Police say the first incident happened on Jan. 20 in Locust Valley. Three days later, the same thing happened on William Road in North Massapequa, and again on Jan. 28 the thieves struck again in East Meadow.  The most recent incident happened on Tuesday in Massapequa on Division Avenue.

Joe Batista says he locked up his jet ski, but did not anticipate it being towed right off his driveway.

“I work very hard for what I have and then I get to watch it on camera,” said Batista. “Watch them take my stuff. It felt horrible. I felt defiled.”

Security camera footage from cameras on the street show individuals getting out of the U-Haul to hitch the jet ski to the truck and then calmly driving away. This occurred around 3 a.m., when most were sleeping.

David Gottlieb, of North Massapequa, said his jet ski was also stolen in the dead of night. He did not even know until he looked out his window. His security cameras also showed a U-Haul truck driving away.

“I don’t expect to get it back,” said Gottlieb. “This was so violating, unfortunately it’s a loss to me.” 

Nassau Police declined to comment but said there are some steps owners can take to secure their jet skis, like putting it behind a fenced in area, blocking the jet ski with a car to make it harder to steal, and to call police if they see or hear anything suspicious.

Batista just bought the jet ski for his kids to enjoy this summer. He hopes police will be able to locate it.

“Hopefully they will get them, I’m sure [the theives] will mess up soon,” said Batista. “And remember, it’s a U-Haul truck. So if anybody sees a U-Haul truck driving around at 3:15 in the morning, call the police.”

Babylon Village is looking to put a stop to people feeding feral cats because of the impact the animals they say have on local wildlife. The proposed ban comes after complaints from residents about people frequently coming to certain spots — like near a local park entrance — to give the stray cats food.

That prompted village officials to take action. But advocates believe there are better options than an all-out ban, and are lobbying the village to drop the proposal.

“This mayor wants to starve these cats. That’s animal cruelty,” said Christine Lanteri.

She travels to Babylon every day to feed about five cats, and doesn’t understand why it would generate complaints.

“Cats will most certainly die,” said Virginia Scuddy, who operates a cat rescue group. She and Lanteri were among those voicing opposition to the feeding ban at a village board meeting on Tuesday.

“The village of Babylon, I’m shaking my head at them, all the board members. At the end of the day, you will be known as an inhumane village,” said Scuddy.

No Babylon Village officials would offer comment despite repeated efforts by NBC New York. No decision has yet been made on the feeding ban idea, as the board has yet to decide whether to move forward with it.

Scuddy maintains there is a better solution: An organized plan to trap, spay and neuter the cats, then release them. She says that course of action has been proven to reduce feral cat colonies while keeping survivors healthy.

“We have volunteers that feed colonies that we have helped to spay and neuter… what happens is you’re preventing unwanted litters. Also preventing illness and death,” she said. “Rather than scold them and say you can’t do this, how about properly educating them so that they’re doing right by the cats?”

Cops were called to the scene at Southards Park Pond, off Siegel Boulevard in Babylon Village, shortly before 9 a.m. when a parent of the students who found the arm called 911. That came after the teens spotted a person’s left arm dumped in the bushes.

“One of the students called their father. The father responded, confirmed it was an arm on the side of the road and he called 911,” Suffolk County Police Det. Lt. Kevin Beyrer said at a news conference.

A short time later in the early afternoon, a police dog searching another part of the large park found a human leg under leaves about a mile from the first location — and not far from a nearby elementary school. Later in the evening, a right arm was found as well, about 20 feet further into the woods from where the first arm was discovered in the morning, police said.

“There’s a mound of leaves. We don’t know what’s going to be under the mound. Once we clear the mound we may find the remainder of the body or we may not,” said Beyrer.

The superintendent of the Babylon Unified School District said in a letter to parents that students at the nearby school were kept indoors for recess while the investigation was underway, and that mental health resources would be provided “to assist our students at all grade levels, and we encourage any student feeling uneasy, anxious or scared in any way to please take advantage of them during this time.” The letter noted that the investigation is otherwise unrelated to any of the schools.

Homicide detectives were on scene throughout the day with crime scene tape stretched across an area usually frequented by school kids, joggers and people walking their dogs. Police said it appeared the body parts had been dumped recently.

Police didn’t immediately provide any further information on the limbs found, hoping that testing the DNA and examining tattoos could help lead them to an identification. Investigators were looking into all possibilities as to what may have happened, and did not rule out that it may have been gang-related.

Police did not share whether the body parts are believed to be of the same person or how the individual may have died.

Charles Limmer, 75, of Commack, pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to smuggle wildlife into the country and agreed to pay a $30,215 penalty as well as hand over his collection of roughly 1,000 butterflies, moths and other insects. He faces up to 5 years in prison when sentenced.

Some of the dried specimens include birdwing butterflies, which are among the rarest and largest in the world.

Limmer was indicted last year on six counts related to wildlife smuggling, including violations of the federal Lacey Act’s prohibitions on falsely labeling and trafficking in wildlife. He could have received a 20-year sentence if convicted at trial.

They said Limmer circumvented U.S. laws by labeling shipments as “decorative wall coverings,” “origami paper craft” and “wall decorations.” He sold some of the dried lepidoptera specimens through an eBay account under the name “limmerleps,” pocketing tens of thousands of dollars.

Federal prosecutors said Limmer worked with overseas collaborators to smuggle some 1,000 lepidoptera, including some of the most endangered moths and butterflies in the world, even after his import/export license was suspended in Oct. 2022.

Federal law prohibits the commercial export or import of wildlife without permission from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Limmer’s lawyer didn’t immediately comment Wednesday.

Joseph Rubino, of College Point was charged Wednesday with criminal possession of stolen property and other crimes, including unlawful possession of personal identification and a skimmer following a vehicle stop Tuesday — after he was arrested following a traffic stop.

Old Westbury police say they identified the minivan he was driving as one reported stolen in Suffolk County a month prior and coordinated the stop.

Later, while processing Rubino and the vehicle, investigators allege they found New York state driver’s licenses in various people’s names, a credit card skimming device and debit cards in multiple names.

Police believe Rubino used a website and cryptocurrency to illegally buy the personal information of unsuspecting victims, targeting those with high credit scores who live in affluent areas. He allegedly used the information to get driver’s licenses, and then open new lines of credit, in the victims’ names. He bought cellphones on those credit lines, police allege, and resold them via an online app, authorities say.

Investigators say victims may not yet be aware they’ve been victimized. The Old Westbury Police Department is working with other law enforcement agencies to identify any potential victims. They didn’t provide a total estimate.

Police say the booking process also yielded a “quantity of substances” that field-tested positive as fentanyl and methamphetamine. Rubino faces multiple counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance in addition to the other charges.

Information on a possible attorney for him wasn’t immediately available. Rubino is expected to be arraigned Thursday.

Frank Costa and Jon Pucci burglarized nine businesses and set fires at three PSEG substations between Aug. 20, 2023, and Feb. 9, 2024, Suffolk County DA Raymond Tierney said Tuesday. He said both men started the first with the aim being to cause power outages nearby, distracting law enforcement enough for the dastardly duo to pull off the heists.

They first targeted the PSEG substation along Nesconset Highway in Setauket on Aug. 20, and just under a month later, set a fire at the substation on Middle County Road in Centereach on Sept. 16, the DA’s office said. The third fire was allegedly sparked at the Medford/Yaphank substation on Manor Road on Feb. 5.

As for the burglaries, Costa and Pucci targeted gas stations starting in December, hitting a USA Gas in Middle Island, a BP station in Ride, and a Gulf station in Smithtown throughout the month, according to an investigation.

In January, the pair started hitting some other small businesses, including the Ideal Food Basket in Port Jefferson and the DJM Laundromat in Coram, both on Jan.12, Tierney said. Twolve days later, they allegedly burglarized the Back Country Deli in Yaphank, and less than a week later, hit the Kings Park Car Care in on Main Street.

The final spot was hit on Feb. 9, when the Shell gas station on Middle Country Road in Ridge was targeted, the investigation found.

“These alleged criminal acts have not only caused extensive damage, but have also put the lives of Suffolk County residents and first responders at risk,” said Tierney.

Costa, 54, and Pucci, 29, face burglary, attempted burglary, arson, weapon possession, possessing stolen property and more charges as a result, the DA’s office said. Costa was arraigned Tuesday and was ordered held on bond. He is due back in court on March 19, and is represented by Roger Rothman.

Pucci’s case is still pending. He is expected to be back in court on March 12 and is being represented by Pierre Brazile.

Terry Roberts, a guard for the G League’s Long Island Nets, was hurt while in Philly early Sunday.

“Terry Roberts was the victim of a crime on Sunday morning in Philadelphia, and we are in the process of gathering more information about the incident,” the Long Island Nets said in a statement. “He is currently in stable condition, and he is expected to make a full recovery. Our thoughts are with him and family at this time. Due to the ongoing law enforcement investigation, we will have no further comment.”

The team didn’t reveal how Roberts was hurt or what he was doing in Philly. His team last played Saturday in Uniondale, New York.

Roberts, 23, is from the Long Island hamlet of North Amityville. He played his college basketball first at Bradley University before transferring to the University of Georgia. He joined the Long Island Nets in Oct. 2023.

Suffolk County Police said Raymond Hubbard was trying to get across Middle County Road in Coram around 10:15 p.m. when he fell.

Moments later a driver coming down the road fatally struck Hubbard, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Upon arriving at the scene, police found the driver of a Chevrolet Suburban who allegedly appeared impaired, and placed him under arrest.

Nicholas Doxtader, 25, faces a charge of driving while impaired. He was scheduled to appear at First District Court in Central Islip on Sunday.

Attorney information for Doxtader was not immediately known.

Police said the young woman hired Joroba Pest Control to exterminate her Hempstead apartment. She was home Thursday afternoon when the technician arrived to complete the job.

Walter Rivas, 45, was spraying the apartment when some of the chemicals “got on the victim,” according to police.

He then encouraged the woman to change her clothes to avoid any potential contamination, police said. But when the woman started changing, she told police she noticed a phone recording her through a bucket that had been placed on her bed.

“I asked him why you recording me, then he tried to grab his phone,” the woman told News 4 the next day.

Police said she immediately called 911. Officers conducted their investigation and promptly Rivas on a charge of unlawful surveillance.

After his arrest, court documents indicate Rivas told police, “I made a mistake.” He did not speak to reporters after appearing in court for an arraignment on Friday.

Rivas, who has no prior criminal record, was ordered to stay away from his alleged victim.

The pest control company told News 4 that Rivas “is definitely fired.”

Police want to speak to other potential victims, who are asked to call 516-573-6353 or Crime Stoppers at 800-244-TIPS.

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman announced the new ban at a Thursday morning press conference. It will take effect immediately.

