Mr. Gleason, 41, suffered a traumatic brain injury from a fall at his home near the Capitol-region school on Nov. 30 and died three days later at Albany Medical Center, according to a GoFundMe campaign.

The fundraiser for his wife, Jaclyn, and their three young kids — Kennedy, Penn, and Tate — has amassed $772,000 out of its $800,000 goal as of Tuesday.

Family, coaches, players and friends lined the hospital’s walls to pay their last respects during a solemn “Honor Walk” before the Wading River native passed away and his organs were donated, according to the GoFundMe page.

The news of the beloved coach’s death has rocked the Shoreham-Wading River school community, especially those involved in the district’s lacrosse program.

Mr. Gleason, a 2003 SWR graduate and stellar lacrosse defenseman, helped the Wildcats win their first state championship in 2002.

“Liam was an exceptional athlete, a champion, and more importantly, a remarkable person,” said Mike Taylor, SWR boys head lacrosse coach.

A community gathering and fundraiser, organized by the SWR Wildcat Athletic Club, is planned for Tuesday, Dec. 16, from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Baiting Hollow Golf Club, with all proceeds going to Mr. Gleason’s family.

In a social media tribute, his former SWR coach Tom Rotanz described Mr. Gleason as the “definition of a ‘players coach’ — never a screamer, never a critic.”

“Standing 6-foot-5 and over 240 pounds, he was a gentle giant, a man whose kindness filled every room he entered. You always walked away feeling better after spending time with him,” Mr. Rotanz wrote. “In my 38 years of coaching, only a handful of players ever made me think, ‘The world would be a better place if more people were like him.’ Liam was one of them.”

Mr. Taylor said in recent years, Mr. Gleason played a role in assisting several top Wildcat athletes, including Jack Erb, Sean Miller, William Miller, Ryan Wilson and George Greene, who plans to attend Siena University next fall.

Mr. Taylor said the SWR lacrosse alum continued to support the high school program, often helping players find opportunities at the next level. Mr. Gleason’s caring quality and desire to stay connected to the Shoreham-Wading River lacrosse community is what Mr. Taylor believes will “always be one of the defining pieces of his legacy.”

“Liam was proud of his roots, and he never forgot where he came from. What made him special was he didn’t just move forward in life, he reached back,” Mr. Taylor said. “He was one of our own, a coach who represented what it means to give back, and he will be remembered not just for the championships and accolades, but for the person he was, for how deeply he believed in others.”

While earning his bachelor’s degree in sociology at the University at Albany, Mr. Gleason played lacrosse under coach Scott Marr from 2004 to 2007. In his last year, the team won the America East Conference championship and advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals.

He went on to become the associate head coach at Albany under Mr. Marr, where he helped guide the Great Danes to six straight NCCA Tournaments and a national semifinal appearance, before taking over as Siena’s head coach in 2018.

He led Siena to the MAAC title in May, qualifying the Saints for the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 11 seasons. 

The team was scheduled to celebrate the achievement with a championship ring ceremony Friday, Dec. 5. Instead, a memorial mass was held Saturday at the Siena UHY Center.

To honor Mr. Gleason’s love for lacrosse, interested donors are asked to consider making memorial contribution to the Siena Men’s Lacrosse Coaching Discretionary Fund, 515 Loudon Road, Loudonville, NY 12211.

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“You know what they say about retirement,” Wiederkehr said matter of factly. “It’s the second to last stage in life. I just wasn’t ready for that yet. I feel like I still have more to give.”

Wiederkehr wasn’t exactly looking for work but, when he was told of a leadership position in Riverhead, a place he knew very well after raising his family in Wading River, it gave him a new purpose in life. After a few interviews, Wiederkehr was named as interim director of health, physical education and athletics for Riverhead Central School District, taking over a post former athletic director Brian Sacks held for almost a decade.

