Long Island Crime Briefs

MINEOLA / Safety officer charged with falsifying pay

A Nassau County public safety officer was arrested yesterday and accused of obtaining about $6,000 by falsifying overtime pay, Nassau police said.

Joseph Wigdzinksi Jr., 26, of Seaford Avenue, Seaford, was charged with third-degree grand larceny, defrauding the government, 25 counts of tampering with public records, 25 counts of falsifying business records and 25 counts of official misconduct.

Wigdzinski falsely claimed overtime pay on payroll computer data for work done between May 2009 and August 2010, Nassau police said.

The duties of public safety officers in Nassau include maintaining security at county facilities, enforcement of parking regulations and collection parking meter fees.

- Bill Mason

RIVERHEAD / Bust of drug trafficking ring nets 24 arrests

Two dozen people have been charged in connection with a drug trafficking ring that allegedly sold thousands of bags of heroin every week in Suffolk and Nassau counties and New York City, the Suffolk District Attorney's office said Monday.

Two members of the ring sold 15,000 bags of heroin each week to "runners," who resold the drugs to buyers in at least eight communities in Suffolk County, the DA's office said in a news release last night.

The arrests will be announced Tuesday at a news conference in Hauppauge.

- Carl MacGowan

EAST MEADOW / Accused purse snatchers held on bail

A Deer Park woman accused of participating in a five-day purse-snatching spree was arraigned yesterday and ordered held on $700,000 bond or $350,000 cash bail.

Veronica Sarabella, 30, was arraigned at Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, where she was taken Sunday morning after her arrest. Police did not comment on her medical condition.

Sarabella was arrested with Alfonso Zitoli, 29, of Massapequa, Saturday night after a robbery outside a ShopRite in Plainview.

Zitoli was arraigned in First District Court, Hempstead, and ordered held on $1.45 million bond or $730,000 cash bail.

Both are charged with two counts of second-degree robbery, attempted second-degree robbery and three counts of fourth-degree grand larceny.

Zitoli also faces three counts of third-degree robbery.

Police say the purse-snatchings began Tuesday at the Massapequa Long Island Rail Road station, continued outside a King Kullen in Bethpage Wednesday, at a Pathmark in Seaford Thursday, and peaked with three incidents within an hour Friday.

- Bill Mason