“There’s too much bullying going on of biological males trying to inject themselves in female sports,” Blakeman said, surrounded by supporters and young girls. “It’s wrong and it’s a form of bullying.”

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The executive order bars transgender athletes from competing against girls at all 100 sports facilities run by Nassau County, including ball fields and ice rinks. It is believed to be the first ban on transgender participation in sports on a county-wide level in the U.S.

“This is a matter that concerns the integrity, fairness and safety of women’s sports,” said Samantha Goetz, a former high school athlete and current county legislator. The mother of two argued it’s a matter of fairness for female athletes, who can’t compete physically with biological males.

“There is no training I could have engaged in to compete against a biological male,” Goetz said.

Blakeman argued that transgender athletes don’t belong on the same field as girls, adding that he has been considering instituting the ban for months.

When asked by reporters what spurred such a ban to be enacted, Blakeman could cite no examples of such a thing occurring in Nassau County. Neither could the executive director of the agency that oversees high school sports in the county.

“We have not had any issues with transgender athletes participating in section 8 athletics…no complaints, and I’m not sure that there are any,” noted Pat Pizzarelli, of the Nassau County Public High School Athletic Association.

Protestors outside the county office building condemned Blakeman’s action as illegal, discriminatory and unnecessary. They accused Blakeman of playing politics with the lives of vulnerable transgender kids.

A former high school athlete from Suffolk County who is now transitioning to become a woman said such a ban would take away any sense of community and cohesion for transgender athletes.

“We lose learning about each other and how to become closer,” the individual said. “There’s no reason to separate us and create division.”

LGBT Network CEO Robert Vitelli said the order “sends a message to trans kids that they don’t belong.”

A legal challenge is expected, but an unapologetic Blakeman believes his executive order will withstand any test.

“I know of no policy in the state to strike that down and I would encourage all elected officials to join us to protect girls and women,” Blakeman said. “Probably if you polled most women athletes, they would be 100% behind us.”

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul weighed in later Thursday, accusing Blakeman of bullying transgender kids and saying her office would enforce state laws designed to protect children. That message was echoed by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who said her office is reviewing the state’s legal options.

“This executive order is transphobic and deeply dangerous. In New York, we have laws that protect our beautifully diverse communities from hate and discrimination of any and every kind,” James said in a statement.

Daniel Guma of Long Beach is the lead plaintiff in a class action complaint filed by attorney Andrew Campanelli, of Merrick.

“I am suing just to feel the moral victory of the right of the people,” Guma told NBC New York.

Guma, a lifetime resident of the town, said he noticed a parking agent ticketing his car in October. It was 9 a.m. and alternate side parking kicked in. He went to move his car.

“I pulled away like two feet, she comes running down the street, she grabs my window and says you’re not going anywhere,” explained Guma. “I’m like what are you talking about, I got my ticket, goodbye!”

But that wasn’t all. Guma said the parking agent was waiting for someone to bring a boot, a device that would lock the wheel and make it impossible to drive. He was told he had several unpaid tickets for an expired inspection — even though he had a temporary inspection in the wind shield.

“She turns to the front of my car, stands in front of it, and says ‘If you leave, you will be arrested,'” said Guma.

Guma went directly to city hall to contest the tickets before a judge. Even though the judge sided with him and only charged him a $20 fine, Guma still wasn’t able to get the boot removed. He had to pay close to $400 dollars for the city to release the car.

“I thought everything in America and in life that you’re accused of, you have a day in court. According to them, I don’t get my day in court,” he told News 4.

“The fact that they were giving him tickets for having no inspection even though it was in the window is one thing,” said attorney Andrew Campanelli.  “The worst part is they deprive him of any opportunity to go before a judge to challenge the basis for the seizure.”

Campanelli has filed a class action federal lawsuit and says the court has granted the plaintiffs permission to move for certification of the class. He expects more than 300 people will be able to join the suit. 

“They take your car without notice and say ‘You’re going to pay us whatever amount we say you owe us or we will take your car to sell it or destroy it,’” the attorney said.

Campanelli has learned that each time the tow company tows a car, they pay the city $225, amounting to tens of thousands of dollars over a year’s time.  He is also suing other municipalities like Freeport and Yonkers for the same policies. 

Long Beach officials said in a statement that they “have not reimplemented scofflaw program.”

The city of Yonkers declined to comment citing pending litigation. Freeport Village attorney Howard Colton said that “the Village does not comment on pending litigation,” and that the Village has passed legislation which complies with all federal and state laws.

The emergency landing took place in East Farmingdale near Exit 34 in Suffolk County. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a statement that the single-engine aircraft, a Piper Cherokee Archer, landed on the highway after the pilot reported engine failure as it was approaching Republic Airport in Farmingdale just after 11:30 a.m.

The pilot told an air traffic controller that he was going to have to land the plane on the highway due to the engine problems.

“If you need to go on the highway that’s fine. If you can make it to the runway that’s approved as well,” the air traffic controller can be heard replying.

Video shows first responders, including what appear to be fire trucks, police cars and ambulances, lining the parkway. The small plane can be seen in the snow by a sign at the side of the parkway.

Two people, the pilot and co-pilot, were on board the plane when it went down, according to New York State Police. Another pilot in the air said it appeared the plane had hit a pole with its wing, and it appeared the two people were getting out.

Both were evaluated at the scene and were taken to the hospital. State police said the two suffered minor injuries and are expected to recover.

The plane was attempting to return to Republic Airport after a journey lasting just under two hours that the chart of its route showed was a twisting, turning path over Long Island. FAA records indicate the aircraft is 49 years old, the website FlightAware said it had made seven trips over the past two weeks.

It was not clear if Tuesday’s flight was a training flight. An official cause of the crash had not yet been determined. State police, the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating what may have gone wrong.

The morning fire at the Harmon Shepard Hill apartments in Plainview prompted a massive response from firefighters around 5 a.m. When crews arrived, they found large flames taking over the second floor of building 107.

The fire, roaring amid freezing condition with several inches of snow still on the ground, forced vulnerable seniors to hop out of bed and rush from their rooms.

“We know each other, we’re all friendly. We all know each other and my heart is broken,” Christine Intindoli said.

Despite firefighters’ best efforts to evacuate roughly 20 seniors, 84-year-old Theresa Casale did not make it out alive. Her 74-year-old neighbor, Lynne Citron, suffered burns across her body was taken to the hospital in critical condition. She later died from her injuries, police said Monday.

Nibia Cipriano knew the two women who died. She says neither walked very well, but as neighbors across the hall, they looked out for one another.

“They were funny, you could hear them,” Cipriano explained.

Two others seniors breathed in too much smoke and had to be treated at the hospital. Neither was seriously hurt.

Some of the displaced seniors moved in with family members in the area – others were offered hotel rooms. An army of volunteers stepped up to help the handful of seniors who lost everything.

“The church was kind enough to bring clothes for them, they fed them in the community room today and they all found places for at least tonight,” Intindoli added.

But right as residents like Intindoli were preparing to go to bed, Plainview firefighters returned to the charred building to put out hotspots.

A spokesperson for the Oyster Bay Housing Authority said about 20 people were displaced. All are now staying with relatives or in a hotel.

“I lost everything. But, I mean, everything’s materialistic, you can replace it. You can’t replace a life,” Cipriano said.

Nassau County officials said the fire appears accidental in nature, but an official cause has not been determined.

Three officers from the Suffolk County Police Department responded to a home on Udall Road in Bay Shore around 9 a.m. for a 911 call reporting a domestic disturbance, Acting Commissioner Robert Waring said at a press conference.

Waring said two of those officers walked up to the front of the home, with one of the officers opening a screen door, when the caller’s husband allegedly charged at them. The man was armed with a large knife, police said, when he jumped on top of one of the officers and started stabbing the cop.

The suspect, identified as Taiquell Woodson, stabbed the officer repeatedly, “clearly intending to kill him,” Waring said.

One of the other officers tried to use a taser, which apparently did not work, before the third officer fired their service weapon, striking the man. Waring said the suspect was transported to the hospital where he was ultimately pronounced dead.

The injured officer was taken to a local hospital, where doctors said a full recovery was expected but there was the possibility of nerve damage.

“This was a justified shooting. Without the decisive actions of these officers, one of our officers would have been killed today. I am grateful that our officers will be going home to their families,” Waring said outside Stony Brook Hospital.

The commissioner told reporters that the incident had been captured on body-worn cameras, but that the footage would “not be released at this time.”

Waring also refused to expand on what circumstances led up to the 911 call, but said the caller and a 1-year-old baby at the residence were unharmed.

Tom Suozzi is going back to Washington, D.C., after winning the New York special election to fill the seat left vacant by George Santos after his expulsion last year.

But the question is: When exactly will he be joining Congress?

Suozzi, a Democrat, defeated Republican Mazi Pilip Tuesday night in the race for New York’s third district, encompassing part of Nassau County and a small portion of Queens. Suozzi represented the district for three terms before giving it up to run, unsuccessfully, for governor in 2022.

If the victory itself wasn’t a surprise, the margin of victory came as a surprise to many.

“This is a major victory. It wasn’t even close,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Wednesday, saying the win shows the road ahead for Democrats — a notion that the White House echoed.

“The people of New York’s Third District issued a strong repudiation of Republicans who put politics ahead of national security,” said White house Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

It’s unclear how long his next stint on Capitol Hill will last, as a redistricting process unfolds that could reshape the district. But for now the result narrows the already slim Republican majority in the House. And it provides Democrats a much-needed win in New York City’s Long Island suburbs, where the GOP showed surprising strength in recent elections. It was a win in a politically mixed suburban district, which could lift his party’s hopes heading into a fiercely contested presidential election later this year.

So when will he be able to join his former and soon-to-be colleagues on the hill? The short answer is, it’s not yet known, as nothing official has been stated.

However, a source with knowledge of the situation told NBC News that Suozzi may seek to do it as early as Thursday. If that is not possible, he’d likely have to wait two weeks from this week, with the House on recess the week of Feb. 18.

In the short term, the result could be a factor in ultratight votes in the House, where Republicans hold just a 219-212 majority. In an example of how important one seat can be, House Republicans voted Tuesday night to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas by a single vote, punishing the Biden administration over its border policies.

Suozzi, a political centrist well known to voters in the district, stressed his campaign trail theme of bipartisan cooperation in a victory speech that was briefly interrupted by protestors criticizing his support of Israel.

“There are divisions in our country where people can’t even talk to each other. All they can do is yell and scream at each other,” he said, acknowledging the demonstrators. “That’s not the answer to the problems we face in our country. The answer is to try and bring people together to try and find common ground.”

“The way to make our country a better place is to try and find common ground. It is not easy to do. It is hard to do,” Suozzi told supporters at his election night party in Woodbury.

