A wave of crime swept over Long Island, NY this past week, ranging from fatal road incidents to drug trafficking. One such event saw a vehicle engulfed in a fiery crash in Hicksville, ending the life of one man with another arrested and charged with manslaughter for his alleged involvement in the accident.
In a separate case, law enforcement authorities sentenced a man from Suffolk County to a 17-year-long prison term. The man faced charges of peddling fentanyl pills, a potent opioid which resulted in the premature end of a Suffolk County resident’s life.
Meanwhile, a Queens-based individual received a life sentence, set at a minimum of 65 years. His crimes included a series of sexual assaults committed against three women in Hempstead, spanning the time period between 2015 and 2020.
In yet another incident, a Long Island resident faced arrest following a vehicle crash while under the influence. The handcuffed suspect managed to escape the scene of the crash in a commandeered police vehicle, only to be later apprehended by New York State Police.
Stories of grisly violence unfolded as a man and woman, both residents of Long Island, plead guilty separately to their involvement in a horrific stabbing case. The brutality of the crime scene, where the victim’s mutilated body parts wound up spread across various outdoor locations, shook the community.
Another troubling incident involved a woman and her aggressive dog from Mastic. Accused of second-degree reckless endangerment after her dog mauled a toddler, the woman not only endangered the life of the young boy, but also his uncle who courageously stepped in to defend his nephew.
In a case related to the pandemic, a Smithtown man admitted to defrauding the federal government of approximately $1.1 million. The culprit misused small business disaster relief funds which had been allocated to ease the economic blow of the coronavirus crisis.
Abuse of power featured too. A former probation officer from Nassau County faced indictment for concealing a sexual relationship he had nurtured with a probationer under his supervision. The officer’s actions pose serious questions on law enforcement ethics.
Records of multiple robberies came to surface, one of which involved an attempt to rob a woman by the very man who had hired her to clean his house. In another case, a Roosevelt man was arrested for a reported robbery at a Walmart, where he also violated the county’s mask transparency act.
A notable incident of illegal drug trading was reported from Brentwood. Seven store employees were arrested and faced multiple felony charges for selling controlled substances and prescription medications without proper authorizations.
In other crime-related occurrences, a Roosevelt man was arrested following a stabbing episode in Inwood that left a woman with serious facial and arm injuries. A Bay Shore man also faced charges when he admitted to depositing hazardous waste and old tires at the ex-Pilgrim State Psychiatric Center.
Elsewhere on Long Island, a high-speed police chase on the Long Island Expressway led to the arrest of a woman in a stolen car. She was later charged in a Riverside court for using the stolen vehicle for committing a bank robbery, which resulted in an officer’s injuries.
A sweeping string of burglaries halted when police arrested a suspect linked to 11 business burglaries across Centereach, Farmingville, and Ronkonkoma. Another man was hauled in for burglarizing an eatery in downtown Riverhead, while a Flanders-based deli was also hit by robbery.
Alarming breaches surfaced when a man was charged with sexual misconduct in a public park, and another impersonated a police officer during a heated argument. Also, a woman was arrested for driving while intoxicated with her two young daughters present in the vehicle.
Authorities sought the public’s assistance in investigating a grand larceny case involving two unidentified men, accused of stealing clothes from a store at Tanger Outlets in Deer Park. Similarly, local Suffolk police released photos of a suspect purportedly involved in stealing baseball cards from a Target store in Medford.
Finally, cases of stolen credit cards surfaced from Huntington Station where two women were caught on surveillance cameras making purchases with the stolen credit card. Individuals or eyewitnesses with any valuable information have been urged to reach out to authorities to further assist in these investigations.