Police Beat

Municipalities are always looking for ways to generate ways to obtain more revenue. One way without burdening property taxpayers is to get outstanding parking tickets paid.

In Tarrytown, Irvington and Sleepy Hollow, there are hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid parking tickets.

Tarrytown Village Administrator Michael Blau said he did not have statistics for uncollected parking tickets for only 2011, but a recent state audit of the Tarrytown Village Justice Court indicated there are $1,175,580 in parking tickets not paid to the village, Blau noted.

Of those unpaid tickets, $841,635 is older than five years, Blau said. “It’s a lot of money,” he said.  more »

An Irvington woman could be facing up to eight years in prison after admitting embezzling more than $42 million from a blue collar employees union.
Melissa King, 60, pleaded guilty October 21 in federal court to one count of theft and embezzlement and one count of filing false tax returns following her arrest in November 2009 for stealing millions of dollars over a seven-year period from the employee benefits plans her company, King Care LLC, administered for Sandhogs Union Local 147 members.  more »

Dismay and disbelief have followed the arrest last month of a cantor, Uzi Rivlin, who is a fifth grade teacher at Temple Beth Abraham in Tarrytown, for allegedly engaging in inappropriate physical contact with two 13-year-old boys at his New Jersey home.

During 2009 and 2010, at his Teaneck home, Rivlin had separately hosted the two Israel boys brought to this country through The Scholarship Fund for the Advancement of Children in Israel, that was, in part, sponsored by Rivlin.  more »

The Sleepy Hollow Board of Trustees and controversial Police Detective Jose Quinoy reached a settlement in mid-June that eliminated “the uncertainties, costs and risks of continuous litigation” involving the officer and ended his tumultuous career with the village.

As part of the agreement, Quinoy, 38, was reinstated on the police force, effective on the day he was suspended without pay, April 29, 2009, following several federal charges being lodged against him. However, the village also accepted his resignation, effective May 31 of this year, and Quinoy released the village from any future claims.

“It’s good for us to get this behind us. Now we are able to move forward,” Sleepy Hollow Mayor Ken Wray said.  more »

The pit bull that on May 24 attacked and killed Bones, a Yorkshire Terrier being walked on leash by Pat Bucci at Union and Sunnyside in Tarrytown, will be returning home. In a court decision on June 23, Village Justice Kyle McGovern determined that the pit bull’s owner, Charles Harris, had met conditions detailed during the June 9th trial to allow for the dog’s release from the New Rochelle Humane Society Animal Shelter.  more »

A Sleepy Hollow volunteer firefighter, who left 19 people homeless after allegedly setting fire to a home on Cedar Street in March, was formally indicted by a grand jury last week of starting two blazes in the village.

Trent Bronner, 22, a former star athlete at Sleepy Hollow High School who was once honored by the village and the Westchester County Volunteer Fireman’s Association for helping rescue a man who jumped from the Tappan Zee Bridge, was arraigned June 22 on five felony counts and two misdemeanors stemming from fires he allegedly set March 20 at 13 Cedar Street and July 19 at 128 Cortlandt Street.  more »

Sleepy Hollow Village Trustees have approved a settlement with former police detective Jose Quinoy with a resolution that eliminates, "the uncertainties, costs and risks of continuous litigation" involving the officer. The settlement reinstated Quinoy on the police force, effective on the day he was suspended, April 29, 2009, following several federal charges being lodged against him; however, the village has accepted his resignation as of May 31 this year.  more »

Arson was suspected early on as the cause of the March 20 fire in Sleepy Hollow that left 19 people homeless, and now a 21-year-old volunteer fireman has been arrested for allegedly setting the blaze. Trent Bronner, a former Sleepy Hollow High School athlete, has been accused of second-degree arson, a felony. He faces a May 2 court appearance on the charges.

The arrest was the culmination of a month-long probe that involved Sleepy Hollow detectives, Westchester investigators and the County Cause and Origin team, a police statement said.  more »

Westchester County police have focused their investigation of what appeared to be an attempted bombing of a car in Tarrytown Friday night on the unexploded device discovered fastened under the vehicle, at 14 Walden Road. The County police 's Hazardous Device Unit, wearing bomb-resistant suits, used robotics to remove the pipe-bomb like apparatus after being called in by Tarrytown police. It was partially disassembled and "rendered safe," according to a county police statement Saturday.  more »

If Sleepy Hollow residents with unpaid parking tickets are looking for a resolution this New Year, Village Manager Anthony Giaccio has a suggestion: pay your fines. “We are going to find you and aggressively go after you,” he said in no uncertain terms.  more »

A teenager who severely injured an Irvington police officer in a head-on crash last spring was sentenced to seven years in prison in early December.

Before he received his sentence from Westchester County Judge James Hubert, Brian Sabia, 16, of Milford, Connecticut apologized to officer Luigi Osso, 31, who was in court with his wife, personal nurse, friends and fellow officers from Irvington and Westchester and Putnam counties.  more »

An Irvington business owner, who pled guilty to one count of child endangerment after being accused of kissing and hugging a 12-year-old girl in his store in July, avoided jail time.

Instead, Stuart Goldberg, 54, owner of Head 2 Head Sports & Games on Main Street, was ordered in Irvington Justice Court November 15 to undergo treatment and stay away from the unidentified female victim for five years.