Suozzi’s win will likely reassure Democrats that they can perform well in suburban communities across the nation, which will be critical to the party’s efforts to retake control of the U.S. House and reelect President Joe Biden.

Suozzi’s win followed a special counsel’s conclusion that characterized Biden’s memory as “faulty,” “poor” and having “significant limitations,” though also saying charges weren’t warranted against the president for mishandling classified documents. He also has called Biden “old.”

Still, forecasting for November could be complicated given that turnout, already expected to be low given the abbreviated race, was potentially hampered by a storm that dumped several inches of snow on the district on election day. Both campaigns offered voters free rides to the polls as plows cleared wet slush from the roads.

On the campaign trail, Suozzi, a political centrist, leaned into some of the same issues that Republicans have used to bash Democrats, calling for tougher U.S. border policies and a rollback of New York laws that made it tougher for judges to detain criminal suspects awaiting trial.

His win will likely reassure Democrats that they can perform well in suburban communities across the nation, which will be critical to the party’s efforts to retake control of the U.S. House and reelect President Joe Biden.

Democrats and Republicans will get a chance to fight over the congressional seat again in November’s general election, though the battleground may look different.

That’s because the state’s congressional districts are set to be redrawn again in the next few months because of a court order. Democrats, who dominate state government, are widely expected to try to craft more favorable lines for their candidates.

New York is expected to play an outsize role in determining control of Congress this year, with competitive races in multiple contests in the suburban and exurban rings around New York City.

How far Suozzi’s win will go to calm Democrats’ anxiety about the president’s age and low approval ratings is hardly clear. The district backed Biden by 8 points in 2020 but voted for Santos during 2022’s midterm election — when Republicans fared better across New York than expected by campaigning on getting tough on immigration and combating crime rates that had risen in some areas.

A surge of migrants arriving to large, Democrat-run cities, including New York, has turned security along the U.S.-Mexico border into an especially tricky issue for Biden’s party across the country. Queens is home to one of New York City’s few large-scale tent housing facilities for migrants — and yet Suozzi took the issue head on.

“This is the template for Democrats everywhere because you could not imagine a district that could have been more hostile to what the stereotype of a Democrat is,” said Lis Smith, a national Democratic strategist and advisor to Suozzi’s campaign. “You just need to go on offense and say, ‘I’m the one who wants to secure the border. It’s the Republicans who want chaos at the border.'”

That’s “a very easy message that can be adopted by Democrats across the country,” Smith said.

During the campaign, Suozzi spoke often about strengthening immigration policy, and said he would support a temporary closure of the U.S.-Mexico border to slow the influx of migrants, echoing Biden’s recent willingness to do the same. Last month, Suozzi rushed to Queens’ tent migrant housing area for a rebuttal news conference directly after Pilip held an event there seeking to link him to federal immigration policy.

Souzzi was a vocal supporter of a bipartisan Senate deal on immigration that Republicans turned against after Trump, the former president and current Republican presidential primary front-runner, urged them to do so. Souzzi even began his victory speech by scoffing at being attacked as “the godfather of the migrant crisis” and “sanctuary Souzzi.”

That resonated with Lois Clinco, 59, who said she voted for Suozzi because she hopes he can “keep the migrants out, because we’re overpopulated now.”

Still, Grant Reeher, a political science professor at Syracuse University, cautioned against extrapolating Suozzi’s win, noting the snowstorm and a short runup to the special election which also had unique, Santos-related contours.

“If I were a Democratic consultant or strategist, I would be taking a huge grain of salt before I base my playbook on this election,” Reeher said.

Biden’s reelection campaign noted that Democrats have racked up a series of special election and off-year legislative victories since he took office. It also said that more immigrants had arrived to Queens County in the last year than in all of Chicago — emphasizing how important the issue was to Suozzi’s win.

White House, spokesman Andrew Bates called Tuesday’s result “a devastating repudiation of congressional Republicans.”

“Tom Suozzi put support for the bipartisan border legislation – and congressional Republicans’ killing of it for politics – at the forefront of his case,” Bates said in a statement. “The results are unmistakable.”

Despite years of Trump stressing a law-and-order message, Republicans have seen their support slip in many suburban areas as the former president has solidified his hold on the national GOP. Still, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson shrugged off larger implications of Tuesday’s race for his party.

“The result last night is not something, in my view, that Democrats should celebrate too much,” Johnson told reporters Wednesday, adding that Suozzi “ran like a Republican, he sounded like a Republican talking about border and immigration because that’s the top issue on the hearts and minds of everybody.”

But Suozzi also promoted defending abortion rights, echoing a message Democrats have used around the country since the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion. New York will have a referendum on the November ballot asking voters to bar discrimination based on “pregnancy outcomes.” Despite not explicitly guaranteeing the right to an abortion, supporters argue the measure will further protect access to the procedure, and Democrats see it as a way to drive turnout.

Suozzi’s victory could also be viewed as a personal slap for Trump since the former president’s childhood home was in the Jamaica Estates section of Queens. Still, Trump advisors blamed Pilip’s defeat on her not embracing the “Make America Great Again” movement more closely.

New York Republican chair Ed Cox said the party isn’t abandoning its winning issues and would defeat Suozzi when he’s up for reelection in November. That’s when, he said, “the campaign resets to focus on Joe Biden and Democrats’ disastrous open-borders, soft-on-crime policies, rather than the specific circumstances that brought about this special election.”

But Suozzi didn’t exactly embrace Biden. He even said during a television interview, “The bottom line is he’s old.” Suozzi also suggested that he didn’t think it would be helpful to have Biden campaign alongside him for this race.

“If I were advising him,” Reeher said of the president, “I would have a big red headline on top that says ‘consider this race with caution, there are a number of things here that may not apply to you.’”

In December, Santos became only the sixth U.S. Representative to be expelled from the chamber by his colleagues after a blistering report from the House Ethics Committee found “overwhelming evidence” that he had broken the law on multiple occasions and exploited his office for personal enrichment.

Vying to replace him are former U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi, the Democratic nominee, and Nassau County legislator Mazi Pilip, the nominee for both the Republican and Conservative parties.

Suozzi represented a version of this Long Island-area district in Congress for six years but gave up the seat after an unsuccessful run for governor in 2022. He has held other elected office on Long Island dating back to the mid-1990s, first as mayor of Glen Cove and later as Nassau County executive.

Pilip is an Ethiopian-born veteran of the Israeli Defense Forces, where she served as a gunsmith in a paratrooper unit. In 2021, she was elected to the Nassau County legislature. Although elected on the Republican and Conservative party lines, public records indicate she remains a registered Democrat. On the campaign trail, she has declined to say whether she voted for Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020.

Santos says he doesn’t plan to vote in the special election.

The current incarnation of the third congressional district was created about a year and a half ago, but it has been a key focal point in an ongoing battle of wills being waged across the country between Democrats and Republicans over redistricting and, ultimately, control of the U.S. House.

In 2022, a New York court rejected a map drawn by Democratic lawmakers, saying that it had been unconstitutionally gerrymandered. That plan was replaced with a much more Republican-friendly map that created the current District 3 and played a key role in the election of Santos and other New York Republicans whose victories helped Republicans reclaim control of the U.S. House. But District 3 in its current form will cease to exist early next year after New York’s highest court ordered yet another congressional map to be drawn for this year’s elections.

Republicans hold a narrow majority in the U.S. House, 219-212, with four vacancies.

Here’s a look at what to expect on election night:

SPECIAL ELECTION DAY

The special election in New York’s third congressional district will be held Tuesday. Polls close at 9 p.m. ET.

WHAT’S ON THE BALLOT

The Associated Press will provide coverage for one contest in New York on Tuesday: the special election in the third congressional district. The candidates on the ballot are Suozzi and Pilip. Pilip’s name appears on the ballot twice under both the Republican and Conservative party lines.

WHO GETS TO VOTE

Any voter registered in New York’s third congressional district may participate in this special election.

DECISION NOTES

Under its current boundaries, District 3 has a larger share of both Republicans and independents than the rest of the state. More than 28% of District 3 voters are Republicans, compared to 22% statewide. The share of independents in the district is 28%, compared to 24% statewide. And while more District 3 voters are registered as Democrats than in any other category, they make up only 39% in the district, compared to 49% statewide.

These numbers have helped Republicans find success at the ballot box in District 3. Although voters in the district preferred Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden over Donald Trump by five- and eight-point margins in the last two presidential elections, Santos beat his 2022 Democratic opponent, Robert Zimmerman, by almost eight percentage points. By comparison, Santos lost his first bid for Congress in 2020 against Suozzi by almost 13 points under the old district lines.

Lee Zeldin, the 2022 GOP nominee for governor, carried District 3 by a 12-point margin in his unsuccessful bid against Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.

The GOP advantage is clearer in the part of the district that falls in Nassau County, which contributed 82% of the district’s total vote in 2022. Both Santos and Zeldin received a higher share of the vote and had bigger vote margins in Nassau County than they did districtwide. The part of the district located in Queens is more competitive, but it makes up a much smaller share of the overall vote. Santos lost in Queens by four percentage points, while Zeldin narrowly outperformed Hochul by a margin of nearly two and a half percentage points.

On Tuesday, the shortest, most direct path to victory would be to win in Nassau County. The bigger the win in Nassau, the harder it is for the trailing candidate to pull out a win. Suozzi would likely need to win by a substantial margin in Queens to make up for even a modest lead by Pilip in Nassau.

The AP does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow the trailing candidates to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.

An automatic recount will be triggered if the vote margin is equal to or less than 0.5 percentage points. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is eligible for a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.

WHAT DO TURNOUT AND ADVANCE VOTE LOOK LIKE

As of Nov. 1, 2023, there were nearly 571,000 voters registered in District 3.

A detailed breakdown of the amount of pre-Election Day votes cast in the district in the 2022 general election is not available, but in the gubernatorial race that year, about 29% of the vote in all of Nassau and Queens was cast before Election Day.

Early voting began Feb. 3 and concludes on Sunday.

HOW LONG DOES VOTE COUNTING USUALLY TAKE

In the 2022 general election, the AP first reported results in the district at about 9:02 p.m. ET, or about two minutes after polls closed. The election night tabulation ended at 1:34 a.m. ET with about 94% of total votes counted.

Nassau County Police said Aaron Cooper, 26, was driving in North Woodmere around 4:30 a.m. Saturday when he lost control and overturned near Rosedale Road and Lawrence Court. He was taken to a nearby hospital to be treated for injuries sustained in the crash.

A passenger riding in Cooper’s car, 22-year-old Pablo Rivera, of Valley Stream, was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Police arrested Cooper on charges of manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter, driving while intoxicated and reckless driving. Attorney information for the 26-year-old was not immediately known.

