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Police: Riverhead residents abduct man over missing ATV

Three Riverhead Town residents — including a mother and her son — abducted a teen from a Laurel gas station earlier this month, took his cell phone and called his friends and said they would continue to hold him until a stolen ATV was returned, Southold Police said.

The teen, a Mattituck resident, was driven from Laurel to Jamesport, stripped of his shoes and cigarettes and assaulted before being forced into the back of a pickup truck and released near Pier Avenue in Riverhead, according to reports.

Southold Police were alerted when a resident reported overhearing youths talking about an abduction.  Police later arrested Elizabeth Bucalo-Lingerfelt, 51, and her son, Conon Lingerfelt, 17, both of Jamesport, and Philip Trentacoste, 18, of Aquebogue, on robbery and unlawful imprisonment charges. The two teens also each face an assault charge.

After arraignment, all three were released on bail.

Police said the victim was taken about 1 p.m. on Sept. 1 from the Empire Gas Station on Main Road in Laurel, where he had gone to purchase cigarettes. The man told police he was confronted by three males and an older woman and forced into a white Dodge Neon. While at the Jamesport address a fourth male arrived, said police, adding that other arrests are pending.

Southold Police were able to contact several of the youths friends who reportedly received a call from one the suspects. One of his friends took him to his home in Cutchogue and seeing his black eye, swelling and bruises called the Cutchogue Fire Department rescue squad. An officer accompanying the squad realized the teen was the missing victim, who was taken to Eastern Long Island Hospital, where he was treated and released, said police.

Although the ATV was reported stolen in Riverhead, Southold police said there’s no indication that the victim was involved.

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