Crime & Safety

Crimes Nearby: 'Abusive' Photos Taken of Local Nursing Home Patients

The following information was supplied by local police departments. It does not indicate a conviction.

Three Village and Port Jefferson

New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced Wednesday that two certified nurses' aides have been charged with taking gruesome, illegal photographs of 11 patients at a trio of area nursing homes.

The A.G. reported that the aides, both Centereach residents, violated the patients' privacy and trust, taking photos of one patient's bedsore, a video of a dementia patient "riveted with fear," and other instances Schneiderman called "abusive and alarming."

Schneiderman said the 11 incidents occurred at Jefferson's Ferry in South Setauket, the Long Island State Veterans Home in Stony Brook, and Woodhaven Nursing Home in Port Jefferson Station.

The two nurses, 25-year-old David Rover and 23-year-old Thomas Mocera, were both arraigned in a 15-count indictment — all felony charges — on Tuesday in Suffolk County Supreme Court. Rover is charged with seven counts of unlawful surveillance, one count of dissemination of an unlawful surveillance image and two counts of offering a false instrument for filing.

Mocera is charged with five counts of unlawful surveillance. Each count carries a sentence of 15 months to 4 years imprisonment.

Click here to read the full report.

Riverhead

On Tuesday at 8 p.m., Southampton Town police detectives arrested Jacqueline F. Celentano, 21, of Calverton for her alleged involvement in a hit-and-run accident that occurred Sunday in Flanders.

At approximately 12:51 a.m. Sunday, Aaron Hartman, 23, was walking home on County Road 105 when he was struck by a vehicle that left the scene, police said. He suffered serious physical injuries and was transported from Peconic Bay Medical Center to Stony Brook Hospital, where he is still hospitalized. 

North Fork  


A man stole a woman's purse in Greenport and took off running, police said.
According to Southold Town police, on Tuesday night at 12:42 a.m., a 22-year-old woman was walking home on Front Street when a man grabbed her purse.

The man, police said, took off running towards Fifth Street and was not seen again.  The purse was later found and the woman noticed that her wallet was missing, police said. A K-9 unit searched the area and briefly picked up a scent of the purse snatcher, police said — though they were unable track him down.


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