“Any chance I have at influencing the lives of young students and helping them excel really excites me,” Wiederkehr said. “I know this town has a rich history in sports. I remember all the championship football teams here. I know what sports means to this town. And what excites me the most is that we’ve already turned the page here. We’re starting to compete in every sport again. My job is to continue to foster that growth. But what attracted me the most here was the new superintendent, Bob Hagan, and his vision for Riverhead. He truly wants the best for this place and wants the best people around him to make it that way.”

Though football runs in Wiederkehr’s blood, he’s coached just about every sport as he raised his three kids and has held numerous leadership positions throughout his career. After his playing years came to an end, which featured big time Division I football for Syracuse University and a season in the NFL for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Wiederkehr was offered a job as a teacher in the Babylon school district that also included an assistant coaching position for the varsity football team. 

After a retirement opened up the head coaching position a year later, Wiederkehr was offered the job and never looked back. As the head coach of the Babylon High School football team, a position he held from 1987 to 2002, the Panthers won two Long Island Division IV championships, six Suffolk County titles and 10 league crowns. He then gave up coaching the team to spend more time raising and coaching his kids. He became an assistant coach at Shoreham-Wading River in 2014 to help his son, Ethan’s team. All the Wildcats did those years was win three Long Island championships in a row and two Rutgers trophies.

“I just wanted to be involved with my kid’s lives,” Wiederkehr said of leaving his position in Babylon. “That was the most important thing to me. But they’re all adults now, working great jobs and I still have more to give.”

Wiederkehr’s oldest daughter, Rachel, played Division I lacrosse at Ohio State University. Her younger sister played four years of lacrosse at the University of Mary Washington. Ethan went on to earn a full scholarship and play four years for Northwestern University as an offensive tackle.

Wiederkehr held multiple leadership positions over the years in his path to landing at Riverhead. In addition to being the president of the Suffolk County Football Coaches Association — a position he held for around 20 years — the former varsity football coach most recently was the interim athletic director at William Floyd School District for a year and a half.

“Being an Athletic Director offers an opportunity to help students across every sport,” Wiederkehr said. “It’s really a gratifying position that I don’t take lightly.”

Riverhead Athletic Club president Quinn Alexander knows Wiederkehr well and is super excited to see what he can bring to Riverhead athletics.

“Hans and I go way back,” Alexander said. “Oh God, I’m afraid to say this but I’ve known him for the better part of 30 years. My mother grew up in Babylon, so we crossed paths there. Then she started the girls lacrosse program at Shoreham-Wading River, and his daughters both went through that program, so we’ve got a big history together. Hans truly is a ‘What do you need?’ or a ‘How can I help?’ type of professional. He wants to honor tradition while also supporting the needs of his coaches and teachers in their goals.”

Though there may be an interim tag on his position for now, Wiederkehr refuses to act like it.

“When I hear ‘interim,’ it’s like you’re on the couch waiting for someone to take your spot,” Wiederkehr said. “That’s not me. I’m going to do everything I can to improve Riverhead sports while I have this position. I’m here from 8 [a.m.] to 8 [p.m.] every day. I’m going to be involved from top to bottom. I want to improve every student-athletes experience here at Riverhead. My job is to give them the tools to do so.”

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Venezia Square, LLC is seeking approval to construct a commercial center at 6435 Route 25A in Wading River, which consists of 37,000 square feet of retail space within two 10,000 square-foot buildings and one 7,000 square-foot building. The site plan includes a drive-through bank, a 76-seat restaurant and two takeout restaurants, which, when combined, contribute an additional 10,000 square feet to the proposed shopping center.

After Charles Voorhis, an environmental planner who has represented the applicant for the past 10 years, spoke about the site plan’s extensive review and revisions made over the past few years, Dean Gandley from Suffolk County Legislature Catherine Stark’s office notified the Riverhead Planning Board of the county’s interest in preserving the 6.34-acre parcels.

Mr. Gandley informed the planning board of the county legislature’s Aug. 5 decision to authorize an appraisal on the parcels and that the property owner may receive an offer letter as early as this fall.

