LI Crimes: DWI With 3 Kids in Car, Man Lies to Protect Wife After Stabbing

A Westbury woman is facing animal cruelty charges after 24 cats in various states of poor health were rescued from her home, authorities said. 

Investigators from Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice’s office, along with village and town officials as well as local animal shelters executed a search warrant Wednesday morning. That’s when Valerie Varnuska, 59, was arrested and charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty under Section 353 of New  York State’s Agriculture and Markets Law.

A 25-year-old Farmingdale man is in the hospital after he was shot in the parking lot of Cafe Royale early Friday morning, police said. 

William Proefreidt was shot once in the neck outside of the strip club, located at 101 Route 109, around 12:35 a.m., police said. 

A woman drove while intoxicated, crashed into a telephone pole in Huntington Station Saturday with her three children in her car, and then fled with them on foot, authorities said.

Suffolk County Police arrested Sarah Knakal, 30, 22 Cooper Ave. in Huntington Station. She was driving west on E. Jericho Turnpike at approximately 6 p.m. when she struck a telephone pole in front of 967 E. Jericho Turnpike, and then struck a sign.

A man concocted a story about being assaulted on a Rockville Centre street after he was stabbed by his own wife, Rockville Centre Police said. 

Diana Graham, of Rockville Centre, was charged with assault by RVCPD after she allegedly stabbed her husband with a kitchen knife.

Police said the victim, Vernon Harris, 55, went for treatment at South Nassau Hospital where staff notified police of a stabbing victim. Instead of outing his wife, Harris claimed he was riding his bike on North Park Avenue when he was randomly attacked by three men, cops said.

A retired Nassau County Police officer pleaded guilty Monday to a battery of misconduct charges stemming from visits he made to two girlfriends while on duty, the Nassau County District Attorney's office announced.

Michael Tedesco, 45, of Holbrook, pleaded guilty to 75 counts of official misconduct before Judge William Donnino. Tedesco was ordered to forfeit his $194,847.88 termination package and will serve 100 hours of community service. He was also required to pay $3,739.29 in restitution for the 67 hours of time he stole.

A religious statue outside the Bellmore Knights of Columbus has been vandalized for the third time in recent years.

Members of the organization discovered the statue of Our Blessed Mother knocked over and its head broken off on Wednesday morning.

At about 9:40 a.m. on Friday, May 9, Southampton Village Police responded to a 911 call from a 21-year-old woman living on Breese Lane, reporting a masked, knife-wielding intruder inside her house.

The police arrived on the scene shortly after the woman’s father, who had run after the fleeing intruder heading north on Breese Lane.

Police joined the pursuit, which led them into the backyard of another house on Breese Lane. Helped by other responding officers, they subdued the intruder with a Taser and took him into custody.

Two Port Jefferson Station women have been arrested and charged with defrauding numerous people by falsely offering a room for rent in their home, police said. 

According to police, Sixth Precinct Crime Section officers received numerous complaints from individuals indicating that they had been defrauded of money paid for a room that was allegedly for rent at 18 Clifton Place in Port Jefferson Station. 

A Stony Brook man was arrested Thursday after police say he went on a crime spree that included burglarizing his neighbor's house, stealing a woman's car and robbing a gas station. 

According to police, a 22-year-old woman was walking to her vehicle that was parked near the Vitamin Shoppe, located at 1320 Stony Brook Road in Stony Brook, around 7:15 p.m. when Jeffrey Kohberger approached and grabbed her.