According to Irvington police, Goldberg was caught in the act on his own store’s surveillance camera on July 14. The child endangerment charge is a misdemeanor.

Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown police are urging residents to be alert and take precautions following three burglaries in the same day in mid-November, and several others nearby in Mount Pleasant.

The three burglaries that raised the eyebrows of police took place on Friday, November 12. Two were in the Philipse Manor area of Sleepy Hollow, and the third on Warren Avenue in Tarrytown. All three reportedly occurred around mid-day when the homes were not occupied and the intruders entered through basement doors or windows.

“It could be the same person,” Sleepy Hollow Police Chief John Kapica said. “We struck out with forensic evidence.”  more »

The former controller of Castle on the Hudson restaurant and hotel in Tarrytown remains in jail after being arrested in late July for allegedly embezzling $400,000 over a four-year period.

Mourad Boulas, 46, who resides in Hamden, Connecticut, appeared in Tarrytown Village Court August 18 and was remanded back to Westchester County Jail, although his bail was reduced from $350,000 to $250,000. His case was adjourned to November 17 and will likely continue in White Plains.

According to the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office, Boulas, stole the money from December 2004 to October 2008 by writing checks to his wife, who was not aware of the scheme, and phony companies.  more »

A Sleepy Hollow police detective dodged a few bullets in federal court last week when he was acquitted by a jury of two civil rights charges.

However, Jose Quinoy, 37, a resident of Tarrytown, may have to face a second trial as one of 12 jurors caused a deadlock on the third charge where he was charged with punching and kicking a man in handcuffs who confronted the married detective about rumors he was having an affair with his 22-year-old daughter.

Federal prosecutors will be meeting with U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas on August 10 to decide if Quinoy should be retried on that count. If retried and convicted, Quinoy could still face 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.  more »

The trial of a suspended Sleepy Hollow police detective, charged with civil rights violations and witness tampering stemming from two separate incidents in 2006, is underway in federal court in White Plains.

Jose Quinoy, 37, has been suspended without pay since he was indicted in April for allegedly punching and kicking two men after they were restrained and handcuffed. One incident took place October 17, 2006 when Quinoy allegedly fought outside the Sleepy Hollow Police Department with Mario Gomez, 54, who confronted Quinoy about wanting to have a relationship with his then 22-year-old daughter.

Quinoy is also accused of beating Luis Vilches on December 17, 2006 following a personal dispute involving alleged disparaging comments both men made toward relatives.  more »

A Tarrytown dentist was charged last month with inappropriately touching a young male patient.

Dr. Thomas C. Tong, 70, whose practice is located at 103 North Broadway, was arrested by Tarrytown police on four misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a 12-year-old boy over a nine-month period, which reportedly began last February.

Police were contacted in November by a California-based group called We Tip, which had been notified that a child had been molested by a local dentist. Police then investigated the tip, with the help of the special prosecutions division of the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office.

Tong was arraigned in Tarrytown Village Court and is free on $5,000 bail.

Parents in the Irvington School District were recently startled to learn a convicted sex offender is living in the area of the Main Street and Dows Lane elementary schools, and has been since April.

“I was just deeply disturbed and troubled that he would be living in a community like ours and so close to schools and parks,” said one mother, who requested anonymity, of three young children, two of whom attend Dows Lane. “It makes me very nervous.”

A September 15 letter from Superintendent of Schools Dr. Kathleen Matusiak was mailed to parents and guardians in the district, stating it had been notified by the Irvington Police Department that Russell Bretan, 31, a Level 2 sex offender, was residing in Irvington.  more »

An Irvington woman who claimed she was physically, verbally and mentally abused by Tarrytown Police after being arrested following a fender-bender in June has filed a lawsuit against the village.

Jill Selby, 52, of Riverview Road, said she was handcuffed, thrown in the back of a police car and kept in a jail cell for 90 minutes after what police described as a “minor motor vehicle accident” at the intersection of South Broadway and Interstate 287 about 2 p.m. June 16.

“If it didn’t happen, I wouldn’t believe it happened,” Selby said. “I’m afraid to go into Tarrytown now. I don’t know what they’re capable of.”  more »

A Tarrytown couple were among eight individuals indicted August 25 for allegedly being involved in a countywide mortgage fraud scheme that defrauded four separate families and two mortgage lenders of $1.4 million.

According to the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office, over a two-year period, from December 2004 to January 2007, Hubert “Phil” Hall, 60, and Doreen Swenson, 60, both of 31 West Elizabeth Street, and six others acted in concert to victimize four families in Croton-on-Hudson, Yorktown, Cortlandt and Mount Vernon, along with two mortgage lenders, wherein they induced property owners fearing the threat of foreclosure to deed their homes to “investors” with the promise they could repurchase the property in 12 to 24 months.  more »

Tarrytown police are warning area residents to take better safety precautions in their homes following the recent daytime burglary of two residences in the Barnes Road neighborhood.

Detective/Sergeant Eugene Buonanno said the warm weather months where windows and screen doors are left open are easy targets for thieves.

“We’re now getting into the burglary season. The easier you make it for them, the more you’re a target,” Buonanno said. “It is random but what they look for is unlocked doors and unlocked windows. They don’t like breaking glass. It brings too much attention. They don’t like making noise.”  more »