Cooper was fired from the NYPD in Jan. 2023 for allegedly pulling a gun during a parking spot dispute years earlier, the NY Post reported. The then 23-year-old was off duty in July 2021 when he was involved in the parking argument. He was arrested on charges of menacing, harassment, criminal mischief and criminal weapon possession.

A special election in the suburbs of New York to replace disgraced former Rep. George Santos could offer clues about the mindset of suburban voters everywhere as 2024 election contests ramp up across the country.

The Tuesday contest for the House seat held by Santos until his recent expulsion is shaping up to be a bellwether in the fight for control of Congress, as candidates test political messages their parties hope will appeal to suburban voters in the fall. It not only could subtract one more vote from Republicans’ narrow majority in the short run but will be monitored carefully for any signals it sends about what suburban voters elsewhere may be thinking entering the highly volatile 2024 election year.

The Long Island race pits former U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi, a Democrat who represented the district for three terms before quitting to run for governor, against Republican nominee Mazi Pilip, a county legislator.

The seat, which represents suburbs just east of New York City plus a small part of Queens, became vacant after Santos was expelled from the House late last year after getting charged with multiple counts of fraud and stealing from donors.

While the Santos scandal gives the race a unique backstory, the candidates have campaigned on issues that could be aimed at suburban voters anywhere, with Republicans hammering away on immigration and crime while Democrats cast themselves as the last line of defense on abortion rights.

Tuesday’s special election gives both parties an opportunity to assess strategies for November’s general election, when New York is expected to be a battleground in the fight for control of the House, where Republicans now hold a thin majority.

“It’s a bellwether for the rest of the country, in that candidates and political operatives are looking at the strategies and tactics and the messaging to see how it’ll play out in their swing suburbs,” said Larry Levy, dean of the National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University on Long Island. “February 13th is really about November 5th, and swing suburban districts all over the country.”

The district itself could potentially wind up being reshaped before the November election because of a lingering battle over redistricting in New York, making its status as a measure of voter sentiment in a district that hasn’t changed yet especially interesting.

Pilip entered the race with an intriguing personal story.

Born in Ethiopia, she left that country at age 12 as part of Operation Solomon, when Israel airlifted some 14,500 Ethiopian Jews in less than two days as civil war and famine raged in the Horn of Africa. The new arrivals struggled to transition from their developing home country to Israel, with many Ethiopian Israelis alleging racist treatment, police harassment and discriminatory slights.

As an adult, she served in a gunsmith unit in Israel’s military. She moved to the U.S. after marrying a Ukrainian-American doctor in 2005. Pilip was elected to the Nassau County legislature in 2021.

Though she publicly identifies as a Republican, Pilip registered as a Democrat when she got to the U.S. and still hasn’t changed her voter registration. She said she drifted away from the party as it became more liberal. A spokesman said Pilip decided to wait until after the election to formally change her party affiliation to avoid legal complications that could potentially knock her off the ballot.

Despite her background, Pilip has hammered Democrats and President Joe Biden over U.S. immigration policy. She has argued for additional policing of the border to stop illegal immigration as well as the construction of a border wall.

She held one of her first news conferences of the campaign outside a site in Queens, where New York City officials had set up a large shelter to house homeless migrants, many of whom were bused to New York after crossing the southern border.

“This is a big concern for my district,” Pilip said. “A lot of residents very much worry about this. No one asked them if they want to have male migrants living next to their playground. They don’t like that.”

Suozzi, a political moderate, has meanwhile distanced himself from policies that have damaged Democrats in the New York suburbs.

“The Democratic brand has been decimated over the past three years,” Suozzi said. “It started with crime in New York City and the bail reform that took place and that was very effectively weaponized by the Republicans.”

“That crime issue now has been exacerbated by the migrant issue,” he said.

As the election nears, Suozzi has increasingly talked about strengthening border policy, pointing out times when he bucked his own party on the issue when he was in Congress. He said recently that he would support a temporary closure of the U.S.-Mexico border to slow the flow of migrants into the country. Biden has used similar rhetoric on the border.

The former congressman has also stressed his deep experience in governing — three terms in Congress as well as stints as a mayor and a county executive on Long Island — as evidence he could strike bipartisan agreements on difficult issues, such as ongoing congressional negotiations over border control and the Israel-Hamas war.

“This is serious business. This requires some ability and some competence to navigate the politics and the governing and the policy and the domestic and the international,” he said. “She’s unvetted, she’s unprepared and will make things worse.”

Pilip, for her part, has aggressively moved to counter criticism from Suozzi and Democrats that she is anti-abortion, a centerpiece of the Democratic Party’s overall election year strategy.

Pilip said that while she is personally opposed to abortion, she would oppose any attempt by Congress to ban it nationwide. She has also said mifepristone, an abortion medication, should be available nationally.

“Abortion is a personal decision, a personal choice. Every woman should make that decision. Therefore I’m not going to support a national abortion ban and I’m not going to risk a woman’s health care,” Pilip said.

Abortion rights have been a winning issue for Democrats in recent elections. Polling has shown a broad swath of Americans support at least some access to the procedure.

The race is hard to handicap. Suozzi has some of the advantages that usually come with incumbency. He had a comfortable victory in his last race in the district in 2020, defeating Santos, then a relatively unknown Republican. The same year, Biden beat Donald Trump in the district.

But two years later, Santos, falsely portraying himself as a wealthy, Wall Street financial wizard, beat Democrat Robert Zimmerman in the midterm elections. That was part of a wave of Republican victories in Long Island elections in recent years in both congressional and local races. But his spectacular crash-and-burn tenure in Congress could linger in the minds of voters weighing a choice between the parties.

Another question that has loomed over the race has been whether the district will exist in its current form for much longer.

The state’s highest court threw out New York’s congressional map late last year and ordered a new set of lines to be drawn by the end of February. The ruling was a major win for Democrats in the state who have angled for more favorable congressional districts.

It remains unclear exactly what approach Democrats will take on redistricting but the party could try to reshape the district in their favor, no matter who wins, perhaps by including a slightly larger slice of New York City.

The mid-game melee broke out around 8:15 p.m. at Locust Valley High School, which was hosting Oyster Bay High School for a matchup between the boys’ basketball teams. Fans on both sides started exchanging barbs, and police documents stated that a man and a woman were cursing at students in the bleachers, using misogynistic and anti-gay slurs at one point.

A woman in the bleachers asked them to stop. Soon after, a woman in gray jacket — identified by police as 55-year-old Kimberly Gotti — ran at the other woman, punched her and grabbed her hat, the police report states.

A younger woman, who police said was Gotti’s 23-year-old daughter Gianna, joined in on the fracas, allegedly punching the victim. As the brawl continued, the victim recalled having her hair pulled to the point where it “felt like my scalp was going to ripped off.” The younger Gotti tore off the wig the 47-year-old was wearing, the victim said, and bragged about it later.

The three women continued to punch the victim, but she was able to get us and the group started to separate, even as shouting continued. Police arrived soon after, but the victim said the two Gotti women kept instigating to fight.

The victim was left with scratches to both sides of her face, pain on her scalp and a severe headache afterward, she told police.

Kimberly and Gianni Gotti were both charged with third-degree assault as a result of the mayhem. They spent Thursday night in jail and were seen leaving court on Friday along with Gotti Jr., the former boss of the Gambino crime family.

“She pressed charges against my wife and my daughter. My wife and my daughter will not press charges against anybody else,” said Gotti Jr., whose son plays for the Oyster Bay team.

Both pleaded not guilty. According to the lawyer for the Gotti’s lawyer, the alleged victim was the one who threw the first punch, striking Kimberly Gotti in the face.

“The victim in this case actually got very, very angry, very belligerent. She went from zero to 100 and started arguing aggressively with Mrs. Gotti,” said attorney Gerard Marrone. “In fact, the victim in this case punched Mrs. Gotti in the face first — Mrs. Gotti did nothing. Her daughter, Gianna, came to her aid.”

No one answered the door at the victim’s Upper Brookville home Friday afternoon.

Under the plea agreement, Nylah Frazier copped to manslaughter and assault in the violent West Hempstead crash in exchange for lesser jail time. The plea deal gives her three to nine years in jail. She had faced up to 15 years in prison if convicted of the top charge she was arraigned on, which included two counts of second-degree manslaughter.

Frazier was 18 when she drove her BMW more than 100 miles an hour through a stop sign and slammed into a truck, according to prosecutors. Her two passengers — Amanda Arguinzoni, 17, and Kurtis Caesar, 19 — were thrown from the car on impact and died instantly, court records say.

At the time of their deaths, Arguinzoni was a senior at West Hempstead High School. Caesar had recently graduated from Cambria Height Academy in Queens and worked for FedEx.

When Frazier’s lawyer tried to address the victims’ families at Thursday’s plea hearing, shouts of anger echoed through the courtroom. The two families had to be separated by court officers.

The district attorney was clear on where she stood.

“Two young people – 17 and 19 years old – were killed when this defendant blew through a red light at more than 100 miles an hour and crashed her BMW SUV into a parked dump truck,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said in a statement. “Amanda Arguinzoni and Kurtis Caesar had their entire lives in front of them and lost those lives in an instant due to the selfish and reckless actions of Nylah Frazier. It is a miracle that no one else lost their lives that evening. We continue to express our condolences to the Arguinzoni and Caesar families.”

Frazier left court free on bail until her May sentencing.

Brick Fest Live will be at the Nassau Coliseum April 27 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and April 28 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. LEGO fans can currently pre-register for tickets for the event.

Among the attractions at Brick Fest Live are a LEGO pit you can climb in with more than 200,000 bricks, a graffiti wall, a floor mural, and contestants from the LEGO Masters TV show.

In October, the Brick Convention Long Island is coming to the Suffolk Credit Union Arena.

The even will have two sessions on Oct. 19 and two on Oct. 20. A portion of the proceeds from the event goes to Creations for Charity.

The Brick Convention will have “massive LEGO displays,” Star Wars displays, trains, a LEGO city, brick pits, and life-size models.

Tickets are are currently available for each session and run $17.82, including fees and taxes.

The violent incident occurred around 1 p.m. Sunday, when Aleksandr Binyaminov heard his Ring doorbell go off and saw a random stranger walking away from his Hewlett house with two of his flags. One was was an Israeli-American flag and another one said “We Stand with Israel.”

“When I grabbed the flag away from him, he was saying ‘I’m from Palestine, you Jews are killing Palestinians,'” Binyaminov recalled.

The man, who police have identified as 26-year-old Bechir Lehbeib, walked away from Binyaminov and made an obscene gesture on video. Lehbeib had walked several houses away when Binyaminov caught up to him on his child’s bicycle.

On video, Binyaminov confronts Lehbeib who punches him in the head. The two then begin to fight.

