Tags Posts tagged with "Endangering the Welfare of a Child"

Endangering the Welfare of a Child

Police car. Stock photo

Suffolk County Police  arrested a Lake Grove man for allegedly endangering the welfare of a child in Selden on Jan. 10.

An 11-year-old girl was approached by a man as she was walking home from Selden Middle School at approximately 3:25 p.m. The man ran up from behind the victim and allegedly made sexual propositions to her before she ran home. The man then left the scene in a motor vehicle, striking a pole as he fled.

Following an investigation by Sixth Precinct Crime Control officers, Zachary Chase was arrested at his
home at 8:37 p.m. Chase, 28, of Commonwealth Ave., Lake Grove, was charged with Endangering the Welfare of a Child 2nd Degree and Leaving the Scene of a Motor Vehicle Accident.

A criminal charge is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

File photo by Victoria Espinoza

Suffolk County police 4th Precinct crime section officers are investigating an incident during which a man allegedly asked a juvenile to expose himself.

A 16-year-old boy was jogging in Lake Grove April 13 at around 10 a.m. when a man driving a white refrigerated box truck started following the boy and allegedly asked him to expose himself. The teen refused and the driver left.

The man was described as white, had read hair and in his mid-30s. He was missing teeth. The truck had a flower logo on the cab doors.

Anyone with information is asked to call 4th Precinct crime section at 631-854-8426 or call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-220-TIPS (8477). All calls will be kept confidential.

Suffolk County Police arrested a man for allegedly endangering the welfare of a child after he allowed his 13-year-old daughter to drive with a 3-year-old child in the backseat.

Alejandro Noriega. Photo from SCPD

A 2nd Precinct community support unit officer observed a 1995 Toyota Camry being driven erratically while traveling northbound on Oakwood Road in Huntington Station Jan. 27 at approximately 6:30 p.m. The officer initiated a traffic stop of the vehicle and noticed a young girl was driving. The girl’s father, Alejandro Noriega, was in the front passenger seat. The 3-year-old male child was in a child safety seat in the back of the vehicle. Noriega had been entrusted by a friend to baby-sit the boy.

Noriega, 45, of Huntington Station, was arrested and charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child. He was also issued a summons for permitting unlicensed operation. The 13-year-old girl was released to her mother at the scene. The 3-year-old boy was released to his mother at the 2d Precinct.

Noriega was held overnight at the 2nd Precinct and was scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 28 at First District Court in Central Islip.

Christian Quintanilla mug shot. Photo from SCPD

Christian Quintanilla, of Huntington Station, was arrested by Suffolk County police for driving while intoxicated with his teenage daughter in the car May 21.

While conducting STOP DWI patrol, 2nd Precinct Police Officer Joshua Parsons pulled over a 2006 Toyota Tundra, driven by  Quintanilla, where he observed Quintanilla intoxicated. He saw Quintanilla’s 15-year-old daughter was also in the vehicle.

Quintanilla, 36, was charged with aggravated driving while intoxicated, driving while intoxicated and endangering the welfare of a child.

Quintanilla was scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip.

File photo
Rashelle Mann mugshot from SCPD
Rashelle Mann mugshot from SCPD

Police allege a woman was driving drunk and without a license when she got into a crash at a busy intersection near the mall, all with her toddler in the back seat.

According to the Suffolk County Police Department, the suspect was driving east on Middle Country Road in a 2006 Nissan Altima on Sunday evening when she made a left turn in front of a 2014 Toyota Rav4, which had been heading west on the same road. The two vehicles collided at the Moriches Road intersection, near Smith Haven Mall.

A 2-year-old boy was in the Nissan at the time of the crash, driver Rashelle Mann’s son, police said. He was evaluated at Stony Brook University Hospital but did not appear injured, according to police. The Toyota’s driver, 20-year-old Hauppauge resident Cindy Tran, was treated at the same hospital for minor injuries.

The mother, a 26-year-old Ronkonkoma resident, was charged with driving while intoxicated and aggravated driving while intoxicated with a child passenger 15 years or younger, a charge commonly referred to as Leandra’s Law. She was also charged with endangering the welfare of a child and aggravated unlicensed operation of a vehicle.

Attorney information for Mann was not immediately available.

According to police, her son was released to a relative.

Kieran Bunce mugshot from the SCPD

A man previously convicted of a sexual offense against a minor was arrested on Thursday after allegedly being caught undressed inside a vehicle with a 14-year-old boy.

According to the Suffolk County Police Department, an officer was on routine patrol when he spotted the car in a dark area of the parking lot of the Fort Salonga Shopping Center on Route 25A, near Bread and Cheese Hollow Road, shortly after midnight.

