Southold blotter: Woman gave $4k in gift cards to scammer

The Village of Greenport was hit with a spree of graffiti last week that affected at least three separate locations, according to police reports.

Two reports were filed last Wednesday and one was filed last Friday noting graffiti in Greenport.

Last Wednesday at 10:15 a.m., an officer on patrol observed graffiti painted on the side of a Village of Greenport garbage can placed at the end of Third Street, according to a report. Less than five minutes later, the same officer noticed graffiti painted on the side of the Verizon red brick building on Fifth Street, police said.

Around noon last Friday, the officer once again observed graffiti, this time painted over the side of the town-owned bathrooms in Klipp Park at the end of Manhanset Avenue, according to a police report. There was a previous incident of graffiti at those bathrooms on Dec. 9, according to that report, that had been painted over by the Department of Public Works. Police believe those incidents are connected.

An investigation is ongoing.

• Someone may have stolen money from the Michelangelo pizzeria in Mattituck last week, according to a police report.

Someone called police last Wednesday around 8:45 p.m. to report that money was missing from the safe at the Michelangelo on Route 25 in Mattituck, the report stated. It was unclear how much was missing.

• A package containing a pair of leather boots worth more than $230 was taken from a Cutchogue woman’s doorstep last week, according to a police report.

The woman, a Strohson Road resident, called police around 11:35 a.m. Dec. 8 to report that a package containing a pair of Massey leather boots was taken from her doorstep, police said.

• A Cutchogue woman lost $4,000 in a phone scam when someone called last week fraudulently posing as a lawyer, according to a police report.

The woman went to police around 1:10 p.m. on Dec. 7 to report the incident. She told police an unknown person who went by the name of Lisa Miller called and said she was an attorney claiming the woman’s granddaughter had been arrested, the report stated.

The caller told the woman she could get her granddaughter’s charges dismissed if the Beebe Road resident sent her $4,000 in iTunes gift cards. The Cutchogue woman did as she was requested and was later reimbursed by her bank.

A detective was notified to the case.