Crimes Nearby: Cops Say Woman Ran Fake Fundraising Scheme

Three Village

• New York State Police said a 62-year-old East Setauket

According to police, Michael Ripp had made plans to meet a girl "for the purpose of engaging in sexual conduct." However the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the Attorney General’s Office, the State Police Computer Crimes Unit, and State Police units had tracked the meet-up and arrested Ripp on charges of attempted dissemination of indecent material to a minor, a felony, and attempted endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor. He was arraigned in an Albany court and held without bail.

• Suffolk police are investigating the theft of a car from the parking lot of Sunrise Senior Living in East Setauket last week. The vehicle, a 1999 Plymouth Breeze, went missing sometime between 1:35 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Jan. 3. The management at Sunrise could not immediately be reached for comment. The incident is being investigated as fourth-degree grand larceny.

Port Jefferson

• Police said a Port Jefferson Station woman was recently arrested after she was caught attempting to scam people for donations that she said were for a children's educational program, while using the money to buy drugs.

Police responded responded to a location on Route 25 in Centereach on Saturday around 3 p.m., and said they found Ellen Burkheimer pretending to represent Head Start, which provides education and health services for children in low-income families.

According to police, Burkheimer had fraudulent documents in her possession as part of the scheme and further investigation revealed that she was using funds that she received to purchase heroin, pay her rent, and for other various personal expenses.

She was charged with criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree, a felony, as well as misdemeanor charges of scheme to defraud in the second degree and criminal possession of a hypodermic instrument. According to online court records, she was held on $3,000 cash bail, which she was unable to pay, and is due back in court on Friday.

Riverhead

• A Flanders man was charged with driving while intoxicated with an eight-year-old child in the car early Tuesday morning. According to Southampton Town Police, on Tuesday at approximately 12:10 a.m., Flanders resident Cristobal Espinoza, 32, was arrested and charged with aggravated driving while intoxicated Leandra's Law, a felony, and endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor.

• Riverhead Police have arrested a teen and charged him with a masked burglary at an apartment on Doctors Path Friday night. On Tuesday, Riverhead police arrested Jvon Creighton, 17, of Riverhead, and charged him with one count of burglary in the first degree, a felony. Creighton was also charged with one count of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree and one count of false personation. Police said Creighton provided a false name at the time of his arrest and had in his possession a quantity of oxycodone without a prescription.