Police

Police blotters: 10 catalytic converters stolen from vehicles

• Riverhead police received 10 reports of catalytic converters being stolen from vehicles at W.E.S. Trailer Sales on Middle Country Road in Wading River Monday and Tuesday mornings. 

Reports of catalytic converter thefts have soared throughout the county, reportedly because they contain valuable metals. 

• Travis James, age and address unavailable, was charged with third, fourth and seventh degree criminal possession of a controlled substance last Tuesday afternoon on West Main Street in Riverhead. 

• Two women were seen stealing two pair of shoes from the UGG Australia store at Tanger Outlets last Wednesday afternoon. 

• A woman stole a black jacket valued at $298 from the North Face store in Tanger Outlets last Thursday, according to police, who said the proceeds were later recovered. Additional information was not available.

• Southampton Town police located a misplaced vehicle last Thursday, after the manager at an auto body shop in Riverside told the owner the vehicle was missing. 

The car owner contacted police after the manager messaged him to say he didn’t know where the car was. The owner also said he was concerned that the car, which he dropped off Dec. 5, had not been fixed yet. The manager said he’d moved the car the day it was dropped off and left the keys inside the unlocked vehicle. He speculated that it may have been moved without his knowledge to one of his alternate lots, where it was eventually located. 

The reporting officer told the manager to be more mindful about the security of vehicles in the shop.

• Police responded to a call about a stolen vehicle in Flanders last Monday.

A caller told police an unknown person took her vehicle, which had been parked unsecured and running. A reporting officer later contacted the caller to let her know that her vehicle had been involved in a motor vehicle accident in Nassau County, where the driver fled the scene. 

• Angel Ojcan, 39, of Riverhead was arrested last Thursday in Hampton Bays for attempting to flee the scene of an accident after hitting a pedestrian who suffered serious injuries, according to a police report. 

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 The charges against them may later be reduced or withdrawn, or they may be found innocent.