Crime & Safety

Crime Nearby: Home Invasion Uncovers Drugs, Guns

Notable arrests and convictions near Syosset and Woodbury.

Three defendants in Saturday morning's break-in and subsequent drug bust in Farmingdale remain behind bars Monday in the Nassau County Jail, unable to post a the high bail amount set by a judge.

Damin E. Porcelli, 33, the resident of the home on 9th Avenue that was surrounded by Nassau Police early Saturday, is being held on $200,000 bail or $300,000 bond in connection with a slew of drug possession charges.

The two men who police say broke into the home are also in jail, both held on felony weapons charges. Both men, Edward D. Thomas, 23, of New York, and Chris J. Lee, 22, Brooklyn, are being held on $250,000 cash bail and $500,000 bond.

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Police say they found the drugs in the home after a break-in was reported by multiple callers, including Porcelli, who initially claimed to be a victim of a break-in. The home is just 2-3 blocks from the High School athletic field and just off a wooded area known for decades as a hangout for high school students, community sources said.

The bizarre events unravelled just before 3 a.m. Saturday when Thomas and  Lee burst into the house and one of the men struck Porcelli, 33, in the face with a loaded handgun, police said.

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Pair Charged in Jewelry Store Spree

Suffolk Police arrested a couple in Deer Park Wednesday and charged them with multiple jewelry store thefts. 

A routine Deer Park traffic stop yielded the arrest of driver, Kristie Laird, and her passenger, Daniel Cimolonski, for active warrants and drug possession charges. Further investigation by First Squad detectives revealed that Cimolonski, 32, of South Setauket, was responsible for four thefts at jewelry stores throughout Suffolk.

Police said the grand larceny charges stem from thefts at Tourneau at Walt Whitman Shops in Huntington Station, Zales Jewelers in Deer Park's Tanger Outlets, Golden Island Jewelry in Commack and Diamond Exchange Jeweler in Medford.

Laird, 45, of Deer Park, was charged as an accomplice in one of the cases, police said. Cimolonski is also charged with fourth degree grand larceny for stealing money from a man at a Bay Shore Burger King Wednesday, police said.

Caught Selling Stolen Goods at Auction

Nassau Police arrested a Brooklyn man in Williston Park Friday for allegedly attempting to sell items stolen from a Kings Point home.

Anatoliy Maryuk, 40, while employed by the 65-year-old male victim at his Kings Point home between June-September 2011, removed four antique silver gilded ice buckets valued at $50,000 each.

The victim, unaware the items were missing from his home, was notified by the New York auction house Sotheby's that the defendant had attempted to sell the items. Maryuk was able to sell two of the items on eBay in August 2011 to a Maryland man who was unaware the items were stolen.

House Guest Charged in Theft

An Oceanside woman was arrested Sunday and from a home in Wantagh she was a guest in, Nassau Police said.

While a guest at a Sycamore Avenue home in Wantagh Wednesday, Janice Longona entered a bedroom and took assorted jewelry valued in excess of $2,000, police said. When Longona, 36, was arrested, police said she also had the victim’s credit cards, a New York State Drivers License, phone card and insurance card.

Southern State Arrest

A Bethpage man who was stopped for speeding on the Southern State Parkway in North Massapequa Thursday also faces drug and weapon charges, State Police said.

Troopers stopped a Volkswagen driven by Paul Krill, 23, of Bethpage at the Hicksville Road Exit in North Massapequa at 12:32 p.m. They discovered he had a small amount of marijuana as well as hundreds of morphine pills and 21 oxycondone pills, police said.


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