Boyfriend of Smithtown supervisor's daughter arrested for allegedly stalking Suffolk Legis. Rob Trotta

A Kings Park man — the boyfriend of Smithtown Supervisor Ed Wehrheim's daughter — was charged with stalking a Suffolk County legislator running against Wehrheim in the Republican primary for town supervisor. 

Suffolk police on Monday charged Joshua Smith, 47, with fourth-degree stalking of Legis. Rob Trotta (R-Fort Salonga), a misdemeanor, arresting him on Indian Head Road, then releasing him with an appearance ticket for First District Court in Central Islip. In a news release, police said that Trotta told officers that several times between June 16 and 18 a white 1989 Chevrolet pickup truck parked in the driveway of his home near Fort Salonga and "revved its engine to intimidate him and his family." The incident was reported to police June 19.

The arrest and news release Monday came a day before Tuesday's primary elections. Tuesday, Wehrheim beat Trotta, according to the Suffolk County Board of Elections website. 

Smith could not be reached and it was not clear if he had a lawyer. A Wehrheim campaign spokeswoman confirmed Smith's relationship.

In a phone interview Tuesday, Trotta said he did not know Smith, whom he said police identified by using a license plate reader. He said that the rumbling of the vehicle outside his house had been "like a jet" and that the timing of the incidents — near the finish of a hard-fought primary race and just days after the killing of a prominent Minnesota lawmaker and her husband that has been described as politically motivated — was troubling. "I go out to my car the next day, my neighbor comes out, says 'I'm worried about you,'" Trotta recounted.

Wehrheim could not be reached Tuesday but a spokeswoman, Nicole Garguilo, said Smith and Wehrheim's daughter, Kellie Anne Wehrheim, had been dating for several months and that Smith had no role in Wehrheim's campaign. Wehrheim, she said, "plans on getting to the bottom of this entire situation. He wants facts and evidence." She said her boss had no tolerance for rule-breaking: "He's as buttoned up and by the book as they come." 

Kellie Anne Wehrheim, reached by phone Tuesday, declined to comment.

In a June 20 statement, Wehrheim said he was confident that an investigation would prove "that no one tied to my family or this campaign would ever engage in such disgraceful behavior. If someone is attempting to intimidate, bully or interfere with someone in this community — especially in connection to this Republican Primary — I want them brought to justice swiftly and transparently." 

Trotta described the primary campaign as "angry" and said dozens of his campaign signs had been slashed or spray-painted. He said he'd learned of Smith's connection to Wehrheim's daughter by looking him up on Facebook. The two have public profiles and have posted several photographs of themselves together, including some where they are wearing Wehrheim campaign T-shirts and standing next to Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-Schuylerville), a gubernatorial hopeful who supports Wehrheim. Garguilo said the photographs were from a campaign rally.

Trotta, a former Suffolk police detective who has represented parts of Huntington and Smithtown in the county legislature since 2014, is term-limited. He challenged two-time incumbent Wehrheim this spring in a race that turned in part on the scale of development of hamlet downtowns, with Trotta using the most Long Island of insults to criticize his opponent for allegedly going too big: Wehrheim wants to "Queens-ify Suffolk County," Trotta told a Newsday opinion writer.

Assemb. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-St. James), who said he considered both men friends but endorsed Wehrheim, described the race as heated. "Everybody starts a primary saying it's going to be all about the issues, but things always get ugly," he said. Allegations like the ones at issue in Smithtown might once have been categorized as "campaign nonsense," he said, but after Minnesota, "you take everything seriously. ... The rules changed."

In Smithtown, a Republican stronghold for decades, the Republican primary is effectively a race for town leadership. A post on the town Republican committee's Facebook page made last week urged Republican voters to support the "Official Republican Team" led by Wehrheim, described as "our proven leader."