Crime & Safety

Crimes Nearby: Repeat Drunk Drivers Charged in East Hampton

Three men are arrested for felony DWI after prior convictions this week.

The following information was supplied by various police departments. A criminal charge is only an accusation and does not indicate guilt.

EAST HAMPTON

• Wayne B. Burling, 29, of Montauk, who police said has five previous convictions for alcohol related offenses, was held without bail on a felony driving while intoxicated charge and another felony for allegedly driving without a valid license, after an accident in Montauk on the afternoon of Oct. 13. Police said he crashed a 1988 Ford Mustang into a utility pole on Star Island Road, near West Lake Drive, at 1:15 p.m., and fled on foot into the woods.

A check with the State Department of Motor Vehicles showed his license was either suspended or revoked 17 times on 16 dates for several traffic violations, including alcohol related offenses, dating from 1999 to 2010. Police said he was convicted of DWI offenses in Suffolk County District Court, Nassau County Court, and Suffolk County Court between 2003 and 2010.

• Kyle Martin, 25, of East Hampton, was also arrested on felony DWI, due to a prior conviction, and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle charges, as well as aggravated DWI, for allegedly driving with a blood alcohol level above .18, after he nearly had a head-on collision with a police officer on Oct. 15. Police said Martin was speeding in a 1995 Dodge truck on Montauk Highway, near Spring Close Highway, when the officer had to swerve to avoid the crash at about 1 a.m. He performed poorly on field sobriety tests, police said. The vehicle he was driving was impounded, and police said further investigation revealed the license plates on it were from a 1997 GMC. Martin's bail information was not immediately available.

• Richard Manna, 30, of Wantagh, was arrested on charges of felony DWI, due to a prior conviction, and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle in the first-degree, also a felony, on Oct. 10 in Montauk. Following arraignment, he was held on $7,500 cash or $20,000 bond at the county jail. According to police, at about 2:20 a.m., police saw a Jeep cross over the double-yellow line several times on Edgemere Street. While Manna performed poorly on field sobriety tests, he refused to take a breath test. His vehicle was impounded.

SOUTHAMPTON

•  Rodrigo Tocay, 25, of East Hampton, was charged with felony DWI on Oct. 13 in Water Mill at 8:45 p.m. after his car was stopped on Bay Avenue. Police say Tocay was also operating the vehicle without a required interlock device that’s designed to stop a car from starting while the driver is intoxicated. The DWI charge was elevated to a felony because of a prior DWI conviction within the past 10 years, police said.

•  Linda L. Curry, 69, of Southampton was arrested Oct. 12 at 7:13 p.m. and charged with criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree, a felony. Police said Curry altered a prescription for Oxycodone in which she doubled the strength and increased the amount by more than 130 pills. At arraignment, she was ordered held at the Suffolk County Jail in Riverside in lieu of $10,000 bail.

• Joseph Abramski, 63, of Greenport, was charged with second-degree grand larceny and second-degree forgery, both felonies, on Oct. 10 at approximately 3:05 p.m., after an investigation revealed that Abramski, a paralegal with the Southampton law firm Bourke, Flanagan, & Asato, P.C., alleged to have embezzled more than $250,000 over a three-year period, according to Southampton Village police.  Abramski was arraigned Oct. 12 at the Southampton Village Justice Court before Village Justice Barbara Wilson. He was remanded to the Suffolk County Correctional Facility in Riverside in lieu of $50,000 cash bail, police said.

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