Police & Courts

The case of the People of the State of New York vs. Jason Lee is slowly making its way to trial at the Cromarty Criminal Courts building in Riverside. Mr. Lee, a former managing partner at Goldman Sachs, is accused of raping a young Irish student last August at his summer rental house on Clover Leaf Lane in East Hampton.



Prosecutors and defense attorneys met on Friday to confer in the chambers of State Supreme Court Justice Barbara Kahn, who is hearing the case. Justice Kahn set the next court date for Aug.

A 39-year-old Brooklyn man lost his life on Sunday at Napeague Harbor in Amagansett, where he had gone to kite surf. His death was the first of two on the water that day. That evening, James A. Weber, an East Hampton man who was to have celebrated his 45th birthday yesterday, died after collapsing in shallow water on the west side of the Three Mile Harbor inlet near Sammy’s Beach in East Hampton.



Nicholas Valtz, a managing director at Goldman Sachs Group in Manhattan, left his house in Bridgehampton early Sunday for Napeague Harbor.

Micheal P. Gohring of Sag Harbor was arrested at his office at 3297 Noyac Road in Noyac, the police said, "after a patient had disclosed that he had sexually abused her during an appointment."

Amagansett



A window on a Main Street shop was damaged by a vandal sometime between last Thursday night and Friday morning. Madgelena Gubala-Ryzak said she had arrived at Vernacular on Friday to discover the damage, which may have been caused by a BB gun. The window will cost $1,000 to replace, she told police.

Someone spray-painted over the numbered markers used as reference points by emergency responders on the beach in the area of Albert’s Landing Road late last month.

A Montauk man was airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital on Friday after being hit by a car while riding  in the hamlet.



East Hampton Town police are still investigating the accident, which occurred on Flamingo Avenue just south of Falcon Place at 4:04 a.m. The driver, Raymond Eng, 80, of Briarwood, Queens, was headed north on Flamingo Avenue in a 1995 Volvo when he struck Raymond W. Bimson, 32.



The Montauk Fire Department’s ambulance company treated Mr. Bimson, and a Suffolk County police helicopter airlifted him to Stony Brook.

A Southampton man charged with drunken driving on May 2 after his car struck and killed a bicyclist on County Road 39 has been indicted by a grand jury on multiple felony charges, including manslaughter. Jesse Werner Steudte, 21, pleaded not guilty to the new charges at his arraignment Tuesday in the Central Islip courtroom of acting Supreme Court Justice Fernando Camacho.



Neil S. Fyfe, 29, a professional golf caddie from Aberdeen, Scotland, was biking home from his job at the Sebonack Club in Southampton when he was struck and killed by an eastbound 1990 Jeep.

A Turkish couple living in Riverhead were arrested last Thursday in connection with email messages describing a plot to blow up the Jewish Center of the Hamptons.

An East Hampton man who pleaded guilty to a felony drunken-driving charge in County Criminal Court, Riverside, on June 30, was arrested on the same charge nine days later.



Gerardo M. Lligui’s probation officer was waiting at his house on West Drive to interview him when he returned from his job. As Mr.

A dispute between two men at a Maidstone Park beach barbecue Saturday night ended with an East Hampton Town Trustee, Nathaniel H. Miller, in handcuffs, charged by town police with choking the other man.



According to a witness, Mr. Miller and Clint Bennett, a town employee, were in a heated argument at about 7:30 Saturday evening. Mr. Bennett said, “Do something about it,” the witness reported, at which time Mr. Miller, according to the police report, used both arms to put him in a headlock. When he was released, Mr.

A Springs man who told East Hampton Town Justice Lisa Rana during his arraignment Sunday morning that he had forgotten his previous court date has been in the county jail since then, unable to raise bail.



After Christopher S. Pulido, 22, who has 20 unresolved charges against him stemming from a total of eight arrests, failed to show up in court on July 3, Justice Rana issued a warrant for his arrest.

