Man charged in multiple Ronkonkoma tire slashings, police say

A Wheatley Heights man accused of slashing tires in the parking lot of a Ronkonkoma hotel Saturday also has been charged with committing similar offenses in December at that location and the hamlet's LIRR station, Suffolk County police said.

Fifth Precinct patrol officers arrested Teshawn Farris, 26, just after 11 a.m. Saturday after responding to a 911 report of a man slashing tires in the parking lot of the Clarion Hotel and Conference Center on Veterans Memorial Highway, according to police. Officers who canvassed the area located Farris at the intersection of Veterans Memorial Highway and Lakeland Avenue and took him into custody, police said.

Farris also is accused of causing $3,850 in damage to a 2022 Tesla parked at the Ronkonkoma LIRR station on Dec. 2, police said.

Following an investigation by Fifth Squad detectives and Crime Section officers, Suffolk police determined that Farris was responsible for the following:

• Slashing the tires of six vehicles at the same hotel on Dec. 24
• Falsely reporting two fires at the hotel and then damaging the fire alarm on Dec. 24
• Menacing a hotel employee with a knife on Dec. 24
• Causing $3,850 in damage to a 2022 Tesla parked at the Ronkonkoma Long Island Rail Road station on Dec. 2

Farris was charged with nine counts of third-degree criminal mischief, two counts of second-degree falsely reporting an incident and one count of second-degree menacing. He was scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip on Sunday.

Farris' attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.