“Given that preservation is an option, it seems better for all parties the land be preserved,” Ms. Stark said in a letter, which Mr. Gandley read to the planning board. “It protects the interest of the neighboring land owners, some of whom have expressed a desire of seeing it preserved, and the current Venezia land owner could be made whole by selling the land to the county.”

The Suffolk County Drinking Water Protection Program is designed to provide funding for sewer district tax rate stabilization, environmental protection, and property tax mitigation through 2060. It allows for the use of 31.10% of sales and compensating use tax proceeds generated annually for specific environmental protection, including the acquisition of open space.

The project site is 790 feet west of the intersection of Route 25A and Wading River Manor Road, and the applicants previously proposed that a traffic signal be installed at the intersection of Route 25A and Dogwood Drive.

Sid Bail, president of the Wading River Civic Association, expressed his support for Ms. Stark’s efforts to jumpstart the land acquisition. With opposition surrounding the project’s potential impacts on traffic and the environment since it was first unveiled in 2007, the civic association president felt the county legislature’s decision made sense.

“I think that would be an ideal situation for the community, to preserve the rural character of the community, and it would resolve some of the traffic issues that some of us who live in Wading River are concerned about,” Mr. Bail said. “I think it would be a good solution for [applicant] Joe Vento — it would make him whole.”

Mr. Voorhis confirmed the applicant did receive an “unsolicited letter” from Ms. Stark’s office about the proposed acquisition, which he described as a “winning buyer, winning seller situation.” He said the applicant will consider the county’s offer moving forward, but indicated the potential acquisition should not be part of the site plan process.

He noted there is 119 feet of natural vegetation between the clear development area and south property line, which is requirement set by the Pine Barrens Commission and will remain natural as it currently exists.

“I hope you’ll take all of this under advisement and move forward with a decision on this site plan,” Mr. Voorhis said to the Riverhead Planning Board.

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According to the district attorney’s office, Brianna Hassett, 33, was working as an office assistant in department’s licensing unit when she — and Esteban Bermudez, 35, of Hampton Bays, who is not a Suffolk County employee — allegedly accepted a bribe and falsified an application for a home improvement license.

In exchange for the cash bribe, Ms. Hassett allegedly provided questions and answers to the proficiency exam required for the issuance of a vocational license in Suffolk County, the DA’s office wrote in a Tuesday news release. She also allegedly falsified insurance information on a license application in exchange for a second cash bribe. 

Ms. Hassett and Mr. Bermudez were arrested on Feb. 13.

“The allegations in this case represent a shocking violation of the public trust, as this defendant is accused of placing her own greed ahead of her duty as a public servant,” Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said in the news release. “My office will not tolerate corruption in any government agency or department.”

Ms. Hassett was arraigned Feb. 14 for bribe receiving, falsifying business records, offering a false instrument for filing and official misconduct before acting county Judge Edward Hennessey. 

Judge Hennessey ordered Ms. Hassett to be monitored by the Department of Probation’s pre-trial supervision unit during the pendency of the case. She was released from jail without bail as “her charges are considered non-bail-eligible under current New York State law, meaning prosecutors cannot ask for, and judges cannot set, bail,” the news release stated.

She is due back in court on March 12 and faces three and a half to seven years in prison if convicted on the top count. She is being represented by Brian Trodden of Castro & Trodden LLC.

Mr. Bermudez was issued a desk appearance ticket and his arraignment date is March 5. He faces 16 months to four years in prison if convicted on the top count.

“Thousands of county employees work hard every day to serve the public with the highest of integrity,” Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine said in the news release. “When someone is found to have violated the trust of the public and their colleagues, my administration will not hesitate to work with the district attorney to have them prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

The District Attorney’s Office invites anyone who believes they may have been victimized by Ms. Hassett to call 631-853-4626.

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Citing its reason for closure as “economic,” a WARN notice issued by the state agency stated that 98 Little Flower employees across multiple locations will be impacted by the shut downs, including 28 workers at the non-profit’s Wading River facilities.

