Crime & Safety

Crimes Nearby: Armed Robbers Hold Up CVS

The following information was supplied by police departments on the East End. A criminal charge is only an accusation and does not indicate guilt.

• Two masked, armed robbers held up a Riverhead CVS early Monday morning, police said.

Riverhead police responded to the store, located at 1140 Old Country Rd., at 3:37 a.m. According to police, employees told officers that two men entered the store, one displaying an unknown type of handgun, demanding cash. The two suspects allegedly forced an employee to open the store safe and then fled on foot in a westerly direction with an undetermined amount of money.

The two suspects were described as wearing hooded sweatshirts, masks and gloves.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Riverhead detective division at 631-727-4500 ext. 289.

• Riverhead police arrested two suspects on Wednesday and charged them with daytime residential burglaries that took place in Wading River during December.

According to Riverhead police, Alexa Vitacco, 21, of Wading River, and Michael Quinn, 26, of Farmingville, were arrested.

Police said Vitacco surrendered herself to police. She was charged with one count of burglary in the second degree. Quinn, who was already in the custody of the Suffolk County Sheriff's Office, was charged with three counts of burglary in the second degree, police said.

• Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota claims the man who struck and killed Scott Wayte on his 50th birthday outside Cliff's Rendezvous in Riverhead had been drinking vodka out of a water bottle since approximately 7 that morning.

Joseph D. Plummer, 48, of Middle Island, fled the scene, and set out to concoct a scheme to hide his crime, Spota said. He was arrested days later.

To that end, Spota is calling for tougher penalties for those who flee the scene of an accident that results in death or serious injury. Those who flee, he said, make it impossible to not only help the victim immediately, but to determine if the defendants were driving while intoxicated or impaired by drugs, and to subsequently charge them with more serious crimes.

Plummer was arraigned on Wednesday. Bail was set at $500,000 cash or $1 million bond. He was remanded to the Suffolk County Correctional facility.

SOUTHAMPTON

Find out what's happening in Westhampton-Hampton Bayswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

• A Southampton resident was duped into sending $3,430 to a person who called impersonating her grandson. According to police, the impersonator told the victim that he was stuck at the airport and his friend was being detained on drug charges. He said he needed the money to bail his friend out, and the victim wired the money.

EAST HAMPTON

Find out what's happening in Westhampton-Hampton Bayswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

• About a dozen reports were filed about thefts from cars or cars being rummaged through on Sunday. According to the East Hampton Town police logs, at least 13 people reported their cars were targeted. In most cases either nothing was taken or loose coins or cash were stolen. For more, click here.

• A construction manager for Landscape Details reported a Bobcat T-300 skid-steer, worth $30,000, and a set of front fork attachments, worth $1,000, were stolen from a job site on Oyster Shores Road in East Hampton between Jan. 4 and 7. It was described as a 2006 white and orange skid-steer with rubber tracks.

• A New Holland TC-30 four-wheel drive tractor with an attached brush mower deck, worth about $20,000, was also reported stolen from Hedges Lane in East Hampton Village on Jan. 10. The keys were not left in the tractor. It was last seen on Dec. 27.

• Detectives filed charges against a man whom they say rifled through several vehicles parked in a driveway on Three Mile Harbor-Hog Creek Road in Springs on New Year's Day.

Marvin U. Araniva-Ortiz, who is 26 and lives on nearby Corbin Avenue, is being held on an immigration hold at the Suffolk County jail in Riverside. East Hampton Town Justice Lisa R. Rana also set his bail at $7,500 cash or $15,000 bond.

Though police did not provide information about the stolen items, Araniva-Ortiz was charged with two counts of fourth-degree grand larceny, a felony, as well two misdemeanors; third-degree criminal trespass, and fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property.

• Diana Harty, 48, of East Hampton, was arrested on a felony DWI charge after an accident in East Hampton on Jan. 12. Police responded to a report of an accident on Miller Lane West at about 12:09 a.m., but the driver had fled the scene. She was found a short time later, and told police she had fallen asleep at the wheel of the 1998 Volvo, veering off the road and hitting two rocks located on the grass of 20 Miller Ln. West. Her car came to stop in front of 28 Miller Ln. West. East Hampton Ambulance Association took Harty, who police said suffered injuries to her face and mouth when the airbag deployed, was taken to Southampton Hospital, where she consented to a blood test, police said. Due to a prior conviction within the past 10 years, she was charged with felony driving while intoxicated. She was released on $1,500 bail following arraignment.

NORTH FORK

• Southold Town police said a Riverhead man was charged with felony driving while intoxicated after he struck a North Fork Sanitation garbage truck on Route 25 in Laurel on Tuesday at about 2:30 p.m.

According to police, 67-year-old Tomasz Myskow was driving a cargo van when it was involved in an accident with the garbage truck. Myskow was transported to Eastern Long Island Hospital , as was the passenger in the van. Police did not mention whether or not anyone in the sanitation truck was transported to the hospital. Mysko was charged with felony DWI and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.

• Joan Pollina, 57, of Southold, was charged with felony driving while intoxicated on Jan. 9 at 5:39 p.m., following a car crash at the intersection of Route 25 and Eugene's Road in Cutchogue, Southold Town police said. Pollina was driving a 2010 Toyota west on Route 25 when the vehicle crossed over the yellow lines into the eastbound lane, striking a vehicle that was making a right turn onto Route 25 from Eugenes Road, police said.

Ricky and MaryAnn Palumbo both of Southold, the occupants of the vehicle, were transported to Eastern Long Island Hospital by members of the Cutchogue Fire Departmen. Police said Pollina was found to be intoxicated and was placed under arrest. She was charged with felony DWI, due to a previous conviction, and her vehicle was impounded. Pollina was held overnight at headquarters in Peconic.


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