Crimes Nearby: Prostitution Bust in Flanders

A roundup of recent high-profile arrests elsewhere on the East End.

RIVERHEAD

• Only days after a high profile bust of an alleged house of prostitution in Riverhead, police arrested three Flanders women on Saturday on charges of prostitution. Members of the New York State Police Special Investigations Unit, State Police Troop L Riverside, and the Department of Homeland Security, with assistance from the Southampton Town Police Department, arrested three women in an alleged prostitution operation located in Flanders. Mariluz Fonseca, 62, of 424 Flanders Rd., was charged with promoting prostitution in the third degree, a felony. Milady Leclerc-Roman, 59, of the Bronx, was charged with prostitution, a misdemeanor. Belkis Serrano-Tejeda, 40, of 424 Flanders Rd., was also charged with prostitution.

EAST HAMPTON

• Orlando J. Roberts, 31, of Montauk, was held on $15,000 cash or $60,000 bond after he resisted arrest on Sept. 11, according to police. Officer Joseph R. Montiel pulled him over for talking on his cellphone without a hands-free device at about 4:30 p.m. He parked his car in front of the Tiny Underwoods Apartments on West Lake Drive and attempted to get out of the vehicle, though the officer instructed him to stay inside of it. A DMV check revealed his registration was suspended for an insurance lapse on Aug. 27, and police told Roberts, who was now standing in front of his car, that he was going to be arrested. He allegedly head-butt and kicked officers and kicked out the passenger window in the squad car. For more click here.

• Two brothers were arrested on Sept. 11, a day after a woman claimed they came to her house in Springs looking for her son, pushed her, and menaced her. Christopher J. Piacentine, 21, and Thomas R. Piacentine, 23, both of East Hampton, were identified from photos. Christopher Piacentine was charged with menacing in the second-degree and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, both misdemeanors. Thomas Piacentine was charged with second-degree criminal trespass, a misdemeanor, and second-degree harassment, a violation. Justice Cahill released both defendants on $250 bail.

WESTHAMPTON-HAMPTON BAYS

• The Quogue police said they have charged an East Quogue man with a burglary that occurred at a business in Quogue on Sept. 17 at 10:30 a.m. According to police, Richard Curry, 36, was charged with burglary, a felony, and misdemeanor charges of criminal trespassing, forgery and four counts of petit larceny after an investigation that involved the review of security cameras. Police said Curry was a former employee of the business and gained entry while the business was open. Surveillance shows that he snuck around taking a blank check, a set of keys a gas can and gas. Police said Curry later cashed the blank check on the amount of $621 at a Riverhead check cashing business. Additional charges related to the cashing of the check will be forthcoming, police said.

NORTH FORK

• According to state and court records, a Rocky Point man – who police said on Tuesday was arrested for in concert with two other individuals – has been convicted of burglary in the past, and currently stands charged with seven burglary charges across Suffolk County. Southold police said on Tuesday that warrants were issued William P. Smith, who reportedly stole over 400 pounds of copper in August from an unnamed Mattituck business.