“We have reached the difficult decision to close one small residence for adults that adjoins the Wading River campus and to transfer the management of eight small residences for adults with developmental disabilities in Nassau and Queens to another non-profit agency that is well-experienced in serving that population,” Little Flower communications executive Jessica Rothkuo said in an email to the News-Review Thursday evening. “Little Flower continues to operate several robust programs on the Long Island campus and throughout New York City.”

Founded in 1929, Little Flower is a not-for-profit charity organization serving children, families and developmentally disabled adults. The group provides foster home care, residential treatment care, adoption services, medical and mental health services.

This story has been updated from an earlier version.

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Theodore “Teddy” Haarke, a 17-year-old junior at Shoreham-Wading River High School, and his sister, April Haarke, a 15-year-old sophomore, are both in the running for the Boy Scouts of America’s highest rank, according to their website.

The Boy Scouts of America started allowing girls to join in 2019. Teddy is in Boy Scout Troop 161 Shoreham and April is in Troop 23G Center Moriches.

Teddy’s project involves setting up a U.S. flag depository site for proper disposal of U.S. flags that are no longer suitable for display due to wear and tear. 

His depository site is located on Sound Avenue in Riverhead, outside the Long Island Antique Power Association.

“I decided to do my project because there’s not a lot of depositories where you can retire torn flags out east,” Teddy said. 

The Long Island Antique Power Association was the perfect location for his depository, he added.

“I’m part of the club there since 2016, so I take honor of always helping out around that club trying to show the past to the future generation,” he said. “I thought this could be a good place — people always hang flags on tractors, old trucks, old equipment — to retire [the flags if] they know there’s a spot here.”

Teddy and other members of his troop will pick up the flag and perform a ceremony that consists of unfolding it and laying it over a fire pit, he said.

He got into Scouting because of his cousin, who also did an Eagle Scout project when Teddy was in Cub Scouts.

April’s project involves creating shoeboxes containing descriptions of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) projects. She was inspired by the Long Island Science Center’s STEM outreach program, which provides no-cost STEM access to homeless shelters and their residents across Long Island. 

“What I ended up doing was creating 75 shoeboxes for three different age groups: K through second [grade], third through fifth and sixth through eighth,” she said. “I wanted my project to be something that they can take instead of just staring in front of a TV, an iPad or a phone, so these boxes were just left for the kids to grab anytime they felt like they wanted to do something.”

Each box outlines various STEM projects that children can do using affordable household items.

“One of my favorite projects in the box is we have a balloon car, and the balloon car is made out of old plastic water bottles, bottle caps and straws,” she said.

She wanted to make sure that the projects in the boxes were affordable.

“[Projects] in the boxes are roughly under $10 so it’s something that’s easy enough for you to attain,” she said.

April wanted to join the Boy Scouts because she was very drawn to what her brother was doing.

“I saw Boy Scouting as an opportunity to kind of further what I thought Girl Scouts would be,” she said.

April spent $1,400 to complete her project and Teddy spent around $2,000 to complete his.

Among many other requirements, Eagle Scout candidates are required to complete a comprehensive service project within the community to qualify for the rank. Teddy and April will be eligible after filing the required paperwork on their projects and completing a Board of Review interview.

Earlier this month, Teddy and April’s mother, Liz Haarke, received confirmation from Boy Scouts of America Council that April and Teddy would be the second sibling pair in Suffolk County to receive the rank together.

“It’s an honor,” Ms. Haarke said. “It was two different journeys, but they had the same goal.”

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“This is a really difficult subject. There’s not a whole lot of happiness to be found in here, even when someone gains asylum,” she said. “That’s just sort of … a happy note in what otherwise was a very traumatic, tragic path to get there.” 

The Wading River resident went on to vividly describe the heart-wrenching conditions she found when she first traveled to Mexico in January 2019, the month former President Donald Trump implemented the so-called Remain in Mexico policy.

She said she spent much of that year working at a community facility in Tijuana in conditions so tragic they left an indelible impression on her. She remains in contact with some of the people she worked with on the Mexican side of the border, just south of San Diego, she said, and continues to sponsor current asylum seekers. 

