Police Blotter: Starbucks employees threatened in phone scam

Police were called to the Mattituck Starbucks after an unknown phone scammer threatened employees with violence last Monday afternoon.

A man reportedly called around 4:30 p.m. and told a 22-year-old employee that he needed to be paid for security cameras for the store and became irate when the woman realized it was a scam and said they wouldn’t pay.

According to a police report, he said he knew she was working with at least three other people and threatened that they shouldn’t go out to their cars.

A manager told police that this has been happening to multiple Starbucks locations and extra police patrols in the Mattituck plaza were requested.

• A 50-year-old Manorville man was arrested for DWI after he was found passed out in his vehicle Sunday.

Police received a report of a car parked along Bayview Avenue in Mattituck running with its headlights on and the driver passed out around 7:39 p.m. 

Jorge Mateo was charged with driving while intoxicated and held for arraignment, police said.

• Southold Town police arrested a 57-year-old Wading River man for DWI during a traffic stop in Cutchogue Sunday.

Police stopped Gerald Kestler along Route 25 after he veered over the double yellow lines into the oncoming lane of traffic “multiple times” at approximately 10:25 p.m.

Mr. Kestler was arrested and charged following a roadside field sobriety test, according to police.

• A Peconic man was arrested for DWI during a stop along Albertson Lane in Greenport early Sunday.

Officials said Roberto Gomez-Lopez, age unavailable, was stopped for failing to maintain his lane shortly after 2 a.m. and charged with driving while intoxicated.

• Police and the Greenport Fire Department responded to a report of a gas leak at the village laundromat Sunday morning.

Fire department personnel found a valve leaking propane and shut it off while awaiting the arrival of Peconic Propane around 11:22 a.m.

• Southold cops were called to The Anchorage in Mattituck after receiving a report of a suspicious vehicle shortly before 2 a.m. last Monday.

An officer spoke with a 20-year-old man and 21-year-old Mattituck woman who said they had been smoking marijuana and had less than three ounces with them in compliance with the legal limit.

They called a friend to pick them up and agreed to remove their vehicle in the morning, police said.

• No injuries were reported after a 46-year-old Middle Island man reportedly fell asleep at the wheel and struck a PSEG utility police along Route 25 last Tuesday. Police did not specify which hamlet the crash occurred in but a report noted that police responded around 7:44 a.m.

• A Mattituck woman contacted police last Tuesday morning to report that an Amazon Prime package was stolen from her doorstep. The value of the package was estimated at $25, according to a police report.

• Police were called to a home on Laurel Way after a resident reported that an unknown vehicle backed into her mail box, causing damage, last Wednesday afternoon.

• A 59-year-old Southold man filed a report at police headquarters Friday after discovering that a “large sum of money” had been withdrawn from his checking account over the last 20 months without his knowledge or consent.

• A 78-year-old Greenport woman was the victim of a scam last week.

According to police, the woman was contacted by a man who claimed to represent Optimum and she mailed a total of $759.20 in checks to his address in Brooklyn.

The woman is being reimbursed by her bank and was advised by police to monitor her accounts for additional fraudulent activity.

• An unknown person damaged the door handle to a portable tent at a farm along Route 25 in Laurel last Monday. A man told police this has been an ongoing issue and nothing was taken from inside the tent.

Those who are named in police reports have not been convicted of any crime or violation. The charges against them may later be reduced or withdrawn, or they may be found innocent.