Crimes Nearby: Accused Bank Robber Arrested; Brothel Busted

This information is provided by police agencies on the East End. Arrests do not imply convictions.

Recent crimes and suspicious incidents elsewhere on the East End:

WESTHAMPTON-HAMPTON BAYS

• Southampton Town police said they have charged at 29-year-old Selden man in connection with a bank robbery that took place at TD Bank in Hampton Bays on Sept. 10. According to Detective Sergeant Lisa A. Costa, Donnell Thomas, 29, was found hiding out at a residence on Hawthorne Street in Mastic on Tuesday morning. He was arrested without incident and charged with robbery in the third degree, a felony.

RIVERHEAD

• Riverhead Town police arrested a Maple Avenue resident on Sunday and charged him with operating an house of prostitution. According to police, a call was received at 11:45 a.m. on Sunday that a woman was possibly being held against her will and forced into prostitution at a house located at 320 Maple Avenue. Police said that after arriving at the residence, several people were detained, while others fled the scene on foot. Another individual, who was found in the area operating a vehicle, was allegedly directly involved, according to a witness. The operator of the vehicle, Adrian Figueroa, 43, was transported to Riverhead Town police headquarters for questioning. He was later placed under arrest after police said it was determined he was the person controlling the prostitution business. Figueroa was processed and held overnight until he could be arraigned on charges of promoting prostitution in the third degree.

• Vincent Braunskill, 40, of Riverhead, was arrested Sept. 14 at 10:11 p.m. on Flanders Road in Riverside. Cops said Braunskill was in possession of a small quantity of cocaine and a crack pipe. He was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree, a misdemeanor.

NORTH FORK

• Members of the East End Drug Task Force arrested three Greenport residents and one Laurel man on several drug-related charges this week. During the early morning hours of Sept. 14, a search warrant was executed at the residence of Thomas Reed, 66, and Ernestine Reed, 55, on South Street in Greenport. A quantity of marijuana and a large sum of money were recovered, police said. Each is charged with one count of fourth-degree criminal possession of marijuana.

• Akele Lewis, 22, of Laurel, was arrested Sept. 12, and charged with two felony and two misdemeanor counts of criminal sale of marijuana, police said. Lewis is alleged to have made the sales in both the Riverhead and Southold areas. Khaliq Hassan, 29, whose last known address is 540 Main Street in Greenport, was arrested for two counts of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance, police said. Police had been seeking Hassan since early spring of 2011, but he was able to evade capture until he was located in Pennsylvania earlier this month.

EAST HAMPTON

• East Hampton Village police said a 63-year-old man is responsible for political graffiti that has been popping up around the village for months. On Tuesday afternoon, Lawrence G. Nickel, a boat captain from Florida who lives in East Hampton, was charged with one felony criminal mischief count and 12 misdemeanor counts of making graffiti, as well as one count of petty larceny, also a misdemeanor. "The charges stem from a four-month long investigation into a rash of graffiti throughout the village, which made derogatory references to President Obama and his policies," a statement from the village police department said.

• Jose R. Inga, 42, of East Hampton, was arrested and charged with felony driving while intoxicated, among other charges, after the car he was driving hit a utility police on Queens Lane in East Hampton on Saturday around 5:20 p.m. Police said Inga's 1998 Honda was found on the southside of Queens Road, about 100 feet west of the Accabonac Road intersection, with the pole, cut in half, toppled over on top of the car, but the driver was nowhere in sight. Police found Inga on Central Avenue, and they said he appeared intoxicated. Inga failed field sobriety tests and was transported to Southampton Hospital, where he consented to a blood test, police said. Due to his injuries, police said, they released him into hospital custody. They did not expound on what those injuries were. He will be arraigned in East Hampton Town Justice Court on Sept. 19.

• Amy Miller, 58, of Manorville, was arrested on a charge of second-degree reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor, and second-degree harassment, a violation, after a disagreement with a friend while they were driving in Amagansett on Sept. 12. The driver of a 2010 Lexus told police that Miller was sitting in the front passenger seat when they got into an argument as they traveled along Montauk Highway at 3:15 p.m. Miller reportedly became physically aggressive, punching her several times on the right shoulder and grabbing the steering wheel, rocking it back and forth, and sending the vehicle off the road. The driver pulled the car over, telling Miller that she nearly killed them. She then drove off, but Miller repeated her actions a second time. According to the report, when she tried to call 911, Miller tried to wrestle the phone from her hands. Miller was arrested, held overnight, and arraigned in East Hampton Town Justice Court in the morning. Justice Catherine A. Cahill released her on $250 bail.