Police dog Blue helps track Selden motorcycle theft suspects

Suffolk County Canine Officer John Mallia and Blue, his German shepherd police dog, helped track down two Port Jefferson men suspected of stealing motorcycles in Selden, police said Wednesday.

The two were called to assist Sixth Precinct officers, who had responded at about 1:45 a.m. Tuesday to a report of two men trying to steal a four-wheel all-terrain vehicle from a yard on Colony Road, police said.

By establishing a track between the Colony Road yard and another yard about 2 miles away, Blue helped police determine that the suspects had stolen two motorcycles and likely were still in the area, a police spokeswoman said.

When Blue led police to the second yard on Newport Avenue, they found a lock on a shed had been cut and bolt cutters were nearby.

Police awakened the Newport Avenue homeowners, got descriptions of two stolen motorcycles and then found two suspects riding one of them on Magnolia Drive in Selden.

Blue led police to the second site quickly, thereby establishing a likely timeline between the two crimes and indicating both crimes had been committed by the same suspects, police said.

Sixth Squad detectives said Jonathan Delrio, 24, and Ray Pena, 19, were arrested on charges of criminal possession of stolen property and attempted grand larceny. Pena also was wanted on an outstanding bench warrant.

The spokeswoman said the two suspects failed to make off with the quad and that the second motorcycle had yet to be recovered.

Delrio, of 42 Champlain St., and Pena, of 21 Roe Ave., were scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in First District Court in Central Islip.

Mallia and Blue are widely known for uncovering the first human remains at Gilgo Beach in December 2010.