Crimes Nearby: Three Riverhead Men Charged in Armed Halloween Robbery

THREE VILLAGE

• A woman whom cops were transporting to Stony Brook University Hospital was charged with fourth-degree criminal mischief, a misdemeanor, after she broke the rear passenger side window of the police car. The incident took place on northbound Nicolls Road at approximately 11 p.m. on Nov. 23. Police did not identify the woman arrested.

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.

RIVERHEAD

• Three men were arrested in relation to an armed Halloween robbery of a Riverside gas station. In recent weeks, Southampton Town Police have collaborated efforts with Riverhead Police, Suffolk County Police, Southold Police, the East End Drug Task Force, and the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department after a series of similar robberies.

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.