Crimes Nearby: Riverhead Trio Arrested Following Armed Robberies

The following information was supplied by East End police departments. A criminal charge is an accusation and does not imply a conviction.

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

RIVERHEAD

• In recent weeks, Southampton Town police have collaborated efforts with Riverhead, Suffolk County, and Southold police, the East End Drug Task Force, and the Suffolk County sheriff's office after a series of similar robberies. Police said on Wednesday that three arrests had been made in relation to one of them.

On Oct. 20 at 9:30 p.m., two masked men armed with handguns robbed the Spirit Halloween Store on Route 58; on Nov. 7 at 6 p.m., three masked men robbed Barth's Pharmacy in Riverhead; and on Nov. 19, three masked gunmen robbed a Mattituck gas station.

Larry M. Moore, 17, was arrested on Saturday; Erick C. Darden, 19, was arrested on Monday; and Arnell Nash, 21, was arrested on Tuesday. All three are from Riverhead, police said, and were arrested on charges of first-degree robbery, a felony.

EAST HAMPTON

• Guillermo Pillco, 35, of East Hampton, was charged with second-degree assault, a felony, on Nov. 24 after he reportedly beat another man with his belt. According to police reports, a Bridgehampton man was brought to Southampton Hospital on Nov. 18 to be treated for a serious eye injury. Reports state that the man had been invited to a bingo party in East Hampton, though after showing up, the man said he was not allowed in and was assaulted by a man who had made an inappropriate comment about his friend’s girlfriend. The man reportedly pulled off his belt and hit the victim in the eye. Police interviewed homeowners in reference to the incident, who initially said they were unaware of a fight, but on Nov. 24, Pillco was arrested on Cedar Street in East Hampton and transported to headquarters for processing. He was arraigned and released after posting $10,000 bail.

• A Southampton woman was hit with additional charges last week stemming from a head-on collision in East Hampton Village earlier this month. Melanie S. Burkel, 39, is being held on $10,000 cash bail or $50,000 bond at the Suffolk County jail in Riverside, on a felony charge of reckless endangerment, which village police leveled against her on Nov. 16, just as she was released from Stony Brook University Medical Center. She was also charged with reckless driving and third-degree assault, both misdemeanors, in addition to the initial drunken driving charge, according to Village Police Chief Jerry Larsen.

NORTH FORK

• Andrew Faircloth, 23, of Mattiuck, and Jonathan Gallo, 25, of Riverhead, were charged with first-degree robbery on Nov. 27 after an ongoing investigation revealed that the men were involved in a robbery of a Mattituck man at knife point in the bathroom of the Broken Down Valise bar in Mattituck on Oct. 27 around 2 a.m., police said. Faircloth and Gallo were arrested and charged with robbery in the first degree and were arraigned in Southold Justice Court.

• Benard Soto, 31, of Brooklyn, was arrested on Nov. 25 at 1:42 a.m. on an outstanding warrant issued by the FBI for charges related to the conspiracy to distribute cocaine and possession with the intent to distribute cocaine, after police conducted a routine traffic stop on a vehicle for a traffic violation on Route 25 in Cutchogue. During the course of the stop it was discovered that one of the vehicles passengers, Benard Soto, had the outstanding warrant, police said. Soto was arrested and transported to Southold Town police headquarters in Peconic where he was held awaiting transfer to the FBI.