Two purses stolen from vehicles outside Riverhead Animal Shelter

The North Fork Animal Welfare League is seeking the public’s help to locate a suspect who allegedly stole property from two vehicles at its Calverton facility on Youngs Avenue Tuesday morning.

An unknown woman entered the grounds of the Riverhead Animal Shelter at about 10:15 a.m. and took two purses, one belonging to an employee and the other a volunteer, according to the NFAWL. Both were recovered 30 minutes later when they were found at the Oakland Ridge Estates Mobile Park Home on Osborn Avenue. A local resident found them and reported to the park manager, according to the NFAWL.

Wallets, cash and a camera were found to be missing and the purses were returned to their owners. The employee’s debit card was fraudulently used at the Empire Gas Station at approximately the same time. Riverhead Town police confirmed that the purses were both recovered.

“We have never had an incident like this type before,” a statement from Gillian Pultz, the executive director of NFAWL, said. “To ensure the safety and security of our animals, our employees and our volunteers, we will have a state-of-the-art video camera system installed as quickly as possible. We ask that anyone who might know who did this to please contact the authorities — we rely on our community to help take care of the animals and we hope they will help us put this incident to rest.”

Anyone with information should contact Riverhead police at 631-727-4500, ext. 321. All calls will remain confidential.