When Ms. Votino initially traveled to Mexico, she said she didn’t have much direction. 

“I went down there not knowing where I was staying, not knowing where I was going to work, not knowing who I was going to work with,” she said. “I literally just had a plane ticket.” 

Displaying a picture she took of a chaotic border scene in Tijuana, she told the audience at Riverhead Free Library that “this is what I walked into.”

“This is not what I was prepared for in any way,” she said , describing conditions in the border town as a “war zone.” The migrant crisis at the southern border has spread to big cities across the country, where hundreds of thousands of migrants have been bused by border state governors in the past year. New York City alone has seen a massive influx of more than 113,000 migrants, prompting Mayor Eric Adams to declare earlier this month that if the ingress continues at its current pace, it would “destroy” the city. Last month saw record numbers of migrants stream across the U.S.-Mexico border, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Last week, the city dropped its lawsuits against the Town of Riverhead and dozens of other municipalities around the state — including Suffolk County — which had sought to preemptively prevent New York City migrants from being relocated to their communities using emergency orders. 

A week earlier, Long Island Republicans, including Representative Nick LaLota and state Sen. Anthony Palumbo, called on Gov. Kathy Hochul to rescind the state’s “sanctuary” status. That status was self-designated by executive order of former governor Andrew Cuomo in 2017. The city’s designation was ordered by a court as part of a 1979 consent decree.

Arriving in Tijuana, Ms. Votino went to work at the community center — in a converted locker room at a former strip club.

“We provided really basic necessities for those who were waiting to turn themselves over for asylum,” she said,
“[and] for those who have newly arrived and had no idea of what was happening.” 

She said the facility also had a landline. 

“We timed calls to five minutes, so people could at least touch base with their lawyers or their families. Or if there was an emergency, [the phone] was there for them.” She said migrants would come to the center to charge electronics and get coffee, water and a daily lunch.

She said that basic necessities and facilities weren’t available to most migrants arriving at the border. 

“We had a bathroom because, in Tijuana, you have to pay to use the bathroom,” she said. “So if you’re an asylum seeker and you don’t have any money and you’re homeless, guess where you’re going to go to the bathroom?”

Ms. Votino said the facility, which also had a shower, was an important haven in a notoriously dangerous border town, and a place for migrants to go during the day, when most area shelters were closed until the evening. 

She said the violent gangs that many migrants were running from in their own countries “created syndicates at the border” to track them down. When she first arrived in January 2019, she said, she’d see a missing poster “every once in a while.” By her final trip in September, “everywhere, every place was plastered with missing persons posters.’

“Some of the people I worked with — I don’t know whatever happened to them. They’re just gone,” she said.

The International Organization for Migration, part of the United Nations, documented 686 deaths or disappearances of migrants on the U.S.-Mexico border last year, making it what the IOM described as the deadliest land route for migrants in the world. 

In an effort to soothe some of their trauma, Ms. Votino brought in art supplies for the migrant children, but said she was thrilled to see how many adults joined in. 

“What’s really important is that we were the only community space providing any of this in Tijuana,” she said.

She said that in addition to providing basic necessities, the group she worked with counseled migrants preparing to cross the border and present themselves for asylum. 

She would tell them to expect a “credible fear” interview, “which is basically, ‘Do you fear for your life? Who are you running from in your country? Do you believe you’re going to incur harm if you return?’ Pretty simple, basic human rights stuff.” She said most migrants pass CFI tests. 

Migrants are also given biometric tests and subjected to background checks. Biometric tests measure health indicators like blood pressure, weight and body mass. 

Border Patrol agents have access to certain international criminal databases and can in some but not all cases determine whether an asylum seeker has a criminal record at home, Ms. Votino told the audience.

“This whole notion that we don’t know who asylum seekers are or where they are coming from is absolutely false,” she said.

She then held aloft a thick binder that appeared to contain thousands of pages of documents accrued by one of her sponsored asylum seekers, who passed away before the process was completed, noting, “This … is just some of his documentation.” 

