Police

Cops: Former Blue Waves track star arrested twice in last week

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A former Riverhead High School track star was arrested twice last week after he was seen trespassing and was later caught trying to steal an iPod in two separate incidents, Southampton Town police said.

Shaun Pritchard, 24, of Homestead Avenue in Coram was charged with criminal trespassing Thursday morning after a woman reported an unknown man in the rear of her fenced yard on Groves Drive, sitting in a chair on her back porch with a black hood over his head, according to police.

Mr. Pritchard — who was part of the 4×100 relay team that set a Riverhead High School record in 2007 —  was later identified as the trespasser and arrested about 11:30 a.m., police said.

Two days later, Mr. Pritchard was arrested on Flanders Road in Riverside about 1 a.m., according to a police report.

A man at the Cabana Latina restaurant on Flanders Road found a person he didn’t know sleeping in his car in the parking lot of the restaurant early Saturday, police said.

Mr. Pritchard helped the car owner to remove the man sleeping in the car, but also put an iPod that was in the car in his pocket, in plain view of the car owner, according to the report.

When questioned by the car owner, Mr. Pritchard initially denied taking the iPod and then ran, but the other man caught him as an officer arrived on the scene, police said. Police found Mr. Pritchard was carrying the missing iPod, according to the report. He was charged with petit larceny, police said.

Mr. Pritchard also had teal and blue pills that he told officers was oxycontin, a prescription drug for pain relief. Police later discovered the pills were for treatment of an infection and Mr. Pritchard was not charged, police said.

The larceny arrest marked the third time Mr. Pritchard had been arrested within a month.

Mr. Pritchard was previously arrested on Feb. 26, after a homeowner on Montauk Highway in Speonk told police someone burglarized his residence early that morning, police said.

The thief stole the victim’s MacBook Pro computer worth $1,400, a TAG watch worth approximately $1,400, and $400 in cash, police said.

Mr. Pritchard was found with the missing computer on Osborn Avenue in Riverhead and arrested by Riverhead Town police. He was charged with criminal possession of stolen property by Riverhead police and second-degree burglary by Southampton Town police.

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