East End Notebook: Child Predator Guilty; Day Care Intruder Thwarted

SOUTHAMPTON

FBI Searches Shinnecock Reservation Offices

FBI agents on Wednesday searched the Shinnecock Indian Reservation's gaming authority trailer as part of an unspecified probe into the tribe, FBI officials told Newsday.

As more than a dozen agents searched the trailer around 10 a.m., members of the tribe gathered at the Shinnecock community center, Newsday reports.

The gaming authority is made up of five tribal members who liaise with Gateway Casino Resorts, which is backing the tribe's casino plans.

WESTHAMPTON-HAMPTON BAYS

Gym Teacher Pleads Not Guilty to 8-Count Indictment

Thomas Sheppard, a four-year Westhampton Beach gym teacher who was charged with a felony in March for allegedly recording students in a gym locker room was arraigned before Judge Barbara Kahn in Riverhead on Monday morning on an 8-count indictment handed down by the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office.

RIVERHEAD

'Hero' Nursery School Teacher Launches Slap Attack on Intruder

Snack time at the Pine Tree Day Nursery in Riverhead turned into terror on Tuesday, when an unknown man hopped the fence into the playground.

But despite her fear, one brave teacher, Barbara Schandel, did what came naturally -- running to protect her young students.

The nursery school, she said, is located right next to a cemetery on Roanoke Avenue. At first, the teacher thought the two men were together. But then, she said, something went terribly wrong.

RELATED: On Friday, police arrested a suspect in relation to the incident.

NORTH FORK

Cutchogue Mom Facing Cancer Turns to Internet To Raise Funds

Only 29 years old, Cutchogue resident  and single mom Elizabeth Toy is facing the most terrifying spectre a parent can imagine: The fear that she might not live to see her son Matthew, 11, grow up.

Toy, who has Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer that spreads through the lymph nodes, was first diagnosed in 2010. She is in need of a bone marrow stem cell transplant and the miracle, she said, is that doctors believe a donor match has been found.

EAST HAMPTON

Sexual Predator Pleads Guilty, Could Spend Life Behind Bars

Fidel Castro-Brito, charged with 70 felonies related to child sex abuse in what was the biggest case the East Hampton Town Police Department put together, pleaded guilty on Thursday.

Appearing before Suffolk County Criminal Court Judge Barbara Kahn, he pleaded guilty to the two indictments brought against him last year. She promised a sentence of at least 20 years to life with 20 years of post-release supervision. 

The sentence recommendation from the Suffolk County District Attorney's office is the maximum allowable by law of 50 years to life. He will be sentenced on June 21.