Felonies Charged In Sag Harbor, East Hampton

Patrick Fromm, 49, was riding the blue Vespa on Stephen Hands Path in East Hampton on the afternoon of May 15 when he allegedly drove through a stop sign, leading to his being pulled over. When the officer ran the plate number on the Vespa, he learned that it had been reported stolen from outside an Amagansett residence in early April. Apparently, the key was in the ignition of the Vespa when it was stolen.

Besides the felony grand larceny charge, Fromm is now facing misdemeanor counts of aggravated unlicensed driving and unauthorized use of a vehicle. Police said they also found a small quantity of marijuana in Fromm’s backpack, leading to simple violation possession charge.

Fromm was released with an appearance ticket, to be arraigned at a future date.

East Hampton Town and Sag Harbor Village police each made one arrest over the weekend on driving while intoxicated charges. Both men arrested are facing felonies.

Johannatan Merchan-Heras, 25, who lives in Sag Harbor, was found passed out in the driver’s seat of a 2007 Honda Civic — slumped over the center console, police said — a little after midnight Saturday. The Honda was in park with engine running on the side of Madison Street in the village.

Failing sobriety tests, he was placed under arrest and taken to police headquarters on Division Street, where a breath test allegedly showed Merchan-Heras had twice the legal limit of alcohol in his system. Due to a prior DWI conviction following an arrest in East Hampton a little over a year ago, he faces felony DWI charges, along with unlicensed driving as a felony, and a misdemeanor charge of driving a vehicle that does not have an ignition interlock, required due to his prior conviction.

He was arraigned Sunday morning via video conference and was released.

Segundo Guailla-Timbe 47, of Hampton Bays, was driving a 2004 Volvo station wagon west on Cedar Street in East Hampton when he swerved off the road, striking a mailbox near Gould Street, East Hampton Town police said.

An officer dispatched to the scene reported that Guailla-Timbe was still behind the steering wheel when he arrived, telling the officer he was driving home from work. Placed under arrest on a DWI charge, he was taken to police headquarters in Wainscott, where a breath test reportedly indicated Guailla-Timbe had .22 of one percent of alcohol in his blood, triggering an aggravated charge.

While the DWI charges he is facing are at the misdemeanor level, the unlicensed driving charge police made is a felony, because back in 2001, Guailla-Timbe was arrested by Southampton Town police on a misdemeanor DWI charge. The resulting suspension and revocation of his license had never been resolved.

He was arraigned via video conference the next morning and released.

t.e@indyeastend.com