“He punched me in the face gave me black and blue put me in a choke hold and he headbutted me, that’s how I got a black eye,” Binyaminov explained.

The flag was put up after Oct. 7, in honor of a relative of Binyaminov’s wife who he said died when Hamas attacked Israel.

“The subject continued to swing wildly and struggle with the victim and threw the victim to the ground,” said Nassau County Deputy Police Commissioner Kevin Smith.

In regards to the incident, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said simply, “This insanity has to stop.”

At a news conference, the county executive and Republican elected officials blasted border policies for the incident.

“Living in America, I never thought this would happen to me. As a Jew, we live here happily. Feels a little bit disgusting that this happened to us, these hate crimes should be stopped,” said Binyaminov.

Lehbeig was ordered held on $50,000 bail and the judge agreed with prosecutors when they asked that his passport be taken away.

On Feb. 1, the KinderCare center in Manhasset pulled the welcome mat from under more than 30 children, according to parents, telling them that the center would no longer care for their children effective Monday. The day care said that staffing was to blame, saying in an email to parents that “reducing our enrollment ensures we have enough teachers on hand to effectively staff our other classrooms.”

Parents said the facility has had staffing issues before, but apparently KinderCare hadn’t done enough to address the problem. Online records indicated the state cited KinderCare in Nov. 2023 for violating staffing regulations, but those issues were corrected.

“Now you guys telling us you didn’t know this was going on means that somewhere, somehow, management failed,” said dad Hin Tsui, who had to stay home from work Monday along with his wife so they could take care of their 4-year-old. “The worst thing we found out is that special needs kids were kicked out. You can’t do that to special needs kids.”

KinderCare’s sudden withdrawal of services left parents with a little more than one business day to find new child care arrangements. But now, it appears the organization is changing its stance.

On Tuesday, a parent told NBC New York that she received an email from the facility, saying her children and others would be allowed to return on Feb. 26. According to the email from KinderCare, new hires and support staff will soon be in place, in an effort to solve the problem.

The parent said in an email to News 4 that they were not told how things might change at the center, if staff would be receiving higher pay, or if they would see their duties reduced. The mother also said she and other parents would like to be compensated for the disruption in service.

KinderCare did not respond to previous requests for comment.

The KinderCare center in Manhasset pulled the welcome mat from under more than 30 children, according to parents.

“He knows that some of them are staying and I don’t know what to tell him…It’s not fair to him. He’s asking, ‘I don’t understand mommy, why can’t I go to school? Why can’t I go see my teachers and my friends?'” said Mimi Cha, whose 4-year-old son attends the day car. “They didn’t think about the kids, they didn’t think about teachers, parents.”

Cha and other parents were alerted late Thursday that as of Monday, KinderCare would no longer care for their kids.

“Just shot us an email and said, your kid has been laid off. She can’t come back,” said Hin Tsui, noting that he and his wife had to stay home from work on Monday to care for their 4-year-old.

“There were a million ways they could have done this and they did it in the worst way possible,” his wife, Dawn, added. “These are hard decisions placed on parents with no warning and everybody is just scrambling.”

KinderCare’s sudden withdrawal of services left parents with a little more than one business day to find new child care arrangements.

So what was the reason behind the abrupt decision? KinderCare pinned the blame on short-staffing. In an email to parents, the company said “reducing our enrollment ensures we have enough teachers on hand to effectively staff our other classrooms.”

“Just appalling. Inconsiderate. They didn’t think about kids, the teachers, the parents,” Cha said.

On Monday, two cars from the state agency that oversees day care centers were parked outside the center. Parents said the facility has had staffing issues before, but apparently KinderCare didn’t do enough to address the problem.

“Now you guys telling us you didn’t know this was going on means that somewhere, somehow, management failed,” said Hin Tsui. “The worst thing we found out is that special needs kids were kicked out. You can’t do that to special needs kids.”

Online records indicate that the state cited KinderCare in Nov. 2023 for violating staffing regulations, but those issues were corrected. KinderCare did not respond to a request for comment.

“If they even thought of any solutions, they never presented them to parents for any feedback on where we were willing to be flexible,” said Dawn Tsui.

Polls opened Saturday in New York’s hotly-contested special election to fill George Santos’ seat in the 3rd Congressional District, which covers parts of Long Island and Queens.

New Yorkers can cast their ballots for Republican Mazi Pilip or Democrat Tom Suozzi ahead of the Feb. 13 election. Early voting runs for nine days.

The seat has been empty since late last year, when Santos became only the sixth lawmaker in history to be expelled from the U.S. House of Representatives.

Nearly a dozen polling sites are open across Nassau County; make sure to double check their hours before heading to cast a ballot, some days close earlier than others. Voting hours also vary in Queens; find the full list here.

The first day of early voting in Queens drew approximately 1,344 voters to the polls, the NYC Boards of Elections posted Saturday night.

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New York Democrats pick Tom Suozzi as their candidate for George Santos' seat

The election has drawn significant attention as both parties zero in on New York as a potential battleground for control of the House.

The selection pits Pilip, a relatively unknown local lawmaker originally from Ethiopia, against a political veteran in Suozzi, who previously represented the district for six years during a lengthy career in Long Island politics.

Republicans picked Pilip after vetting a number of potential candidates following the expulsion of Santos from Congress earlier this month for fabricating much of his life story and being criminally charged with defrauding donors.

Politico reported last week that Pilip is a registered Democrat, though she holds her current position as a Republican and has been backed by Republicans when she was running for county office. The arrangement is not entirely uncommon in states that have closed primaries, where so-called crossover voters who identify with one party register under another so they can vote in primary elections.

Suozzi was tapped by Democrats after emerging as the party’s frontrunner for the nomination. His extensive political experience could be a major advantage when it comes to name recognition and fundraising for the special election.

Suozzi, a centrist Democrat, was elected to the House in 2016 and won reelection in 2020, before leaving to launch the unsuccessful campaign for governor. He also served as the mayor of Glen Cove from 1994 to 2001, and as Nassau County’s elected executive from 2002 to 2009.

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U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert called Matthew James’ actions “inexcusable” as she sentenced him Friday in Central Islip, Newsday reported.

“To ruin people’s reputations, to do all that, for wealth is really something,” Seybert said.

James, 54, was convicted in July 2022 of fraud and identity theft charges. Prosecutors say he bilked insurance companies out of hundreds of millions of dollars.

James ran medical billing companies. Prosecutors said he got some doctors to schedule elective surgeries via emergency rooms — a tactic that boosted insurance reimbursement rates — and billed for procedures that were different from the ones actually performed. When insurance companies rejected the claims, he called, pretending to be an outraged patient or policyholder who was facing a huge bill and demanding that the insurer pay up.

One of the people he impersonated was NBA point guard Marcus Smart, who got hand surgery after hitting a picture frame in 2018, according to court papers filed by James’ lawyers.

Smart was then with the Boston Celtics, where he won the NBA defensive player of the year award in 2022 — the first guard so honored in more than a quarter-century. Smart now plays for the Memphis Grizzlies.

Smart testified at James’ trial that the impersonation upset him because he wasn’t raised to treat people the way James did, and that he was concerned it would damage his standing as a role model, according to prosecutors’ court papers.

Another victim was NFL lawyer and executive Jeff Pash, whose wife was treated for an injury she got while running in 2018. Jurors at James’ trial heard a recording of someone who purported to be Pash — but actually was James — hollering and swearing at a customer-service representative on an insurance provider’s dedicated line for NFL employees, Newsday reported at the time.

“These are people that work for the NFL, and I would hate to have them think that was me on that call,” Pash testified, saying he knew nothing about it until federal agents told him.

James’ lawyer, Paul Krieger, said in a court filing that James worked as a nurse before starting his own business in 2007. James developed a drinking problem in recent years as he came under stress from his work and family responsibilities, including caring for his parents, the lawyer wrote.

“He sincerely and deeply regrets his misguided phone calls and communications with insurance companies in which he pretended to be patients in an effort to maximize and expedite payments for the genuine medical services provided by his doctor-clients,” the attorney added, saying the calls were “an aberration” in the life of “a caring and decent person.”

In Feb. 2023, Charlie’s father died in a car crash. The then-freshman at Roslyn High School said she was devastated and felt alone, not being able to talk to others she felt understood her.    

“I felt very bad, and just very unclear about the future,” said Charlie.  “And how would I move on?”

A few months later, Sydney’s brother Drew was killed in a horrific wrong way crash. Also killed was his friend and teammate Ethan Falkowitz; two other friends were injured but survived. 

The driver of the other car was allegedly drunk and high on cocaine. Sydney told NBC New York she had trouble coming to terms with her grief.

“It all comes from sadness and emptiness and loneliness in your heart, you’re trying to fill a void that can’t be filled,” she explained.

Charlie reached out to Sydney after Drew was killed, and the two became friends.

“I texted her said I know what you’re going through,” said Charlie. “And I know how hard it is.”

Sydney says the message was appreciated because it was from someone who knew first-hand how she was feeling.  The two found comfort in their shared grief and realized they wanted to help other teens. They founded the H.E.R.O. Project. 

“It’s an acronym” explained Charlie. “It stands for honor, empathize, remember and onward — because we’re going to do all those things.”

They brought their idea to the Sid Jacobson Jewish Community Center, who provided space and counselors. The first meeting was in January, where more than a dozen teens attended, including sisters who experienced a recent loss.

“The impact of not being able to talk about these emotions can have a real change on the future of your lives,” said Taylor Graf, vice president of Specialized Services at JCC and a licensed clinical social worker.  “So now because of Charlie and Sydney we have a safe space for teens to talk about their sadness.”

The girls shared with the group how they cope when things get bad. Sydney still sends Drew text messages when she misses him. 

“I’ll just send him a text, telling him how I’m feeling, how I’m thinking about him. I know I’m not going to get a response but it just makes me feel like I have some sort of connection that’s still there with him,” she said.

The H.E.R.O. Project meets monthly and is open to all teens who are seeking help, not just JCC members. The girls advertise the group on social media to make it accessible to everyone their age.

Roberto Velasquez pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in the deadly March 2023 attack at the 24-hour laundromat in Valley Stream, Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said Wednesday. The 32-year-old Velasquez is expected to be sentenced to more than 21 years in prison at his next court appearance on March 15 — a year and a day after he killed Michael Oliver.

Donnelly detailed the attack that broke out around 2 a.m. after an argument erupted between the two men who had been sleeping overnight at the laundromat on Merrick Road. The pair were sitting next to each other and started arguing, which is when Velasquez got up, reached for a duffle bag and hit Oliver with the bag.

The contents of the bag spilled to the floor, revealing the large machete that had been in the bag. Velasquez grabbed the weapon and swung it at Oliver twice, then paused, and then cut him in his left leg just above the knee, according to the charges.