In some cases, Ms. Votino said, asylum seekers whose cases are seen through to the end compile five or six binders full of documents. 

“Remain in Mexico,” officially known as Migrant Protection Protocols, is a Department of Homeland Security policy that required asylum seekers to wait in Mexico until their U.S. immigration court dates, which can take years. 

About 70,000 migrants were subject to the policy between its January 2019 implementation and its suspension by President Joe Biden on his first day in office, Jan. 20, 2021, according to the Associated Press. 

The program was criticized as inhumane for exposing asylum seekers to the threat of violence in Mexico and making it especially hard for the migrants to meet with their U.S. lawyers. 

Various court battles ensued after Mr. Biden’s suspension of the policy, which was resurrected by court order. In June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the administration had the authority to end the policy, which it did. 

Ms. Votino described two asylum-seeking men she worked with in Mexico, one from Venezuela and one from El Salvador. Both men made the same asylum claim at the same time at the same location. One was returned to Mexico and the other was detained in U.S. custody for 16 months. 

“There was no rhyme or reason to it,” she said. 

Ms. Votino said that she was not so much inspired as compelled to head to the border by her young daughter. In mid-December 2019, mother and daughter were watching a CNN news story about the border crisis when her daughter turned to her and asked, “Isn’t there anything you can do to help them?”

Within a month, she said, she was in Tijuana. 

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But the bright-eyed child from Wading River was killed when he was 12 in 2018 after a drunk driver in an SUV plowed into his Boy Scout troop, which was hiking the Greenbelt Trail in Manorville.    

“We don’t want what happened to us to happen to anyone else,” his father John McMorris said on Thursday, at a press conference with Suffolk County Sheriff Errol D. Toulon, Jr. and Mothers Against Drunk Driving to spotlight significantly increased, countywide DWI enforcement this summer.

Andrew’s mother shared a similar message: “There is no word for a loss of a child in a family,” she said, “and this was a 100% preventable crime.”

Sheriff Toulon said his department’s DWI team has seen a 40% increase over last year in drunk and impaired driving arrests.  

Summer is the deadliest time for drunk driving, the sheriff said, citing National Highway Safety Administration data that shows drunk driving doubles during summer months compared to all other months throughout the year.

“We’re here to let you know that this summer the heat is on for drunk or drugged drivers, starting with the July 4 weekend all the way through Labor Day,” the sheriff said.  

The July 4 holiday is the deadliest holiday of the year for drunk driving fatalities, according to the National Safety Council, which estimated that 462 people were killed in July 4 crashes last year, with drunk driving playing a role in 41% of the deaths.   

Despite all the warnings, drunk driving fatalities are up 52% since 2019, Mr. McMorris said, citing M.A.D.D. and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  

The press conference was held in front of the sheriff’s department’s B.A.T. mobile, a high-tech mobile command center for DWI checkpoints equipped with breath and blood testing equipment, video recording devices, computer workstations, and a tiny holding cell in the back. The command center enables deputy sheriffs to rapidly collect and analyze blood and breath tests from individuals who have been arrested for driving drunk, drugged or impaired — and where necessary detain a suspect.

The mobile unit also has cameras perched at the top of a high pole on the roof of the command center, allowing officials to monitor the area surrounding the checkpoint more effectively — and to act as eyes in the sky to spot people trying to drive away.  

“We have what’s called a chase car,” Sheriff’s Lt. Candace Berezy told the Suffolk Times, “and anyone that tries to avoid the checkpoint, the chase car then goes after them.”

Andrew’s parents launched the Andrew McMorris Foundation to raise money to fund scholarships and grants as well as to invest in advocacy and legislative efforts to strengthen existing drunk driving laws.

The foundation raised money to fund a restoration project to turn a rundown Adirondack cabin in Calverton into a new, updated space that can accommodate large groups of boys and girls. Nearly three years after his death, in the late spring of 2021, the Andrew McMorris Lodge at Baiting Hollow Scout Camp officially opened.

