No mention of probe at Smithtown meeting

With one councilman absent while he testified before a Suffolk grand jury, the Smithtown Town Board Tuesday afternoon held a routine business meeting that was anything but routine.

The board met days after Councilman Edward Wehrheim and two other town officials said that they had been contacted in connection with an investigation by the Suffolk district attorney's office.

Wehrheim missed the town board meeting and later said in a telephone interview that he had testified for an hour before the grand jury.

Wehrheim declined further comment. "I'm going to let the district attorneys do their job," he said.

As he left the meeting, Supervisor Patrick Vecchio refused comment on the inquiry. "Ask them," he said, referring to Suffolk prosecutors. The district attorney's office declined to comment. Grand jury proceedings are secret, by law.

Last week, Town Clerk Vincent Puleo said he had testified before the grand jury, and planning director Frank DeRubeis said he had been contacted by prosecutors.

Puleo told Newsday that investigators requested and received documents from his office, including records of properties owned by East Hampton developer Salvatore DiCarlo. Other records received by investigators pertained to former Smithtown assessor Gregory Hild, Puleo said.

Attorneys for DiCarlo and Hild did not return calls Tuesday. Wehrheim told Newsday last week that investigators received a copy of a 2010 audit of the town's books.

The probe was not mentioned at Tuesday's board meeting. Board members set a June 23 public hearing on the proliferation of bamboo and heard several residents express concern about safety on Smithtown's Main Street, the site of three fatal accidents since November 2009.