The 58-year-old Oliver fell to the ground, bleeding profusely, the DA said. He was taken to North Shore University Hospital-Manhasset where he underwent emergency surgery. He survived the surgery, but suffered major organ damage due to the blood loss and an infection. He died 10 days later.

Velasquez gathered his things and ran from the laundromat, but was arrested by Nassau County police later that same day in Lynbrook.

Attorney information for Velasquez wasn’t immediately available.

The robbers struck the home in North Hills after 11 a.m., posing as workers who needed access to the house. A 69-year-old woman was inside with her 35-year-old aide, who cracked the door open.

“He just opened the door a little bit, [asked] ‘What do you want?'” said the still-shaken victim, who did not wish to be identified and spoke to NBC New York through her doorbell system. “And they put a gun to his head and they came up to my room.”

Once inside, the men took the victims’ cellphones and pushed the woman to the ground, covering her mouth.

“They were saying they didn’t want to hurt me but I just kept screaming his name, Jesus’s name,” the woman said. “As a Christian I was screaming ‘Jesus help me, Jesus help me!'”

The aide locked himself in a room and started screaming out the window for help. A neighbor heard the screams.

“I heard a male voice screaming over and over again,” said neighbor Qicheng Yang. “Anyone’s gonna call police or anyone’s gonna call police for me.”

The Yang family has lived on Folie Court for a decade, saying that it’s usually safe — but in the past two years, they have noticed a change in Nassau County. The district attorney said criminals are getting bolder, and residents need to become more aware.

“If you’re not sure make a phone call, call the gas company and say ‘Did you send someone to my house for a gas leak?'” said District Attorney Anne Donnelly, who also recommended installing a camera to talk to anyone at the door.

Because of the screams, the three men ran away before they could take anything.

Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to contact police.

Tenia Campbell, 28, pleaded guilty in December to first-degree murder charges in connection to the deaths of her young daughters, Jaida and Jasmine. Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney announced Monday that Campbell was sentenced to 20 years to life behind bars.

“These two young lives were cut short by the one person who was supposed to love and protect them,” said DA Tierney. “Although the 20-year sentence here resolves this sad case, it will not bring back these girls.”

Police were alerted to the tragic story when the Medford woman’s mother called police just after 2:30 p.m. on June 27, 2019, saying that her daughter was driving around in the family’s van and had threatened to kill herself and her toddlers. The 911 call, which lasted nearly 12 minutes, led investigators on a desperate search for them in the areas of Medford and Montauk.

Less than 90 minutes later, an East Hampton police officer spotted the minivan just off Montauk Highway, west of Montauk Point, pulled over on the side of a park entrance road under a sprawling tree. Campbell was outside the van as the officer neared the vehicle, and the twin toddlers were found dead in their car seats.

Asphyxiation was listed as the girls’ cause of death. Campbell later admitted to smothering them.

The victims, 19-year-old Jevon Lyken, of South Richmond, and 18-year-old Debarpita Dey, of Corona, were both pronounced dead at the scene of the 5:40 a.m. Sunday crash on the Southern State Parkway in Babylon.

State Police say Lyken was driving a 2015 Infiniti Q50, with Dey as his passenger, when he struck a 2015 Jeep Compass from behind. The impact caused the Infiniti to swerve off the road onto the right shoulder, where it hit the tree. Lyken and Dey were the only two people in that vehicle.

The impact also caused the Jeep to spin and strike the center concrete barrier. It came to rest in the left lane. The Jeep driver was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The crash investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to call the State Police at 631-756-3300.

“I listed the thing, I got an immediate response and the guy negotiated, which they never do if they’re scammers. He negotiated, I thought I had a real deal here,” Mauro said.

He said the man, whose name was listed as “Jhon,” asked a lot of questions and planned to meet Mauro at his home around 11 a.m. The in-person interaction raised no red flags, that is until the man was ready to pay and invited Mauro into his car.

“He’s like, ‘go hop in the passenger [seat].’ He said it so nonchalant,” Mauro said.

The Massapequa man had tried the door and found it locked, so he immediately rushed around to the driver’s side.

“I opened [the door], he then tried to close it and then while he put the car in reverse, so that’s what threw me to the ground,” he explained.

As this is happening, a Nassau County police officer on patrol drives down Jerusalem Avenue and sees the gray Honda driving in reverse, knocking Mauro down to the ground.

“I picked myself up, jumped on the hood and then he took me for a ride. I was tossed on my front lawn, launched off of the hood. I told the cop, ‘go get the guy,'” Mauro said.

Police are now looking for the Honda, which possibly had Connecticut license plates.

Mauro’s message to others selling items online: don’t be afraid to ask for the money up front and always have your guard up.

“Large items like this, I probably wouldn’t do it out of my house. That was probably my mistake,” he said.

Little Joseph Adonis was found dead on Jan. 3 inside the Holbrook home he shared with his parents and older brother. Officers found the toddler in his parents bedroom, unresponsive from a suspected fentanyl overdose.

“Preliminary toxicology results for the child’s blood show the presence of cocaine, fentanyl, morphine,” said Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney. 

Autopsy results are still pending.

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Also found inside the home were digital scales used to weigh drugs, along with a loaded shotgun and a rifle. The findings were shocking to neighbors.

“That’s definitely concerning because they could’ve touched anything and it could have left residue anywhere,” said a neighbor who did not wish to be identified. “Definitely raises your eyebrows for what was going on.”

Joseph’s father, Wilkens Adonis, pleaded not guilty to a slew of drug charges and child endangerment.

“Right now he’s saying he’s not guilty. When police came to the residence, he actually consented to the search, he had nothing to hide,” said the father’s attorney, Matthew Tuohy. “At that point, he was unaware of any drugs or weapons in the house. He consented, he had nothing to hide.”

The boy’s mother, Daryllee Leibrock, also pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors said she told police she has a $50-a-day cocaine habit and admitted the cocaine found in the room was hers.

“Cases are still pending in district court, I look forward to looking over the evidence,” said her defense attorney, Steve Fondulis.

The Suffolk district attorney is leaning on lawmakers in Albany to make stricter penalties for those who provide drugs that kill people.

“We are handicapped. Imagine — you’d have to possess enough fentanyl to kill 114,000 people before you could be held for bail. Does that make sense?” asked Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine.

Bail was set for both parents, but not for the charges filed Thursday. Both had prior pending criminal cases and their latest arrest violated the terms of those other cases. They are due back in court in early February.

Devin Magarian, 21, was arrested Jan. 16 after allegedly working alongside an undercover cop to fill phony prescriptions for oxycodone through more than a dozen pharmacies in the state, court documents explain.

Prosecutors allege Magarian gained access to doctor’s e-prescribing accounts and used a bot program to generate made-up patients that he would then order thousands of e-scripts for and send off to pharmacies. Those prescriptions would then be picked up by a team of runners working with the Florida man.

The Nassau County District Attorney’s Office said the 21-year-old would make monthly trips to New York to carry out part of his multi-state drug operation. His most recent trip in January would be the one that lead to his arrest.

“This is one of the most complex and technically sophisticated drug operations I have ever witnessed,” DA Anne Donnelly said at a Friday press conference. “The scope of it is absolutely shocking.”

Donnelly said a pharmacist in Great Neck helped tip authorities off to the massive operation.

Magarian is accused of initially selling ninety tablets of oxycodone to an undercover cop with the Nassau County Police Department. The cop and defendant would build a relationship following that initial sale, eventually getting to the point where Magarian felt comfortable disclosing details of his operation to the cop, according to authorities.

The two would frequently communicate via Telegram, a cloud-based messaging system. In the charging documents, Magarian is accused of explaining to the cop that he “had transmitted the prescriptions to said pharmacies using the e-prescribing credentials of a physician who operated a practice in Tennessee without that physician’s knowledge of permission.”

Eventually, according to prosecutors, Magarian enlisted the undercover cop to fill prescriptions at a handful of local pharmacies in the area. In 15 instances between Jan. 4-9, the cop picked up orders at pharmacies across Nassau and Queens County; most of the orders were for 90 tablets.

“The defendant agreed to allow the undercover to keep seven full prescriptions of ninety tablets of oxycodone 30mg, as well as the one prescriptions of twenty-five tablets of oxycodone 30mg as compensation for filling the prescriptions,” the charging documents allege.

Magarian then allegedly offered to sell the remaining prescriptions, some 630 tablets, to the cop for $14,500. Prosecutors claim the two met last week in New York City, where the money and pills were exchanged in a deal.

District Attorney Anne Donnelly announced Magarian’s arrest and alleged crimes at a press conference on Friday alongside the NCPD and the DEA’s New York Division.

A lawyer for Magarian said the 21-year-old has no previous criminal record, and he looks forward to having him exonerated.

As part of the stunning find in the North Bellmore home of 32-year-old Matthew Spohrer, the Nassau County SPCA confiscated a young South American ostrich, otherwise known as a rhea, named Eddie.

How did Eddie end up at the home? Ebay, apparently.

“He actually said that he ordered the rhea on Ebay as an egg when he was drunk. This was a stupid mistake,” said John Di Leonardo, an anthrozoologist and the executive director of Humane Long Island. “[Spohrer’s] been seen and photographed numerous times with this rhea in public, taking it to the fair, train stations, pet stores.”

A tip led authorities to the family home on Tuesday, where the exotic animals were allegedly found packed in cages. A flock of ducks, quails and chickens were allegedly kept next to reptiles, including an endangered tiger salamander and a variety of lizards, snakes and turtles. Spohrer allegedly planned to feed the quails to the reptiles.

“Baby quails certainly don’t belong housed right next to lizards and snakes causing them extreme stress,” Di Leonardo said.

According to Humane Long Island, people spotted Spohrer and his illegal menagerie at the annual Bellmore Family Street Festival.

“He was charging people to go into a tent to see these animals and pet some of them,” said Di Leonardo.

Spohrer was hit with 30 violations and fined thousands of dollars by the SPCA, which confiscated all of the animals. A giant African snail, a North American opossum, a tortoise, two prairie dogs and large monitor lizards were among the animals taken away, along with dozens of chickens, domestic ducks and geese.

“I think that this is what happens when people don’t speak up. it ends up being a hoarding situation,” Di Leonardo said. “Hoarding giant birds, prairie dogs, and endangered species in a cramped basement or backyard shed is cruel, and keeping them in cages next to their natural predators can cause them extreme stress. Simply speaking, wild animals are not pets.”

All will be heading to sanctuaries, including Eddie the rhea, which will grow to be three feet tall with six-inch talons.

Former U.S. Rep. George Santos says he doesn’t plan to vote in next month’s special election to fill his now vacant seat in Congress.