Raymond W. Bimson, 32, was riding his bicycle on Flamingo Avenue when he was hit by a Volvo on Friday just after 4 a.m.

Amagansett

A road-rage incident on the afternoon of June 30 will end up costing the reported victim about $200. Michael McHugh told police he was driving west on Amagansett Main Street near Indian Wells Highway when a motorcycle stopped suddenly in front of him. When he tried to pass it, the driver deliberately damaged his side mirror, then sped off.



East Hampton

A wallet left in a parked car on Berryman Street was stolen overnight on May 26.

A bicyclist, Steven Ramirez, 26, of Philadelphia, was taken to Southampton Hospital last Thursday afternoon after being hit by a car on Route 114 near Goodfriend Drive in East Hampton. The driver, James M. Bayrami, 25, of Sag Harbor, who was arrested after the accident and charged with driving while impaired by drugs, was to be brought back to East Hampton Town Justice Court today after being taken to the county jail in Riverside, unable to make bail.

The owner of a Montauk taxi company was charged with felony assault Saturday night after he allegedly used an electric stun gun on a potential fare. According to the alleged victim, John Bolaris, and his fiancée, Erica Smitheman, Mark A. Ripolone, 26, who owns Ditch Plains Taxi, was stopped outside the Gig Shack at a little before midnight, when the streets of downtown Montauk were filled with post-fireworks revelers. Mr. Bolaris and his fiancée had just left the restaurant.

A Hempstead man accused on July 1 of stealing almost $2,000 worth of Gillette Fusion razors from CVS spent five days in the county jail this past week.



East Hampton Village police arrested Sanusi Alhajr Jalloh, 41, after the Pantigo Road store closed that night, and charged him with grand larceny. Police said he had stolen 56 packages of razors.



Mr. Jalloh faces an additional felony count of possession of stolen property. Bail was set in East Hampton Town Justice Court the next morning at $7,000.

A racing yacht was rescued 36 miles southeast of Montauk Point on the Fourth of July by a boat deployed from the Coast Guard station on Star Island.



“Initially, our mission was to escort them,” Petty Officer Second Class Ismael Velasquez said Monday. “We were the only offshore vessel. It was kind of a gamble.”



He said that the Shinnecock Coast Guard station had been shut down due to rough seas from Hurricane Arthur.

Amagansett

A Specialized 21-speed mountain bicycle that was “left unsecured” at the entrance to Indian Wells Beach was stolen the afternoon of June 25. Eric Kalabacos told police he had been at the beach for an hour when he discovered the theft. Police gave the lifeguards a description of the $1,200 blue-and-white bicycle and asked them to be on the lookout for it.



Two bikes were stolen from a Mako Lane yard on the night of June 21. Julia Loudon described one as an “older, rusty, dark blue Free Spirit woman’s bike” with a basket on front.

A Brooklyn man was arrested by East Hampton Village and Town officers Friday afternoon following a chase through the woods near Georgica Pond in Wainscott. A town officer, who suffered a knee injury during the pursuit, finally stopped the fleeing man by discharging his Taser.



Paul Freckleton, 25, who was riding a motorcycle, was first stopped by the village officer, near Georgica restaurant, where he is employed as a cook.



“One of our officers made a stop for passing on the right,” said Detective Lt. Anthony Long. Mr.

A native of Colombia who spent Saturday night celebrating his nation’s World Cup victory against Uruguay that day wound up on a gurney outside East Hampton Town Justice Court Sunday morning following his arraignment on a charge of drunken driving.



Christhian Eduardo Roa, 30, was pulled over on Montauk Highway at 5:30 a.m. Sunday for swerving across lane lines.

The discovery by East Hampton Village police of a large cache of marijuana reportedly concealed under the hood of a BMW during a routine traffic stop in May was the impetus for a day-long class for law enforcement officials on the variety of ways criminals conceal drugs, weapons, cash, and other contraband in a vehicle.