Earlier this year, the foundation hosted its second annual Andrew’s “Top Gun” Run 5K on the runway of the Enterprise Park at Calverton to raise money that was split between the foundation and the Suffolk County Council of Boy Scouts of America.

The SUV driver who killed Andrew was convicted in 2019 of aggravated vehicular homicide and manslaughter and was sentenced to the maximum, 8 and 1/3 to 25 years in prison. Driver Thomas Murphy of Holbrook is currently appealing his conviction and seeking a new trial.

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Mary Ortega, 46, pleaded guilty to one felony count of second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument and one misdemeanor count of second-degree criminal impersonation, said Tania Lopez, a spokesperson for Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney.

Prosecutors said Ms. Ortega admitted that she has never been involved with or held a volunteer position with the NYPD and told investigators that she purchased the phony shield and attire online.

“She recognized the need to take responsibility for her actions, and she did that,” said John Ladis, an attorney from the Long Island law firm that represented Ms. Ortega.

Ms. Ortega will serve three years of probation, with mandated mental health treatment as a component of her probation obligations. If she completes a year of probation without incident, the felony charge will be vacated at her sentencing, while the misdemeanor charge will stand, according to Ms. Lopez. Ms. Ortega’s sentencing has been scheduled for May 30, 2024.

Prosecutors have previously said that Ms. Ortega was suspended by the Wading River Fire Department in May 2022 after reporting for shifts at the firehouse and responding to a call in an NYPD uniform. She was later found to be in possession of “numerous pieces” of fake NYPD insignia, including an identification card, police shield and other attire.

In response to the suspension, Ms. Ortega provided the chief of the department with a forged ID and two forged letters purportedly written by state Sen. Simcha Felder (D-Borough Park) and Kings County District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, which falsely referred to Ms. Ortega as a member of the New York City Police Department and referenced a “fictitious assignment” with an undercover gang and drug unit within the department.

Ms. Ortega was initially charged with three counts of second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, three counts of first-degree falsifying business records, three counts of first-degree offering a false instrument for filing — all felonies — and a misdemeanor charge of second-degree criminal impersonation.

Kevin McQueeney, a commissioner on the Wading River Fire District Board of Commissioners, declined to comment on Ms. Ortega’s guilty plea on Thursday evening.

In a statement following her January, 2023 arrest, Mr. Tierney said that Ms. Ortega “violated the trust” of the Wading River community with her misconduct.

“My office supports the brave men and women in law enforcement, and part of that support is holding accountable those who would attempt to wrongfully benefit from their honor.”

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Officials say the front half of the 18-acre property will remain as farmland and the rest, which had previously been planned for development, will be preserved as open space, under an agreement proposed by the town Planning Board and the applicant, William Zoumas of Wading River.

The Planning Board on March 2 approved a resolution that removed a retail easement required for a development project, and replaced it with an agricultural easement, since the land will be used for farming or open space in the future.

“We’re getting close to the finish line,” said Mr. Zoumas’ attorney, Peter Danowski.
Officials did not indicate the cost of the transaction.

Mr. Danowski said the town resolution allows the non-profit Peconic Land Trust to purchase the development rights from Mr. Zoumas with money from a state Dept. of Agriculture and Markets grant.
He said he is waiting for that transaction to close before the deal is final.

It allows the development rights to be extinguished by a application that was filed by the Peconic Land Trust with the Zoumas’ permission.

Central Square, which received site plan approval from the Planning Board in February of 2020, was a proposed 49,107-square-foot shopping center with a bank and restaurant, on land just east of the CVS pharmacy. It proposed six buildings, four of which would have retail and professional office uses, along with a drive-through bank and a 150-seat restaurant.

If the deal goes through to Peconic Land Trust, Central Square will be the second proposed development project on Route 25A that ended up being preserved.

Developer Kenn Barra’s 6-acre Knightland project, which was across the street from the proposed site of the Central Square development, was sold to the Peconic Land Trust in 2021 for $1.6 million.

Prior to the sale, Mr. Barra had proposed building a 31,181-square-foot medical office center on that land.

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