Felony Charges Against Manhattan Teen Dropped

Felony charges against the Manhattan teen accused of burglarizing the Dunemere Lane home formerly owned by the journalist George Stephanopoulos, and his wife, actress Alexandra Wentworth, have been dropped. Conor Patrick Daly Harkins, 19, was arrested by East Hampton Village police after being found unconscious on the lawn at 20 Dunemere Lane early June 1, police reported at the time.

The police said that Harkins, the son of a prominent Wall Street attorney, had broken into the house and gone on a rampage, before passing out. “Among the items destroyed or badly damaged, according to the complaint, was a dining room table, the walls of the dining room, the front and rear screen doors, and several screen windows,” The Independent reported at the time.

On October 9, in the courtroom of New York State Justice Richard Ambro in Riverside, Harkins entered a guilty plea to one misdemeanor count of trespassing. The two felony charges of burglary and criminal mischief were dropped in satisfaction to that plea, according to court records.

His attorney, Richard Pellegrino II, said Friday, November 30, that when Harkins returns to court for sentencing on October 9, 2019, the trespassing charge will be dropped. Pellegrino would not comment on the terms of the deal struck with the district attorney’s office, or whether his client paid restitution to the owners of the property, which was purchased from Stephanopoulos and Wentworth by a limited liability company in 2013.

“The initial [news] reporting was very inaccurate,” Pellegrino said. “They made my client out to be a drug abuser.” Pellegrino said the only drug found in Harkins’s system at the time was alcohol. There was no reference to any drug other than alcohol in The Independent’s coverage, which is available online.

The incident occurred following a post-prom party at the home on Further Lane belonging to Marc and Diane Spilker, according to a statement of a friend of Harkins who was at the party. According to court documents, that teen told police that he and Harkins were part of a group picked up by a chartered bus on Sutton Place in Manhattan. Harkins’s friend also said the group was consuming alcohol from the very beginning of the bus ride.

The incident occurred at about 6 AM, according to the teen, when Harkins jumped out of an Uber car headed back to Manhattan at the intersection of Dunemere and James lanes.

t.e@indyeastend.com