The TIMES of Smithtown
Volume 28, No. 42
Serving Smithtown • St. JameS • neSconSet • commack • hauppauge • kingS park • Fort Salonga December 17, 2015
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Former highway head gets community service
For the love of bulldogs
Crossword, Visions of the North Shore, SBU Sports, Holiday movies come to the CaC
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Kings Park parents approve project bond
Community comes out in numbers, throwing support behind renovation
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Smithtown’s former Highway Superintendent Glenn Jorgensen was sentenced to 560 hours of community service and three years’ probation in state Supreme Court on Friday after pleading guilty to charges accusing him of falsifying public documents, records showed. Back in October, Jorgensen, 64, pleaded guilty to the felony charge of offering a false instrument for filing and the misdemeanor charge of official misconduct relating back to a construction project he headed in November 2014, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office said. He appeared in front of Supreme Court Justice Mark Cohen in Riverhead on Friday, where he avoided four months of jail time and received a plea deal that included his community service sentencing as well as a surcharge of $375 to be paid over the next 90 days. Anthony La Pinta, Jorgensen’s Hauppauge-based criminal defense attorney, could not be reached from comment. According to the criminal complaint against Jorgensen, the former highway super-
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By phil corSo
Jorgensen sentenced Former Smithtown highway Superintendent glenn Jorgensen faces community service and probation.
intendent instructed an employee of Smithtown to alter road construction reports to hide his approval of Medford contractor Suffolk Asphalt Corp. paving as many as eight Smithtown streets in below-freezing temperatures throughout November 2014. “This disposition compels the defendant to resign from his elected position and his
admission of guilt before the court confirms the facts uncovered during the investigation,” Robert Clifford, spokesman for the DA’s office, said in a statement earlier this year. “As the superintendent of highways, Mr. Jorgensen knowingly had false information about the paving of town roads filed as an official town record, and he know-
File photo
ingly directed that inaccurate information be filed to make it appear as though the roadwork met state mandatory specifications.” Jorgensen resigned from his position Oct. 16. “It is a sad occurrence and I will have no comment other than I have sympathy for Mr. Jorgensen and his family,” JORgeNSeN continued on page a12
Kings Park remembers 11-year-old crash victim By phil corSo
The girl hit by a car on Main Street last week has died of her injuries, according to the Suffolk County Police Department. Kings Park’s 11-year-old Holly Gallo died on Dec. 10, police said, five days after a van struck her as she crossed the road in her hometown. The van had been traveling east and had just passed Thompson Street at the time of the crash, roughly 11 a.m. that Saturday. Holly initially survived the crash but had been in critical condition at Stony Brook University Hospital before her death. The van’s driver, a 52-year-
old Freeport man, was not hurt. After the crash, police said they had impounded the van for a safety check and detectives from the 4th Squad were investigating. A Gofundme.com website was launched in the days following Gallo’s death in which family members and friends raised more than $48,000 to help the family. Sabrina Klemballa, who identified herself as a close member of the family, said the family has felt support from the North Shore and beyond since the 11-yearold’s death. Elana Glowatz contributed to this report.
Photo from Sabrina Klemballa
Holly Gallo, 11, was killed this week while walking along Main Street in kings park, Suffolk county police say.