Police said the 4th Precinct officer, Dennis Lynch, approached and saw two people inside with their clothes off: registered sex offender and vehicle owner Kieran Bunce, 48, and a 14-year-old boy.

The pair had arranged their meeting over a cell phone application, police said, and sexual contact did occur.

Bunce is a registered Level 1 offender. According to the database of Parents for Megan’s Law, a nonprofit advocacy and victim support group that monitors sex offenders, Bunce was previously convicted on a 2003 sexual misconduct charge stemming from an incident with a 16-year-old girl.

That charge, a Class A misdemeanor, is a crime of sexual intercourse with someone without their consent, whether it is because the victim is a minor, mentally incapacitated or forced, according to state penal law.

According to the Parents for Megan’s Law database, Bunce was sentenced to six years of probation for that 2003 offense.

The Melville resident was charged with two felony counts of second-degree criminal sex act, as well as the misdemeanor first-degree endangering the welfare of a child.

Attorney information for Bunce was not immediately available. He was scheduled to be arraigned on Friday.

Christopher Elgut photo from SCPD

A Huntington man was allegedly inappropriate with an 8-year-old who was visiting the library with her mother on Sunday.

The Suffolk County Police Department said Christopher Elgut picked up the little girl, who was standing behind her mom at the Huntington Public Library counter, and put her down behind a column, then touched her inappropriately.

The girl screamed, police said, prompting Elgut to flee on foot.

Police broadcasted a description of the suspect after the 4:30 p.m. incident, and patrol officers from the 2nd Precinct located Elgut about 20 minutes later not far from the library.

Elgut, 28, was charged with first-degree sex abuse, endangering the welfare of a child and criminal possession of marijuana.

Attorney information for the suspect was not immediately available. He was scheduled to be arraigned on Monday.

Galip Gulmez mugshot from SCPD

Police arrested an elderly man on Monday, three weeks after they say he lured children with candy while masturbating.

The 87-year-old Lloyd Harbor man was sitting in his gray 2011 Subaru at West Neck Beach on the afternoon of Aug. 10, when he allegedly offered candy to nearby children. The Suffolk County Police Department said a woman who was at the beach with the kids went up to the Subaru to intervene and saw that the suspect was not wearing pants and was masturbating.

Detectives from the SCPD’s 2nd Squad investigated the case, and on Monday afternoon arrested Horseshoe Path resident Galip Gulmez. He is charged with public lewdness and with endangering the welfare of a child.

Attorney information for Gulmez was not available Tuesday morning.

According to police, the suspect was scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday.

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Joan Beard mugshot from SCPD

Police arrested a Port Jefferson Station woman on Saturday night after finding her unresponsive in a car with her toddler, allegedly under the influence of drugs.

According to the Suffolk County Police Department, officers Michael Becker and Michael Cafarella from the 6th Precinct were responding to an anonymous 911 call about an unresponsive woman with a child in a car, parked at a Gulf station on Route 112 in Medford.

Becker and Cafarella arrived at about 7:30 p.m. and knocked on the car window, police said. The woman sitting in the driver’s seat, 31-year-old Joan Beard, did not respond to the knock but woke up when the officers opened the car door.

Police said Beard was under the influence of drugs, and was arrested.

Her 2-year-old daughter, who was in the backseat of the car, was unharmed. Child Protective Services was notified and the girl was released to family members, police said.

Beard was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

Beard was listed on the New York State court system’s online database as representing herself and could not be reached for comment.

She has a previous charge pending against her as well, for possession of a hypodermic instrument.

Christopher Foster mugshot from the DA's office

A Long Island man has been convicted of beating his month-old son to death and faces up to 25 years in prison.

According to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, a jury convicted the 32-year-old Kings Park man of first-degree manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child four years after the boy, who was 43 days old, was killed.

The defendant, Christopher Foster, was found not guilty of second-degree murder.

The DA’s office said in a press release that an autopsy showed infant Jonathan Hertzler had suffered a fractured skull, four broken ribs and bruises on his face. When he died on Oct. 11, 2011, his fatal injuries had been caused by multiple blows.

Clarissa Hertzler, the boy’s mother, testified that Foster often became angry when the baby cried, the DA’s office said, and the infant “was a source of constant aggravation.”

According to the DA’s office, Assistant District Attorney Dana Brown told the jury that the night the baby died, Foster was the last person to hold him. She said Foster called his boss — not 911 — to report Jonathan was not breathing.

First-degree manslaughter is a Class B felony, and is defined as occurring when an adult intends to cause physical injury to someone younger than 11 years old and “recklessly engages in conduct which creates a grave risk of serious physical injury … and thereby causes the death of such a person,” the DA’s office said.

Foster was remanded to the county jail and will be sentenced on Sept. 8. He faces up to 25 years in state prison.