The disgraced New York Republican, who became only the sixth lawmaker in history to be expelled from the U.S. House of Representatives last year, made the comments Tuesday following a brief hearing in federal court on Long Island ahead of his criminal fraud trial, which is slated for later this year.

Santos told reporters that he isn’t likely to cast a ballot at all in the Feb. 13 election for the seat representing the northern parts of Queens and Long Island.

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The race pits Mazi Pilip, a relatively unknown Republican county lawmaker, against Democratic former congressman Thomas Suozzi, who previously represented the district for six years during a lengthy career in Long Island politics.

Santos faces a slew of criminal charges in the federal case, including allegations that he defrauded campaign donors, lied to Congress about his wealth, received unemployment benefits while employed, and used campaign contributions to pay for personal expenses like designer clothing. He pleaded not guilty to a revised indictment in October.

In his court hearing Tuesday, there was little talk of a potential plea deal, unlike his previous court appearance in December.

Santos’ lawyer Joseph Murray said only that negotiations remain “productive” and that both sides would report back to the judge if there were any notable developments.

Judge Joanna Seybert also approved a timeline for motions, briefs and other legal filings in preparation for the September trial. Santos now isn’t due back in court until Aug. 13.

Santos was elected in 2022 after campaigning as a self-made Wall Street whiz, but his life story unraveled soon after his election win, when it was revealed that he had lied about where he worked and went to college as well as big chunks of his personal background. He was ousted from his seat following a scathing House Ethics Committee report that said it found “overwhelming evidence” that he had broken the law and exploited his public position for his own profit.

After Tuesday’s hearing, Santos declined to say what else he’s been up to since his ignominious exit from national politics.

In recent months, he’s granted a handful of interviews and launched an account on the website Cameo, where the public can pay him for a personalized video message.

Santos was asked Tuesday if he missed being in Congress.

“Sure,” he responded. “I worked hard to get there.”

No one knows whom the honors will go to until the announcement is made, and this year, it went to a unique pairing: twin brothers Devon and Dylan Lee.

“Our main goal through high school was just to kind of live the high school experience, still have fun,” Dylan told NBC News. “While academics was a priority, there are also many other aspects to our lives, including extracurriculars and making sure to spend time with friends.”

Devon, named valedictorian for having the highest GPA, is also a dedicated athlete and musician. He has led the boys volleyball team to back-to-back conference championships and received an All-County distinction. He is among the top 50 volleyball players on Long Island and teaches the sport to youth at a volleyball summer clinic he co-founded, according to a news release from the school.

Read the full story at NBCNews.com.

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John Gray, of East Hampton, was last seen around 8:45 a.m. Wednesday on Three Mile Harbor Drive in East Hampton. He was wearing a dark gray beanie, black jacket or sweatshirt, black pants and black Nike sneakers.

He also may have been carrying two black backpacks.

Investigators say information indicates Gray was in the Manhattan area around 2:15 a.m. Thursday. He may be using public transportation.

Anyone with information on Gray’s whereabouts is asked to call the East Hampton Town Police Department at 631-537-7575.

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The strange and terrifying incident occurred just after 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 21 in Carle Place, according to Nassau County police. The man, identified as Roy Braithwaite, drove up to the Lukoil gas station on Westbury Avenue and went to use his debit card to pay for gas, but his card was declined.

The 34-year-old Braithwaite got angry and started yelling at the 18-year-old worker inside the station, police said. He hurled a chair at a display case before taking out a handgun and pointing at the scared employee, demanding his transaction be approved.

Nassau police said the worker, fearing for his life, complied. Braithwaite then started pumping gas — a whole $3 worth — then took off.

The worker did not report being injured. Braithwaite was arrested at his home on Monday, having been charged with first-degree robbery and second-degree menacing. He was expected to be arraigned on Tuesday.

The Simplex NYC store in Wantagh was stocked full of limited edition sneakers and clothing when the alleged burglars struck over the holiday weekend. Security video from just before 5 a.m. Monday showed a grey BMW SUV pull up to the shop on Merrick Road, and then a minute later, smash into the front window.

Soon after, another SUV drove up to the scene, the criminal complaint stated. Four men ran into the store, grabbed whatever clothing and expensive sneakers they could and ran off, video showed. The suspects were seen carrying off Nike and Air Jordan boxes during the theft that went on for nearly eight minutes.

The men fled after spotting flashing police lights. One of the SUVs struck a police cruiser as the burglars were making their escape. The officer driving the cruiser was taken to Nassau University Medical Center after suffering neck pain as a result of the crash, according to the criminal complaint.

Police tracked one of the vehicles from the brazen heist to North Bellmore. That’s where 19-year-old Christopher Flores and a 16-year-old boy were arrested. Flores, of Holbrook, was charged with second-degree burglary and fourth-degree possession of stolen property.

The criminal complaint stated that $50,000 in merchandise was stolen from the store.

In addition to the theft at the Nassau County store, the criminal complaint said the BMW used in the burglary had been reported stolen from a Connecticut home on Jan. 6.

Police have not shared any information regarding additional arrests.

The same sneaker store was burglarized in the same manner on Saturday morning around the same time. Security video shows an SUV backing into the store and multiple people from it grabbing clothing. The store owner also confirmed to NBC New York he was first burglarized on Saturday morning.

When asked, Nassau Police say they have no record of the first incident on Saturday.

It was not immediately clear if that one was carried out by the same group of suspects as the Monday burglary.

The owner of Simplex NYC did not wish to speak to NBC New York on-camera. The store was emptied out by the owner after the burglary, and the front of it was boarded up on Tuesday.

Bail was set at $25,000 cash or $50,000 bond for Flores, who is due back in court later in the week.

Over the years, investigators used DNA analysis and other clues to identify the victims. In some cases, they were able to connect them to remains found elsewhere on Long Island years earlier. Investigators concluded that an 11th woman found dead — the initial subject of their missing persons search — accidentally drowned.

Prosecutors have charged a Long Island architect, Rex Heuermann in four slayings, but a majority of the killings remain unsolved.

Here is a timeline of the investigation:

April 20, 1996: The partial remains of Karen Vergata are discovered on Fire Island, a barrier beach off Long Island’s southern coast. Her name remains unknown to investigators until 2022, when new DNA analysis helps them make an identification. Vergata, 34, was last in contact with her family on Feb. 14, 1996. She was involved in sex work when she vanished.

June 28, 1997: The partial remains of a woman, nicknamed “Peaches” by investigators after a tattoo on her body, are discovered stuffed inside a plastic tub in a state park in West Hempstead, New York. Her identity remains unknown.

September 2000: The partial skeletal remains of Valerie Mack, who had been working as an escort in Philadelphia, are found in a wooded area in Manorville, New York. Mack, 24, was last seen by her family in the spring or summer of that year in Port Republic, New Jersey.

July 26, 2003: The partial skeletal remains of Jessica Taylor are discovered in a wooded area of Manorville. She was 20 when she vanished and had been an escort working in New York City.

July 9, 2007: Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, who had traveled to New York City from her home in Norwich, Connecticut, for sex work, is last heard from by a friend. She says she is leaving her hotel to meet a client. Investigators later say cellphone records showed her phone was last used on Long Island.

July 10, 2009: Melissa Barthelemy, a 24-year-old sex worker, is last seen at her apartment in the Bronx. She tells a friend she is going to see a man and would be back in the morning. Cellphone location data puts her phone’s last known location on Long Island.

July 17, 2009: A man begins using Barthelemy’s mobile phone to make taunting phone calls to her relatives. There are additional calls on July 23, Aug. 5, Aug. 19 and Aug. 26. In one, a man says he killed her.

May 1, 2010: Shannan Gilbert, a sex worker, disappears in the barrier island community of Oak Beach, New York, after fleeing the house of a client and banging on a neighbor’s door. In a recorded 911 call, she tells a dispatcher people are after her, but she can also be heard refusing offers of help. Her pimp, the client and his neighbor all tell police she appeared disoriented and ran into the night on her own.

June 6, 2010: Megan Waterman, 22, who had traveled to Long Island from Maine for sex work, is last seen at a motel in Hauppauge, New York.

Sept. 2, 2010: Amber Lynn Costello, 27, is last seen leaving her home in West Babylon to meet with a sex work client. A male friend later tells investigators he noticed a Chevrolet Avalanche, presumably driven by the client.

December 11, 2010: A police officer and his dog discover Barthelemy’s remains while conducting a training exercise along Ocean Parkway.

Dec. 13, 2010: Police find the bodies of Costello, Brainard-Barnes and Waterman on the same quarter-mile stretch of Ocean Parkway where Barthelemy’s remains were located.

Dec. 14, 2010: Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer publicly announces the discovery of the bodies and says a serial killer might be to blame. Police expand the search, looking for additional remains or for any sign of Gilbert.

March 29, 2011: Some of Taylor’s remains are discovered along Ocean Parkway.

April 4, 2011: Additional remains of Valerie Mack are found along Ocean Parkway. Near those remains, investigators also find the remains of an unidentified female toddler, later identified through DNA as the daughter of “Peaches.” Elsewhere on the parkway, investigators discover the remains of an Asian male. Investigators estimate he died 5-10 years earlier and was in his late teens or early 20s. He still has not been identified.

April 11, 2011: Additional remains of Vergata are discovered along Ocean Parkway, several miles west of Gilgo Beach. Police also find remains belonging to “Peaches” along the beach parkway.

Dec. 13, 2011: Gilbert’s skeletal remains are discovered in a tidal marsh near Oak Beach. After an autopsy and further investigation, Suffolk Police say she most likely accidentally drowned. Her family still suspects she was murdered. One expert hired by the family said it was possible her death was a homicide.

January 2022: The Suffolk County district attorney convenes a new task force to investigate the Gilgo Beach slayings.

July 13, 2023: Investigators arrest Heuermann and charge him with murdering Costello, Waterman and Barthelemy. They say they also believe he killed Brainard-Barnes, but do not initially charge him with her slaying.

Jan. 16, 2024: Heuermann is charged in the death of Brainard-Barnes. Prosecutors say a hair found with her corpse is genetically similar to a DNA sample from Heuermann’s wife.

An architect charged in a string of slayings known as the Gilgo Beach serial killings was accused Tuesday in the death of a fourth woman, a Connecticut mother of two who vanished in 2007 and whose remains were found more than three years later along a coastal highway in New York.

Rex Heuermann was formally charged Tuesday in the killing of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, months after having been labeled the prime suspect in her death when he was arrested in July in the deaths of three other women. He pleaded not guilty in Brainard-Barnes’ death, as he had done in the other cases, and is due back in court on Feb. 6.

In court, Heuermann wore a dark suit and did not say anything during Tuesday’s proceedings. He will continue to be held without bail. He faces several life sentences without parole if convicted.

