Riverhead blotter: Teens arrested on assault charges

Police arrested two teens last Thursday night in connection with a melee last month outside a Route 58 restaurant, according to Riverhead Town police.

Police were called to the scene about 11 p.m. Feb. 24 in response to an assault in progress and arrived to find a 17-year-old from Manorville being punched and kicked by a group of about eight other teens, most of them also from Manorville, according to police. The victim was taken to Peconic Bay Medical Center for treatment.

The suspects fled north through the parking lot and left in an unknown vehicle in an unknown direction, according to police.

Police arrested a 16-year-old from Eastport and a 17-year-old from Manorville last week and charged both with third-degree assault, a class A misdemeanor.

Police redacted the names of everyone involved in the incident due to their ages.

• A would-be thief was caught when he tried to return stolen items, according to police.

Terry Edwards, 56, address unavailable, was charged with petit larceny Monday night on Pondview Drive in Riverhead in connection with a March 9 larceny at Lowe’s on Route 58, according to police.

In that case, store security said someone had stolen items from the store and then returned the items to the customer service center for a $103 credit on a store merchant card, according to police.

Police say they reviewed store surveillance video and later arrested Mr. Edwards.

• The theft of about $261 worth of goods was thwarted by store security guards at the Route 58 Walmart, but they could not catch the suspect, according to police.

Store security told police that a man entered the store about 8:30 p.m.  Sunday and loaded up a shopping card with assorted items. The security guard followed the man, who went through the garden center and tried to take off with the merchandise when another security guard confronted him.

The suspect then fled without the merchandise and took off in a white four-door sedan into the Tanger Outlets parking lot, where police said he escaped.

The suspect is described as white, about 5 feet, 5 inches tall, 40 to 50 years old and clean shaven with gray hair. He was wearing a blue baseball hat, a gray hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans, according to police.

• A woman told police last Thursday that someone stole an American Express card and a debit card from her unlocked car on North Country Road in Wading River and then used both at the Game Stop store on Route 58 in Riverhead, making $200 worth of fraudulent charges, according to police.

• A 17-year-old Center Moriches man was charged with petit larceny at the Route 58 Kmart Friday night.

The man had tried to steal $154 worth of items, police said.

• Carmelino Paz-Ruiz, 36, address unavailable, was charged with driving while intoxicated following an auto accident on Route 105 in Riverhead about 8 p.m. Friday. Additional information was not available.

Those who are named in police reports have not been convicted of any crime or violation. The charges against them may later be reduced or withdrawn, or they may be found innocent.