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Volume 11, No. 49
March 24, 2016
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Dead body found at beach
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above, Centennial Park beach is in Port Jefferson harbor’s southeast corner.
Man washes up near port Jefferson Harbor By elana glowatz
A dead body found on a beach near Port Jefferson Harbor is not the man who went missing following a plane’s crash-landing at the end of February. The Suffolk County Police Department said last Thursday that Homicide Unit detectives are in-
vestigating the man’s death, but it appears he drowned. Authorities identified him as 28-year-old Marlon Lewis, who was homeless. A Port Jefferson Village code enforcement officer found the body at about 1:45 p.m. that day, police said, at which point police officers responded to the scene at the beach. The Suffolk County medical examiner’s office will perform an autopsy. Code Chief Wally Tomaszewski said in a phone interview Tuesday that the code bureau’s
Sgt. Steve Grau spotted Lewis’ body in the water near the Centennial Park beach from his position on the village’s dock, in front of the Village Center on East Broadway. The sergeant originally thought the victim was a woman because he was in a dress, according to the chief. Tomaszewski said the code officers had seen Lewis around the village for the last five years or so, usually uptown in the morning, and he would get food at a soup kitchen in the downtown
area on Mondays. Lewis’ body washed up almost four weeks after a small plane, carrying four people, crash-landed in Setauket Harbor near Poquott. The Piper PA-28 had taken off from Fitchburg, Mass., and was headed for Republic Airport in Farmingdale on Feb. 20 when it experienced engine trouble and the student pilot, 25-year-old Bronx resident Austricio Ramirez, handed the BODY continued on page a9
DA: Limo driver at fault in fatal Cutchogue crash SBU Hoops
Seawolves make history and baseketball coach bids adieu.
page a10
By Phil CorSo
A fatal crash was the result of a limousine’s dangerous U-turn at a busy intersection in Cutchogue, and on Wednesday a special grand jury placed the blame on the driver. Carlos F. Pino, 58, of Old Bethpage, surrendered to police Wednesday and was arraigned on four charges of criminally negligent homicide, four counts of assault, failure to yield the right of way, reckless driving and other traffic violations, Suffolk County District Attorney Tom Spota said. Pino was attempting a U-turn
near the intersection of Depot Lane and County Route 48 on July 18 when Steven Romeo, 55, of Peconic, Tboned the limo, killing four and injuring six. The crash killed Smithtown’s Brittney Schulman, 23, and Lauren Baruch, 24, as well as Stephanie Belli, 23, of Kings Park and Amy Grabina, 23, of Commack, who were all riding in a limousine in the middle of a weekend wine tour on the eastern part of the Island. The collision also injured passengers Joelle Dimonte, 25, of Elwood, Melissa Angela Crai, 23, of Scarsdale, Alicia Arundel, 24, of Se-
photo by alex petroski
Suffolk County district attorney tom Spota addresses the media.
tauket and Olga Lipets, 24, of Brooklyn. Romeo, the DA said, was operating the truck under the inf luence of alcohol and was charged
with driving while intoxicated the day of the crash. Pino pleaded not guilty to the charges on Wednesday CRaSH continued on page a5