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Heuermann has maintained his innocence from “day one” and looks forward to defending himself in court, attorney Mike Brown said. Brown said he is still reviewing new information presented by prosecutors in court documents.

“They had little bits of evidence and focused on Rex Heuermann and then they accumulated more evidence and tried to fit that evidence to complete their narrative,” said Brown.

At the news conference Tuesday, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said the indictment provides “some small measure of closure” for families.

It marks the end of the investigation into the so-called “Gilgo four,” Tierney said.

Brainard-Barnes’ daughter, Nicolette, thanked law enforcement for their assistance in the case.

“I was only 7 years old when my mother was murdered. Her loss drastically changed the trajectory of my life. There are countless times I needed her there and she was not there,” Nicolette Brainard-Barnes, now 24, said Tuesday. “For years it looked like there might not be any charges filed against any suspect for the murder of my mother. The indictment of the grand jury has brought hope for justice. I know that she would want me to speak out for her.”

Brainard-Barnes, 25, who was once employed as a dealer at the Foxwoods Resort Casino, left her hometown of Norwich, Connecticut, on July 9, 2007, and headed to Manhattan for sex work, with plans to return the following day, according to friends who became concerned when she uncharacteristically stopped using her phone.

She never came back.

“Even though it was difficult for me I am doing this because I want her to be remembered as the loving mother she was,” said Nicolette Brainard-Barnes.

Heuermann was arrested July 14 and charged with killing Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello, three women who authorities say also were sex workers. Heuermann’s lawyer said he has denied committing the crimes. He previously pleaded not guilty to killing Barthelemy, Waterman and Costello.

Brainard-Barnes was the first of the four women to disappear. Their remains were found along the same quarter-mile stretch of parkway in the Gilgo Beach area of Jones Beach Island in 2010. Additional searching turned up the remains of six more adults and a toddler who was the child of one of the victims.

Police concluded that an 11th person found dead in a tidal marsh on the same barrier island accidentally drowned.

Investigators have said Heuermann, who lived in Massapequa Park across the bay from where the bodies were found, was probably not responsible for all the deaths. Some of the victims disappeared in the mid-1990s.

Investigators zeroed in on Heuermann when a new task force ran an old tip about a Chevy Avalanche pickup through a vehicle records database. A hit came back identifying one of those make and models belonging to Heuermann, who lived in a neighborhood police had been focusing on because of cellphone location data and call records, authorities said.

With the tip breathing new life into the investigation, authorities charted the calls and travels of multiple cellphones, picked apart email aliases, delved into search histories and collected discarded bottles — and even a pizza crust — for advanced DNA testing, according to court papers. Detectives said Heuermann’s DNA on the pizza crust matched a hair found on a restraint used in the killings.

Police said other evidence linked Heuermann to the victims, including burner cellphones used to arrange meetings with the slain women. Prosecutors said Heuermann also searched the internet for phrases that suggested he was afraid of getting caught including “How does cell site analysis work,” “Gilgo news,” “How cell phone tracking is increasingly being used to solve crimes,” and phrases with the term “Long Island Serial Killer.”

After the arrest, investigators spent nearly two weeks combing through Heuermann’s home, including digging up the yard, dismantling a porch and a greenhouse and removing many contents of the house for testing. Investigators found hundreds of electronic devices during their lengthy search of Heuermann’s home, according to court documents released Tuesday. Prosecutors say the devices contained a collection of bondage and torture pornography.

The superseding indictment unsealed Tuesday also further distanced Heuermann’s ex-wife and children from the case, according to the ex-wife’s attorney. It shows they were away when each of the four victims was killed. During the period when Barinard-Barnes disappeared in 2007, Heuermann’s ex-wife and his daughter were staying out of town at a hotel in Atlantic City, the indictment and her attorney confirmed.

Philip Marcelo and David Collins of the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Police said a 2019 Audi Q7 was stolen Saturday night from a shopping center at 417 S. Oyster Bay Road while a 48-year-old woman was asleep in the backseat.

The woman’s husband and another man had parked in the parking lot for The French Workshop bakery and had gone inside leaving the car idling. At that point, a man got in the Audi and started to drive away waking the woman in the backseat only once the car started using its brakes, police said.

The thief noticed the woman in the rear seat, displayed a knife and demanded she exit the car, according to police.

Police said the woman got out of the car, which left the area heading north on S. Oyster Bay Road.

No one was injured in the incident.

Police said the investigation was ongoing.

Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney will announce the new charges after they are unsealed at the Riverhead courthouse on Tuesday.

Newsday and News12 first reported over the weekend that Heuermann will be in Suffolk County Supreme Court.

The 60-year-old architect wasn’t due back in court until the first week of February.

Heuermann has already been charged with killing Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello, who disappeared over a 14-month span prior to the discovery of their bodies.

Prosecutors say Heuermann is also the prime suspect in the death of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who vanished in 2007. Her remains were found in the same quarter-mile stretch of Ocean Parkway as the other women, across a bay from the town where Heuermann grew up and lived for decades in his childhood home.

He pleaded not guilty at his first court appearance and was ordered jailed without the possibility of bail. His lawyer said Heuermann denied committing the crimes.

The Suffolk County DA’s Office declined to comment.

Emergency crews rushed to a residence in Head of the Harbor following a 911 call made around 2:30 p.m. on Monday, according to local authorities.

Departments from all over Suffolk County were assisting in the operation, which officials admitted was in a recovery phase.

The area is fairly remote, with only a handful of roads surrounding the location. A neighbor told News 4 they believed the homeowner was in the process of building a barn.

Additional details of the ongoing situation were limited as authorities continued their recovery efforts.

Cases of pertussis, also known as whooping cough, are on the rise in Suffolk County. The county health department said a majority of its 108 new cases are in school-aged children and their parents who attend school districts throughout the area.

The department points out that most of the cases have been mild in those who have been vaccinated. To their knowledge, no one has been hospitalized.

“With so many respiratory illnesses currently circulating, some for which there are no treatment, we wanted to make sure that parents know that pertussis, also called whooping cough, can be treated with antibiotics if diagnosed early,” said Suffolk County Health Commissioner Dr. Gregson Pigott.

The respiratory tract infection is highly contagious — the most common symptoms are cough, nasal congestion and fever.

Whooping cough has the potential to cause serious illness to people of all ages, but babies especially. Half of babies under 1 typically needed to be hospitalized if they catch whooping cough.

Cases of whooping cough have reportedly been on the rise for years. New York recorded nearly double the number of cases in 2022 from the previous year.

Anyone who believes they have contracted pertussis should get in touch with their doctor.

The woman told investigators she parked her 2016 Ford Fusion in a parking space in the lot on East Main Street around 11 p.m. and went inside Riverhead Stationery store. She acknowledged leaving the vehicle running and unattended at that time.

The heat was on, she said, because her 7-year-old child was sleeping in the back.

While the woman was inside the shop, a stranger — later allegedly to be identified as Shawanna James — got inside the car and drove off, the child still in tow.

After an extensive search by the Riverhead Police Department, Southampton Police Department and state troopers, the vehicle was found in Flanders. The child, still sleeping, was the only person inside the vehicle.

No injuries were reported.

James was arrested Thursday following an investigation. She faces charges of child endangerment and criminal possession of stolen property in addition to grand larceny. James was expected to be arraigned on Friday.

Attorney information for her wasn’t immediately available.

A 2-year-old dog on Long Island miraculously survived being stabbed 17 times in a heinous animal abuse case, and law enforcement is looking for the suspects who may be responsible for the cruelty.

A woman claimed to have found the young pup, a 75-pound terrier mix that has since been named Cornell, badly injured as he bled on a street in Freeport, according to Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly. The woman took the pooch to a dog rescue operation and then to the Hempstead animal shelter, where he received the necessary medical attention to help save his life.

It was not clear what was used to hurt the dog, but Donnelly said a “sharp object” was used in the Nov. 27 incident. The dog was found with no collar and no identification chip. There was no evidence he was part of any dog-fighting ring.

Cornell survived the stabbings and is recovering at the animal shelter — a development the shelter’s acting director called “amazing,” especially considering the extent of the abuse. He will be heading home with a foster family in the coming days.

“I don’t know how anyone could continue to hurt a dog or any animal really, but it was pretty jarring to see,” said Ashley Behrens.

The DA said there were no suspects currently in the attack and had no theories on what might have happened or led to the dog being abused so mercilessly. Donnelly said they are seeking the public’s help to find out what happened to Cornell, and the county’s chapter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was offering a $5,000 reward for any information.

“I believe this was somebody’s pet. He’s too healthy and in too good shape to have been a street dog,” said Donnelly, who added that the woman who found the dog is not considered a suspect. “We need the public’s health to help us find who did this to Cornell.”

A special rendition of “A Christmas Carol” took the stage at Long Island’s Huntington Cinema Arts Center in the weeks leading up to the holiday, with the star of the show doing his part to keep his family’s legacy alive.

For Gerald Dickens, the yuletide classic is a family heirloom: 180 years ago, it was written by his great-great grandfather, Charles Dickens.

“The first time I remember “A Christmas Carol,” I was age 5 and my uncle read it to me on Christmas Eve,” Gerald Dickens said.

The story touched Dickens as a boy, is now his lifeblood as an actor. For 30 years, Dickens has been performing “A Christmas Carol” as a one-man show across the U.S. and Britain.

“A Christmas Carol is such a huge part of an American Christmas that everyone in the audience is along for the ride as well,” he said.

At first, Dickens said his performance consisted of simply reading from the book. But one day, he forgot the book.

So he used his imagination, and his great-grandfather’s words, to give voice to the story’s 27 different characters.

“I often wonder: If I hadn’t lost the book that day, if I would have been brave enough to take on the challenge of doing a one man show,” said Dickens.

The sold-out audience in Huntington was certainly glad he did. And Dickens says he feels how they are still moved by a holiday tale, which remains as touching and relevant today as when it was written.

“We’ve all got a bit of Scrooge in us.  We’ve all got a bit of Bob Krachett in us,” he said. “Just realizing we may get things wrong, but we can get through this all right.”

And as Tiny Tim said: God bless us, everyone.

The chaos started around 11 p.m. Friday in Hempstead when Nassau County Police said the driver behind the wheel of a 2005 Chrysler hit a car occupied by four people near Fulton and Hilton avenues.

Authorities said the driver then took off before hitting three more cars on Fulton Avenue after running a red light at Main Street. The Chrysler “caught fire and became fully engulfed in flames,” police said.

Two people inside the charred Chrysler died at the scene. Police had not released their identities nor the circumstances of what caused the unusual series of crashes.

Four others inside the first car struck by the Chrysler, including two kids ages six and eight, were all taken to a nearby hospital to be treated for minor injuries.