Update: Over 40 Riverhead School Buses Vandalized; Third Arrest Made

Over 40 Riverhead school buses were broken into and vandalized on Thursday night.

According to Riverhead School Superintendent Nancy Carney, on Thursday night, several individuals broke into the buses and allegedly discharged fire extinguishers, painted graffiti, and damaged electrical and mechanical systems.

Riverhead Town Police responded to the report of multiple criminal mischiefs and larcenies and arrested Terrance Pertillar, 19, of Riverhead and a 17 year old male from Riverhead. Later on Friday, Sergio Gonzalez, 18, of Riverhead, was also arrested. All were charged with criminal mischief in the second degee, criminal trespass, and petit larceny.

"Faced with the possibility of being unable to open school on Friday, we mobilized our transportation, custodial and maintenance departments to thoroughly clean all of the buses and make them operational by 6 a.m.," Carney said. The superintendent said she was proud of the over 25 staffers who went "above and beyond the call of duty" between the hours of 1:30 and 6 a.m. to be sure students would have a safe and clean way to get to school on Friday.

"While end-of-the-year pranks are a tradition among many schools throughout the county, what happened here last night went far beyond harmless pranks," Carney said. "There was serious and expensive damage done to taxpayer-owned property and I am deeply disturbed by what happened. The school district will work in full cooperation with the police and the district attorney to ensure that the alleged perpetrators are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

The investigation is ongoing.

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