Crimes Nearby: Homeless Man Gets 6 Years for Suffocating Woman During Sex

Editor's Note: The following information was provided by police agencies on the East End and the Suffolk County district attorney's office. A criminal charge does not imply a conviction.

A round-up of recent notable arrests and incidents from other areas on the East End:

RIVERHEAD

• A man charged with suffocating a homeless woman at the Budget Host Inn in Riverside in 2011 was sentenced to six years in jail on Monday. According to a Newsday report, Douglas Rico, 46, was sentenced after suffocating Henrietta Scholl, 53, during sex. In October, Patch reported that Rico pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter. Rico was sentenced before Judge John Toomey Jr. in Suffolk County Criminal Court.

• Southampton Town police are investigating an alleged hate crime in Riverside during which they say a woman was attacked with verbal slurs over her sexual orientation, pushed, and hit. According to police, a complaintant reported that on Jan. 24 at 12:07 a.m. she was at the Valero gas station at the Riverside traffic circle when she was allegedly attacked by several male subjects after she asked one for a cigarette. Police said the men grabbed the victim by the face and shoved her backward into a parked car, causing pain to her back and neck. The men, police said, attempted to hit the woman and uttered obscenities against the victim's sexual orientation and appearance during the altercation.

• Sticky-fingered shrimp lovers were netted by Suffolk County law enforcement officers last week, according to police. According to county police, four Calverton residents were arrested and charged with stealing frozen shrimp from supermarkets starting in December. Police said during a petty larceny investigation, seventh precinct crime section officers discovered a pattern involving the theft of frozen shrimp valued at more than $2,400, which occurred at supermarkets located in the fifth and seventh precincts. Officers identified and pulled over the suspect's vehicle with proceeds inside and arrested four people in the car on Jan. 30, police said. Joseph Elardo, 34, Sharmane Cromer, 34, James Donnellan, 33, and Nicole Johnson, 22, all of the same address on Southfield Road in Calverton, were charged with 22 counts of petty larceny, two counts of attempted larceny, two counts of possession of a hypodermic needle and one count of criminal possession of a controlled substance.

WESTHAMPTON-HAMPTON BAYS

• A Manhattan lawyer was sentenced to three-and-a-third to ten years in prison on Jan. 28 after pleading guilty in December to driving drunk and fleeing the scene of a crime last summer. According to the Suffolk County district attorney's office, Tabber Benedict, the founder of Benedict Advisors, was charged with first-degree vehicular assault, two counts of second-degree vehicular assault, and leaving the scene of an accident with a serious injury, all felonies.

• Maurice Henderson, 24, of Shirley, was arrested Feb. 1 at 1:45 p.m. at his home and charged with criminal sale of a controlled substance near school grounds, a felony. Police could not say which school was involved. However, according to police, Henderson made several sales and, in a report, noted that he conducted a drug sale on Feb. 21, 2012 around 7:52 p.m., near the intersection of Montauk Highway and Canoe Place Road in Hampton Bays. Police said the arrest resulted from a narcotics investigation conducted by the Suffolk County District Attorney’s East End Drug Task Force. 

NORTH FORK

• Scott Kessler, 50, of Southold, was charged with two counts of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, a felony, fourth-degree stalking, a misdemeanor, and second-degree harassment, a violation, on Feb. 4 at 2 p.m., police said. Southold Town police reported that the arrest was made after a domestic incident and an investigation revealed that Kessler was found to be in possession of a Glock .45 caliber handgun and a high capacity ammunition magazine, police said. He was processed and held for arraignment at Southold Town Police headquarters in Peconic.