Crimes Nearby: Masked, Armed Robbers Hold Up CVS in Riverhead

RIVERHEAD

• 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.

WESTHAMPTON-HAMPTON BAYS 

• A man with stab wounds and a broken arm who showed up on the doorstep of the Westhampton Beach Police Department earlier in January led Southampton Town police to discover a prostitution operation, disguised as a perfume party in Speonk.

According to Southampton Town police, the investigation led them to North Phillips Avenue in Speonk and resulted in the arrest of a Queens woman on a prostitution charge, as well as the arrest of a Queens man who attacked the victim, who required an extended hospitalization and surgery.

Marco Santos, 26, was charged with assault in the first degree, a felony, and criminal possession of a weapon, a misdemeanor, on Monday, after police located him with the help of the U.S. Marshal’s Joint Fugitive Task-Force.

Reina Nieves-Agirre, 41, of Corona, Queens, was arrested on Jan. 5 and charged with prostitution in the third degree, a felony, and obstructing governmental administration in the second degree, a misdemeanor. She was further charged with giving a false written statement, also a misdemeanor.

• Southampton Town police have charged a Hampton Bays woman with assault after they said she struck a man with a glass plate on Dec. 29.

According to police, Susan Kraehling, 53, was arrested after police responded to a home in Hampton Bays where they found Kraehling's victim suffering from a laceration to his head and hand.

He was transported to Southampton Hospital.

Kraehling was charged with assault in the second degree, a felony, and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree, a misdemeanor.

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.

SOUTHAMPTON

• 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.