.
Feedback

Man Who Abandoned Son, Fled Police Last Year Sentenced on New Charges

Paul Lucente was sentenced to six months in prison on Jan. 30 for criminal drug possession.

A Kings Park man who has found himself in trouble with the law again.

Paul Lucente, 32, was arrested on a bench warrant last week at his home in Kings Park. 

Lucente was a passenger in a car driven by Benjamin Laudonio, 26, of Stony Brook,  last April, when he crossed over the center divider line on Route 25 in Smithtown on April 23. When Laudonio was pulled over by Suffolk County Police,  Lucente fled the scene, leaving his child behind the back seat of the car. An investigation revealed that Laudonio was under the influence of drugs, police said. According to police, heroin was found in the car.

Lucente later turned himself in, contacting police from his home and was arrested. The boy was put in the care of his maternal grandfather. He pleaded guility to child abandonment charges and was sentenced with three-years probation.

Police said they were at Lucente's home on Jan. 29 for a bench warrant when police say he was in possession of heroin and a hypodermic needle.

Lucente was charged with crimnal possession of a controlled substance and pleaded guilty in First District Court on Jan. 30. Lucente was sentenced to six months in jail, six month license suspension and ordered to pay a $250 fine.

Newsletter & Alerts

Get the best stories each day and important breaking news

Subscribe

Not from Smithtown Patch? Find your Local Patch »

Loading comments ...
Note Article
Just a short thought to get the word out quickly about anything in your neighborhood.
Share something with your neighbors. Write a new post... What's up? Make an announcement, speak your mind, or sell something
KFM May 21, 2013 at 04:17 pm
How, in a period of rapidly declining enrollment, can costs be increasing so much from year to year,Read More you ask? The answer is in front of you in black and white. I urge you to READ your district’s budget: we are funding retirements when many of us cannot afford to fund our own during difficult economic times. These wheels were set in motion by contracts negotiated in times of unrealistic growth that may likely not occur again. It is time to open up these plans and relieve this unfair burden from our shoulders. Whatever other measures are pursued in order to control costs, including consolidation within and eventually with other districts, are never going to be enough if you cannot get this problem corrected. Write your congressman, for the love of God. If you need any more incentive to do so, please go to http://rocdocs.democratandchronicle.com/database/teacher-pensions-new-york and look at what Smithtown’s retirees are collecting MONTHLY. It will sicken you.
KFM May 21, 2013 at 04:12 pm
They are allowed to exclude the pension and employee benefit increases when expressing the increase.Read More
Billie B May 20, 2013 at 10:17 am
Tomorrow is the vote..vote NO NOW or our taxes are going to continue to sky rocket. Unless we doRead More something this town will continue to spiral down. More taxes aren't going to help. We need to cut expenses and get ourselves on a fiscally responsible plan.