Police

Threats against college dean involved in fatal crash

SCCC

Police are investigating threatening phone calls made against an Aquebogue man charged with reckless driving after a Nassau County car accident that killed two people last week, authorities said.

Officials from Suffolk County Community College’s eastern campus contacted Southampton Town police Thursday about a voice mail regarding the college’s dean of student services, Robert Beodeker, who was involved in the fatal Nassau crash.

According to a police report, one of the school’s secretaries reported a message in which threats were made against Mr. Beodeker and his family.

Mr. Beodeker, who is active in the theater community in Riverhead and Southold towns, was driving a GMC pickup truck when he collided with a disabled vehicle on the side of the Meadowbrook Parkway last Monday, state police said.

The vehicle struck and killed two men who were working on the car, John Elder, 76, of Freeport and 65-year-old Edward Ross of North Bellmore, state police said.

Mr. Beodeker was charged with reckless driving and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle in Nassau County criminal court last week, court officials said. He told the court that he had taken Ambien and depression medication before the crash, according to a News12 report.

He pleaded not guilty and was released after posting $1,000 cash bail, court officials said. Mr. Beodeker, who is representing himself in the proceedings, is due back in court April 12, according to online court records.

In the meantime, he has stepped down as president of the North Fork Community Theatre in Mattituck, theater officials said. Several calls to Mr. Beodeker seeking comment were not returned.

A Southampton police detective is investigating the threats, according to the police report.

[email protected]