Crime & Safety

Crimes Nearby: Man Held in Hospital Fire

Patch reports on crimes from around Long Island.

Some of the crimes reported in Long Island communities in the last week.

East Meadow

A Levittown man was arrested after he allegedly set a fire in the emergency room at (NUMC) last week, police said.

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According to detectives, Patrick Callahan, 26, was being treated at NUMC just after 2 a.m. when he became agitated and uncooperative. Callahan allegedly took a lighter out of his pocket and set fire to the bed sheets, mattress and gurney he was lying in.

Detectives said that the fire created smoke that was extinguished by hospital staff. Nobody was injured during the incident, police added. At the time of the fire, there were two patients in the room with Callahan, and 52 other patients, family and staff.

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Callahan was charged with first-degree reckless endangerment, second-degree criminal mischief and fifth-degree arson. Callahan was also found to have an open Nassau County warrant for disorderly conduct issued on June 19. He was arraigned on Friday at First District Court in Hempstead.

Rockville Centre

A third teen was arrested and charged in the  that put a 44-year-old Rockville Centre resident in the hospital with broken ribs.

Kevin Coyle, 18, was arrested at his home on Thursday night after the Rockville Centre and Nassau County Police departments discovered his involvement through a joint investigation. According to the NCPD, Coyle was charged with second-degree gang assault.

Coyle, a recently-graduated senior from , also was a starter on the school's Nassau County Championship basketball team.

Two other seniors — William Moore and Matthew Diperna, both 18 —  at the end of June, just a few days after the June 19 assault.

Wantagh

A Seaford man was arrested and charged with boating while intoxicated near in Wantagh Sunday evening after he reported two of his passengers had gone overboard into the Atlantic Ocean.

Police said that around 6 p.m., the operator of the 23-foot Trophy boat, Anthony Marmo, of Seaford, did not realize two of his male passengers were in the water until he had traveled out of their sight.

Marmo, 36, called police who began responding to the scene about a mile off Jones Beach. A 37-year old man was thrown from the back of the vessel and a 32-year old male jumped in after him, police said.

Lifeguards from Jones Beach saw the two men in the water and used a rowboat to rescue them. The men were taken to Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow for evaluation. No injuries were reported, according to police. 

Marmo is charged with boating while intoxicated.

Wantagh

A 14-year old girl got a scare at in Wantagh Thursday evening when a Westchester County man lured her to his car while impersonating a police officer, according to State Park Police. 

Police said Roberto Villavicencio, 36, of Mamaroneck approched the girl near the central mall area of the beach and told her he was a cop. The man then proceeded to tell the girl he needed to accompany her to his car so he could show her his law enforcement identification and for questioning, police said. On the way to his vehicle in Parking Field 4, Villavicencio made what police described as "inappropriate sexual inquiries" toward the girl.

Villavicencio is charged with first-degree criminal impersonation of a police officer and endangering the welfare of a child.

Seaford

A North Massapequa man who was secretly taking photos of an 8-year-old girl at a Seaford ice cream store was arrested after an off-duty cop saw what was going on, police said.

Richard Stacel, was allegedly taking photos of the girl without her knowledge with a cell phone while on line at the Mad Topper store on 1220 Hicksville Road shortly after 8 p.m. Thursday. The officer saw what was happening and waited until Stacel was outside to confront him so other customers wouldn't be endangered.

The officer identified himself, while the store owner called 911.

Stacel struggled with the officer and broke the phone and its memory card, police said. He went to his car, but the officer blocked the open door so he couldn't leave. Stacel then allegedly reached toward the center console of the car, where a stun gun was later found. Police arrived and placed him under arrest.

Nassau County Police Deputy Inspector Kenneth Lack said that police will try to recover the photos, but wasn't sure if it would be possible. Lack also said that Stacel had been arrested for a child endangerment issue in Nassau County before.

Stacel was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and weapons possession.

Kings Park

Suffolk County Police are seeking assistance in finding a man who stole a high priced bottle of champagne from a Kings Park liquor store.

Police said that on May 13 at about 5:39 p.m. a man walked to the back of in Kings Park and took a bottle of Veuve Cliquot champagne from the store display and concealed the bottle in his pants. Police said the man left the store without paying for the champagne and fled in a maroon or other dark colored four-door sedan. Police describe the man as a black male, approximately 5’10” tall with a muscular build.

Police are asking anyone with information on this incident to contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS.

Huntington Station

A multi-agency overnight sobriety checkpoint in Huntington Station nabbed 13 drivers between late Friday and early Saturday.

Conducted by the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, state and county police, a total of 662 vehicles passed through the checkpoint on southbound Route 110 in Huntington Station between 11:10 p.m. and 3 a.m.

Riverhead

A fight between two brothers led to an arrest in Riverside early Sunday morning.

According to Southampton Town Police, on Sunday at approximately 2:41 a.m., Riverside resident Jason M. Stoddard, 30, was arrested and charged with criminal contempt in the first degree, a felony, after becoming engaged in a physical fight with his brother at his home in Riverside.

His brother, police say, had an active order of protection  against such alleged behavior by Stoddard.

Holbrook

A Centereach man pleaded not guilty to a seven count indictment related to and injured another person in May.

James O'Donnell, 47, was arraigned in Suffolk County Criminal Court on Tuesday on new elevated felony charges of second-degree manslaughter, two counts of second-degree vehicular manslaughter, two counts of second-degree vehicular assault, and two misdemeanor counts of driving while intoxicated.

A grand jury, which handed down the indictment on July 5, found there was sufficient evidence that he recklessly caused the death of 26-year-old Kristin J. Iacono on May 23 while driving north on Holbrook road with a blood alcohol level above the legal limit of .08.


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