Conducted at East Hampton Village police headquarters on Friday by Jason Robles, a New York State trooper who freelances with Palestra Group International, the eight-hour course drew 71 law enforcement professionals from agencies as diverse as the East H

The Springs Fire Department quickly extinguished a fire that was believed to have started on the exterior of a house in Springs on Tuesday evening, but the house was badly damaged, according to Chief Ben Miller.



A neighbor reported flames at 52 Cedar Drive, between Locust and Dogwood Drives, at 5:46 p.m., according to the chief.

Firefighters from six departments braved hot, humid weather last Thursday to battle a fire at 285 Hayground Road in Water Mill, north of Montauk Highway. The fire was caused by “a major electrical event,” John Rankin, a Southampton Town fire marshal, said this week. It started in the attic and badly damaged the older part of the house, leaving it temporarily uninhabitable.

The New York State Police are deploying more assets on the South Fork, leading to more arrests on alcohol-related charges. “We’re focusing on the midnight tours,” Sgt. James Marrone said Tuesday. “We’re sending out at least one vehicle when we have a car available.”



Besides making arrests on driving while intoxicated charges, state police have also launched an operation to catch those who sell alcohol to under-age drinkers.

Keen O. Rodney, 32, who splits his time between Florida and Montauk, was arrested last week on a felony assault charge after an alleged fight with his roommates over some fish, but asserted during his arraignment last Thursday that he was in fact the victim. He was defending himself, he said, when he swung a baseball bat at Omar Godfried Deer, breaking the man’s wrist.



The fight happened at around noon on June 24. Mr. Deer told East Hampton Town detectives that he and Mr. Rodney had been roommates for the past few weeks on Second House Road, along with Mr.

An object falling from the sky brought out the East Hampton Town Marine Patrol to search for about an hour Tuesday evening near Gardiner’s Island. Ed Michels, the town harbormaster, said they received a call from a boater, who could not describe the falling object, except to say it was definitely not a body.

“We got the call about an hour before dark,” Mr. Michels said. “We used the whole Gardiner’s Island crew.” The search was called off after about an hour as the sun sank below the horizon.

 

A woman charged with drunken driving after an early morning, single-car accident in Southampton Village on April 19 in which a Water Mill man died has been indicted by a Suffolk County grand jury on multiple felony charges, including vehicular manslaughter.

Allison Rydberg of Hampton Bays was arraigned Monday in Central Islip before acting Supreme Court Justice Fernando Camacho. The vehicular manslaughter charge was based on a police statement that her blood-alcohol content at the time of the accident was over .18 of 1 percent.

Ms.

East Hampton

A mailbox along Washington Avenue was reported stolen Friday morning. Bruce Bates said it had been removed from its post at the end of his driveway. It was later found on Indian Wells Beach.

East Hampton Village

A white-and-red 12-speed woman’s bicycle with black lettering was reported stolen from a Further Lane property.

One town police officer pulled over two cars driven by employees of the same Montauk restaurant on Sunday morning and arrested both drivers. One was charged with felony drunken driving, the other with driving with ability impaired by drugs.

Officer David E. Martin Jr. was in the parking lot of the Montauk train station a little before 11 a.m. when he saw a 2013 Nissan pull out of the lot by Ciao, a new restaurant where its driver, Matthew R. DiGirolomo, 22, of Whitestone, is employed as a waiter.

East Hampton Village police arrested five Ross Upper School students on the evening of June 18 at the East Hampton Nature Trail, charging all five with possession of open containers of alcohol. One of the students, four of whom are foreign nationals, was charged with possession of marijuana. Because the five are all 17 or younger, police did not release their names.

Police were tipped off to the youths’ nightly activities by a video posted on Facebook.

East Hampton Town and Village stand to save a combined $600,000 if an initial cost savings analysis about consolidating 911 dispatching services rings true.

That is why the municipalities are hoping to receive a $25,000 matching grant from the Local Government Efficiency program to help fund a more in-depth study, which will consider operational and cost impacts.