Police

Riverhead man who cut off woman’s handcuffs sentenced to jail

A Riverhead man who helped a woman escape from police in a stolen car last September was sentenced to 60 days in jail Wednesday.

Wallace Conklin Jr., 48, of Mill Road in Riverhead pleaded guilty to fourth-degree criminal facilitation and third-degree hindering prosecution and was sentenced to 60 days in jail by Riverhead Town Justice Lori Hulse on Aug. 9.

A charge of fifth-degree conspiracy was dismissed.

Mr. Conklin cut off the handcuffs on Rasheeda Brown of Riverhead on Sept. 17, 2016, after Ms. Brown had escaped from police custody and stole a car while wearing handcuffs, according to police accounts.

Ms. Brown has initially led Southampton Town police on a chase in a car that had been reported stolen in Riverside, and she was eventually stopped and arrested in the parking lot of the Route 58 Home Depot. She then complained of chest pains, and was taken to Peconic Bay Medical Center, where she later escaped, wearing handcuffs, and stole another car in the TJ Maxx parking lot, police said at the time.

From there, she went to Mr. Conkins’ home on Mill Road, and he sawed off the handcuffs, after which Ms. Brown drove off and was involved in a multi-vehicle crash on Route 58, and then tried to steal another car.

She was then arrested again.

In July, Ms. Brown, 31, was sentenced to two-to-four years in jail in Suffolk County Criminal Court on a variety of charges stemming from the chase.

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