Crimes Nearby: Hit-and-Run Driver Sought

COMMACK

Suffolk County police are asking for the public's help in identifying the driver in a hit-and-run crash that injured an elderly woman on March 16 at the intersection of Commack Road and Jericho Turnpike. According to police, the male suspect was driving a pickup truck north on Commack Road when he turned east onto Jericho Turnpike, lost control of the vehicle and struck a 2013 Cadillac driven by an elderly female on Saturday, March 16 at approximately 2:40 p.m. The pickup truck then fled east on Jericho Turnpike, officials said. The victim was treated and released from Huntington Hospital.

The truck is described as maroon, with the words “Tree Service” in yellow on each side of the vehicle. The truck also had a cap covering the rear bed, police said. The truck driver and his male passenger were both wearing neon traffic or construction worker vests. The suspect’s vehicle sustained damage to the front passenger side and a flat front right tire. Officers are asking anyone who may have information about the incident, witnessed the crash when it occurred, or has information on the vehicle involved to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential. Suffolk County Crime Stoppers offers a cash reward of up to $5,000 for information that leads to an arrest.

RIVERHEAD

A sex offender who failed to register with police for a second time after listing a vacant South Fork house as his address was caught last week by police on the off-chance that he was driving by the detective who was searching for him, according to police.

Southampton Town Police reports state that Wayne Kinkade, a level two sex offender who was convicted of first-degree sodomy in 1990, was arrested last Tuesday in Aquebogue. Southampton Town Det. Patrick Aube said that Kinkade had been wanted by police since they realized that the home he registered at last December – located at 134 Hill Station Rd. in Shinnecock Hills – was an "abandoned house with no heat or electric."

Aube said he spotted Kinkade on Main Road in Aquebogue and arrested him on 72 Edgar Rd., down the street from the Aquebogue Elementary School.  Kinkade was charged with failing to register as a sex offender, a felony charge. He was remanded to Suffolk County Jail on Tuesday on no bail.

SMITHTOWN

Police arrested a Coram woman on multiple charges after she was allegedly found in possession of stolen property and drugs. According to police, Gwendolyn Hardy, 29, of Coram, was arrested on March 30 in Smithtown on three charges of seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a misdemeanor, and one charge of fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property, a misdemeanor. Police said Hardy, who was in a 2013 Ford Explorer, was in possession of stolen property, as well as heroin, cocaine, marijuana and prescription medication.

KINGS PARK

Suffolk County police said someone broke into the Smithtown Sanitation building in Kings Park on March 23 and took used car batteries from the property. According to police, a Smithtown Park Ranger called in the incident, stating that the alleged perpetrator cut a chain-link fence to get into the property, located at 85 Northport Rd. Once inside, the suspect was said to have removed several used car batteries from the site. No arrests have been made.