Crime & Safety

Crimes Nearby: 'Operation Massage Parlor'; Sex Offender Arrested at Chuck E. Cheese

Patch reports on crime in the Long Island community.

The following was taken from the Nassau and Suffolk County Police Department blotters. Where an arrest is mentioned, it does not indicate a conviction. All persons are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Suffolk County police have arrested more than 20 people in an undercover investigation called "Operation Massage Parlor" conducted at a number of businesses in the Sixth Precinct.

Police seized massage tables, assorted body oils, lotions, towels, bedding, and cash, and said many of the businesses closed following the arrests.

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The arrests occurred in Port Jefferson and Stony Brook.

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A convicted sex offender was arrested at a Patchogue Chuck E. Cheese Wednesday afternoon after he was "observed acting in a lewd manner in close proximity to children," police said.

Reynaldo Flores, 46, of Middle Island, was placed under arrest around 1:15 p.m. after being identified by witnesses at the family restaurant and entertainment center on Sunrise Highway, police said. 

Police declined to specify the lewd act Flores engaged in, but a police spokesman told Patch that Flores "didn't touch or harm any children."

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Huntington Station resident Aaron Tarkin was charged with arson Wednesday related to a Feb. 13 house fire in East Northport, according to the Suffolk County Police Arson Squad.

It comes just one day after Tarkin, 25, was charged with felony DWI and child endangerment charges in Huntington Station.

arrested Tarkin on Tuesday after he , ages 5 and 8, on a lunch outing. He was charged with felony DWI, first degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, operation of a motor vehicle without an interlock device, criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminal possession of a hypodermic needle.

Tarkin was also charged with second degree arson Wednesday after an unrelated investigation by Suffolk County Police Arson Squad detectives determined he may have started a fire at 725 Glenridge Lane in East Northport on Feb. 13 at 11:41 p.m.

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A Huntington Station woman was arrested early Friday for an assault that occurred at a New Cassel Veterans of Foreign Wars hall, according to a Nassau County Police Department report.

At 2:27 a.m., Third Squad detectives say Shannon N. Chambers, 35, left the VFW hall, located at 887 Prospect Ave., and returned a short time later driving her 2007 Pontiac on the sidewalk in front of the building striking three females before crashing into a telephone pole. Chambers attempted to flee the scene in her car, according to police.

Chambers, of 7 Tower Street in Huntington Station, is charged with three counts of second degree assault and three counts of first degree reckless endangerment. 

The victims were treated for minor injuries at a local hospital, according to police.

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have charged a Flushing man with counterfeiting in connection with the illegal distribution of fake DVDs. Zhan Lin, 45 of Flushing, reportedly approached two plain-clothes Bureau of Special Operations officers in Hicksville Feb. 17. He was arrested and found in possession of hundreds of counterfeit DVDs, said police.

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A newspaper delivery man was pulled from his vehicle at gunpoint early Thursday and robbed of his wallet in Bethpage, said.

The attacker approached the 27-year-old's vehicle on foot and displayed a black handgun about 5:30 a.m. Thursday on Carrie Avenue, according to

The gunman ordered the driver out of the vehicle, reached inside and removed the victim's wallet, containing an unknown amount of cash.The assailant then ran east from the scene along Carie Avenue, entered a red Nissan Maxima and sped off, police said.

The newspaper delivery man was unhurt.

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A Medford man has been charged with grand larceny after the Nassau County District Attorney's office said he stole more than $240,000 from a Woodbury healthcare company.

Jeffrey Mohamed, 36, was arrested Monday morning and charged with second-degree grand larceny and first-degree falsifying business records. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said that from January 2003 to March 2011, Mohamed, who was employed as the chief of information technology for the Hospice Care Network, embezzled more than $243,000 from his employer.

He made unauthorized purchases of computers, televisions, and other electronic equipment through his employer’s accounts, and then returning the items for a credit to his personal account or by selling the equipment and keeping the proceeds, she said.


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