Top 5 Police and Crime Stories of 2011

While we normally just post a crime blotter on Port Jefferson Patch, incidents now and then will catch our eye to pull out. Here a few that caught your eye as well over the past year:

A Stony Brook woman was charged with counterfeiting right in the middle of the holiday season when Suffolk County Police said she used a non-profit food pantry as a front to launder the money to herself, reportedly to the tune of $150k annually.

: Reportedly upset that he didn't get the toy he wanted, an irate customer kicked and broke a glass door at McDonald's in April.

: Four people eating at IHOP - the only patrons in the restaurant - on a Sunday morning in September were robbed of cash. The thief was never caught, according to police.

: A Coram man was arrested in late October after police said they responded to a report about him waving a gun in Port Jefferson Village. Police said Eric Perez, later brought to Mather Hospital, punched a nurse while in the emergecny room.

: A 37-year-old man from Port Jefferson Station was arrested in July on charges of animal cruelty after the Suffolk County SPCA received a tip that the man's pitbull was locked in a cage in a dark basement. The pitbull was hospitalized for a month and later adopted out after a brief stay at the Brookhaven Animal Shelter.