned car on Wednesday night led police to discover the body of Marco Grisales, 39, whose last known address was in Sag Harbor.

Two months after he was arrested for driving without an ignition-lock device, which measures the level of alcohol in a driver's blood before the engine can start, Carlos Segovia-Chacon of 7th Street in Springs, 37, was again charged with driving while intoxicated, as he had been in July 2013.

On Monday at approximately 1 p.m., a tractor-trailer left the road in Water Mill and hit 13 vehicles in the Corrigan’s Service Station parking lot on Montauk Highway. The multi-vehicle crash did not cause any serious injuries, according to a Southampton Town Police Department release.

On Thursday morning, the assistant district attorney agreed with legal counsel for Charles Streep to dismiss the felony charges, second-degree assault and strangulation, from charges related to Mr. Streep’s alleged Aug. 24 attack on David Peralta in East Hampton Village.

Three recent accidents on local roads all underlined the dangers of distracted driving.

Last Thursday, Carla Chavez, the manager of the 7-Eleven, turned over 50 fake ID cards that store clerks had confiscated over the past month from under-age customers trying to buy alcohol or tobacco products.

Rainy conditions last Thursday morning at Montauk Airport were blamed after a small plane slid off the runway, through a chain-link fence, and across East Lake Drive, ultimately crashing into a wooden fence.

As part of a state-mandated review of police department practices, the East Hampton Town Board held a "listening session" last Thursday, seeking public input on ways to improve the relationship between residents and law enforcement.

Five volunteer fire departments responded to what was described as "a stubborn blaze" on Harbor Watch Court in Noyac Saturday afternoon.

Last week's Star had an account of an East Hampton woman who witnessed a man removing two signs from in front of her Town Lane house on Oct. 16. The man has since been arrested and charged with petty larceny, a misdemeanor. He is Salvatore Ditroia, 67, of Southampton.

An Oct. 18 accident at the Clam Bar on Napeague ended in charges of drunken driving for a New York City man.

Outside East Hampton Town Justice Court last Thursday, friends and family members of David Peralta were seen and heard shouting words of support in Spanish.

Shortly after 8:30 a.m. last Thursday, a Chevrolet pickup registered to the Deleg Brothers landscaping company, clipped the side-view mirror of a van parked by the side of Springs-Fireplace Road in Springs, in a construction zone.

A routine patrol on Ocean Avenue last week resulted in a wrist-slap for a Brooklyn man who was seen placing advertising material into mailboxes.

A single-vehicle crash Saturday night at the southbound curve of Hampton and Division Streets in Sag Harbor sent the driver and a passenger to the hospital with injuries and left a house at the crash site with a shocked resident and damage to its second floor. The incident has also spurred neighbors to lobby for traffic safety in that area.

"This case is not being handled any differently than any other case," Justice Tekulsky told David Peralta's supporters, some of whom have expressed confusion over the court process. Mr. Peralta is the victim of an alleged road rage attack in August.

A single-vehicle crash Saturday night at the southbound curve of Hampton and Division Streets in Sag Harbor sent the driver and a passenger to the hospital with injuries, and left a house at the crash site with a shocked resident and damage to its second floor.

The defendant reportedly took a "floral Coach wallet containing approximately $2,500 in cash and nine credit cards" on the evening of Aug. 24 from a house on Collins Avenue near North Main Street.

In Sag Harbor on Friday morning at the Highway Department, there appeared to be a botched robbery, said police. Several tools were reportedly removed from the Highway Department building, the gate to which was left unlocked and open, as were a number of Highway Department trucks in the parking lot.

The session on Thursday, Oct. 29, will be held virtually, starting at 6:30 p.m. Comments can be called in to 351-888-6331. The event will air live on LTV's Channel 22 and via a livestream at ltveh.org.

On Thursday afternoon, the Long Island Rail Road's 2:48 p.m. train from Montauk, due at Jamaica at 5:50 p.m., stalled just west of the Montauk station because of equipment trouble.

Joseph Serino of Manhattan, 66, was riding his bicycle on Toilsome Lane in East Hampton Saturday when he was struck by a 2005 Mercedes-Benz.

East Hampton Town police said that on Oct. 3, Henry Lupercio of Montauk slapped an unidentified woman in the face and mouth and punched her in the back of the head with a closed fist, in violation of an order of protection served against him last year.