Police

Riverhead man arrested on rape, burglary charges

By Vera Chinese

A Riverhead man was arrested early Saturday morning after he allegedly
broke into a female acquaintance’s Riverside home and beat and raped
her, Southampton Town Police said.
Police said Leonel Reyes, a.k.a. Leonel Villavicencuio, 23, of Melene Street broke into
the woman’s home and attacked her sometime before 3 a.m. Shortly after, the woman called authorities and was taken to Peconic Bay Medical Center in
Riverhead for treatment of her injuries.
Police also said Mr. Reyes had been previously deported to his home country
and had re-entered the U.S. illegally. Police did not say which country he was from.
Mr. Reyes was charged with first-degree rape, first-degree burglary and
first-degree criminal sexual act. He is being held at the Suffolk County
jail in Riverside on $150,000 bail.

Vera Chinese has been the editor of northforker.com and northforker magazines since May 2014. Prior to that she spent two and a half years as a staff reporter for the New York Daily News. She joined the Riverhead News-Review as a staff writer in January 2010 and was named Associate Web Editor nine months later. She previously worked for the Southampton Press Western Edition and was named the third place 2008 Rookie Reporter of the Year by the New York Press Association. She graduated from Wagner College in 2006 where she received a bachelor's degree in English. She earned a master's degree in English education from New York University in 2007. She is a 2002 graduate of Eastport High School and has lived on the East End for more than 20 years.

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