The following information was supplied by police departments on the East End. A criminal charge is only an accusation and does not indicate guilt.
Westhampton-Hampton Bays
• On July 9 at 3:18 a.m., Quogue Police charged Michael Rodgers, 26, of Bohemia, with DWI, a felony, and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle in the first degree, also a felony. Rodgers, who was pulled over on Montauk Highway for failing to maintain his lane of travel, was additionally charged with circumventing an interlock device, and aggravated unlicensed in the second degree, both misdemeanors. He was arraigned on July 10.
• Justin Castellano, 20, of East Quogue, was charged with allowing the consumption of alcohol by minors on July 4. Police say they were called to Kennedy Drive in East Quogue in regard to a physical altercation. While on scene, police say they found numerous people under the age of 21 who had been consuming alcohol.
North Fork
William J. Kennedy, 52, of Southold, was charged with seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, resisting arrest and failing to comply on July 3 at 7:03 p.m. after police stopped him on Route 25 in Cutchogue for a prior incident involving the possession of drugs, police said. Using vulgar language, Kennedy told the office at the scene to “get lost” then sped away in his vehicle, police said. The officer on the scene followed Kennedy in his patrol vehicle with the emergency lights and siren activated. Other units from the Southold Police assisted until Kennedy came to a stop approximately two miles from the initial location, police said. Kennedy was arrested, transported to police headquarters, processed and later released on cash bail.
Craig A. Costello, 44, Farmingdale, was charged with aggravated unlicensed operation of a vehicle, failing to signal turn and failing to wear a safety belt on July 3 at 4:53 p.m., after police observed Costello operating his Dodge Dakota on Route 25 in Greenport without wearing his seatbelt, police said. Costello also failed to signal while making a right-hand turn into Drosso's mini-golf parking lot, police said. Further investigation revealed Costello's license to be suspended. Costello was arrested, transported to police headquarter, processed, released on cash bail, and ordered to appear before Southold Town Justice Court at a later date.
Alfonso Mendez, 21, of Southold, was charged with driving while intoxicated on July 8 at 9:47 p.m. after he was stopped in Cutchogue by police officers who were investigating a previous incident that had occurred in Mattituck, police said. Mendez had driven by a female a couple of times in the Mattituck Plaza parking lot, making her uncomfortable and prompting her to report the incident to police, police said. Officers responded and found Mendez on Route 25 in Cutchogue where he was stopped and found to be intoxicated, police said. Mendez was arrested, transported to headquarters, processed and held overnight for arraignment.
Southampton
• A man who Southampton Village police charged with driving while intoxicated on Friday was not only already on probation for DWI — but he was also previously convicted of assault and manslaughter after killing a couple in Muttontown in 2002 while drag racing. Kyle Soukup, 27, of East Hills in Nassau County, was indicted by a Suffolk County grand jury on Wednesday, according to Robert Clifford, the spokesman for the Suffolk District Attorney. Soukup was stopped in a black 2012 Ford Edge by a village police officer around 4 a.m. Friday after speeding on White Street and running a stop sign, according to court documents. He could not produce a valid driver's license, failed a field sobriety test and refused to submit to chemical tests, documents state. Clifford said the most recent suspension of Soukup's license, according to DMV records, was April 28, 2011, when he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor DWI in New York County Criminal Court. He was sentenced to three years of probation with alcohol treatment conditions and fined $750. According to a 2002 New York Times article, Soukup, 17 at the time, was driving a Corvette while the friend he was racing was in a Mercedes. They were headed north on Route 106 in Muttontown when they struck a Jeep and killed 31-year-old Jean Desir and 23-year-old Sophia Bretous, who were to be married in two months, The Times reported.
• John A. Faracco, 39, of New York City, was arrested July 8 at 12:06 a.m. and charged with two counts of driving while ability impaired by drugs, a felony, three counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree, a misdemeanor, and one count of unlawful possession of marijuana, a violation. Sag Harbor Village police said Faracco was driving at an unreasonable speed in a 2009 Audi westbound on Bay Street, then drove 52 miles per hour on Route 114 in a 40-miles-per-hour zone. He was pulled over on North Haven when, according to the arrest report, the police officer noticed a strong odor of marijuana emanating from the vehicle. “His eyes were constricted, his speech was slurred and he appeared jittery,” the arrest report states. Police said Faracco performed poorly on sobriety tests and admitted to being on prescription medication, including Oxycontin. A glass marijuana pipe was in the vehicle’s console and Faracco told police that the Oxycontin was in the hatchback, the arrest report states. The police officer retrieved a daily pill dispenser, with medications Faracco identified as Oxycontin, Adderall and Xanax and other pills, none of which were with their prescription bottles, and a bag of marijuana, the report states. A drug identification expert was called to police headquarters.
• A Southampton resident reported to Southampton Town police on July 5 that sometime between June 25 and June 29 someone spraypainted "SeaNigga" in white paint on the public portion of Old Orchard Road in North Sea. In addition, the resident told police that there was a swastika painted on the roadway. Police report that they canvassed the area but have not yet been able to find the perpetrators.
East Hampton
As part of a ramped up anti-drunken driving campaign on the East End, police set up check points and put on extra patrols in the Town of East Hampton over the Fourth of July weekend yielding 27 arrests, including 22 for drunken driving offenses.
The enforcement was part of the Suffolk County District Attorney's new that launched before Memorial Day weekend to crack down on drunken drivers on the East End.
• Jeremy Sunderland, 25, of Holbrook and a 17-year-old from Holbrook was arrested on a drug charges after a traffic stop in Amagansett on July 8. Police were on Montauk Highway, near Bunker Hill Road, when they saw a beer can thrown from the passenger window of a car at about 2 a.m. Police pulled the car over and while speaking with the occupants of the vehicle, they saw a clear Zip-lock bag containing pills on the passenger seat. The front seat passenger was placed under arrest and the driver was interview for possible drinking and driving. During field sobriety test, police noticed a bulge in his left-shirt pocket that turned out to be another Zip-lock bag of pills. All of the pills turned out to be methylphenidate hydrochloride, also known as Ritalin. Both the driver and the passenger were charged with seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a msdemeanor. Both were released on appearance tickets.
Two boaters in waters off The Creeks, billionaire Ronald Perelman's 57-acre East Hampton Village estate — where Mitt Romney was scheduled to be present for a campaign fundraiser — were arrested Sunday afternoon when they failed to comply with police orders, according to police.
One was arrested on the sailboat, while the second jumped off into Georgica Pond and swam to Perelman's property, where he was arrested by the Secret Service and , police said.
East Hampton Village Police Capt. Michael Tracey said that a police line was drawn across Georgica Pond, but two Wainscott men, David A. Fink and Simon V. Kinsella — after being warned not to pass — attempted to sail across the line. In the process, they hit a police boat, he said.
