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John Valenti

A Riverhead High School student taken to a hospital Monday by emergency personnel responding to a 911 call reporting a medical episode told police he had ingested "approximately half" of a THC chocolate given to him by "an unidentified person," Riverhead Town Police said in a statement Tuesday. 
The case was the third in 10 days at the school of a student needing emergency medical assistance, Riverhead Police Chief David Hegermiller said Monday. The two previous incidents involved the administration of Narcan overdose kits. Police on Tuesday said the second incident, which occurred Feb. 10 and involved the administration of Narcan by a school nurse, appears now to have not involved a potential overdose. 
Police said Tuesday that student reported he had "been ill for the last few weeks" — and had "not utilized any illegal narcotics." 
The first in the string of three incidents, which police said are all unrelated, occurred Feb. 4, when a 911 call reported "a possible overdose" at the school. Responders said Narcan was administered to a student by a school nurse in that case and said that during an interview with police the student admitted having used "a Vape pen" from another student. The aided student was "alert and conscious" by the time responders arrived on scene, police said. 
All three students where taken to Peconic Bay Medical Center by Riverhead Town Ambulance. 
Police said the investigations into all three incidents remained ongoing, although it was now clear none were "caused by opioids or fentanyl." The Riverhead School District does have strict policies against "all illegal drug use as well as nicotine and vaping products," police said in the statement. 
The medical emergencies prompted Riverhead High School Principal Sean O’Hara to warn district parents in an email last week that "a potentially harmful, ingestible substance may be circulating throughout our school community and accessible to students." 
In an email to parents Monday, O'Hara said: "In the weeks ahead, we will be hosting a virtual assembly for students about the dangers of alcohol and drug usage and we will be offering training opportunities for our administrators and any interested staff members. Additionally, as partners in education, we will be hosting a community event in the near future to extend Narcan/drug and alcohol awareness training to our residents, families and community." 
Though Narcan kits were administered in the first two cases, police clarified what occurred in the Feb. 10 case Tuesday — to suggest that case was not drug-related. 
None of the students have been identified by authorities, other than to say all are male. In the case Monday, police said only that the student told them he'd gotten the THC chocolate from a person in "the Flanders area." 
Also known as naloxone, Narcan can block the effects of drugs such as fentanyl, opium and heroin by attaching to the same parts of the brain that receive opioids. 
With Robert Brodsky and Vera Chinese

Long Island

Suffolk

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Riverhead High student in third medical emergency case ate THC chocolate, police say

Cops: Riverhead High student ate THC chocolate

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Robert Brodsky

Three Riverhead High School students were revived on campus in the past 10 days — two with the aid of Narcan overdose kits — according to the town police chief. 
The most recent case occurred Monday when first responders were alerted to a report of a student at the high school in need of medical assistance, said Riverhead Police Chief David Hegermiller. The previous two incidents involved students who lost consciousness during school hours on Feb. 4 and Feb. 10. 
All three students were each taken to Peconic Bay Medical Center. 
The medical emergencies prompted Riverhead High School Principal Sean O’Hara to warn district parents in an email last week that "a potentially harmful, ingestible substance may be circulating throughout our school community and accessible to students." 
In an email to parents Monday, O'Hara said: "In the weeks ahead, we will be hosting a virtual assembly for students about the dangers of alcohol and drug usage and we will be offering training opportunities for our administrators and any interested staff members. Additionally, as partners in education, we will be hosting a community event in the near future to extend Narcan/drug and alcohol awareness training to our residents, families and community." 
Hegermiller said Narcan kits helped revive the students in the first two cases. It was unclear if Narcan was used during Monday's incident or whether opioids were involved in any of the medical emergencies. 
"We are investigating all of the cases and I am leaning toward" each "not being an opioid overdose," he said. 
Also known as naloxone, Narcan can block the effects of drugs such as fentanyl, opium and heroin by attaching to the same parts of the brain that receive opioids. 
The circumstances in each of the three cases appear to be different, the chief said. 
For example, the first student used a vape pen but the other two did not vape, he said. 
"I don't believe the cases are related," Hegermiller said. 
In his email to parents last week, O’Hara encouraged families to have "conversations with their children about being aware of their surroundings and understanding the consequences of their actions." 
The email made no mention of the students who needed medical assistance or what ingestible substance he was referencing. 
"While the information we have about this substance and how it is being accessed by individuals remains limited at this time, as partners in education, we felt it was important to bring this matter to your attention," O'Hara wrote. "We encourage our families to speak with their children about not accepting unknown items from other individuals and to always report any suspicious behaviors or items to a trusted adult immediately." 
The principal said the district was acting proactively to "mitigate this matter internally, including partnering with law enforcement to further investigate the matter and working collaboratively to develop a quick resolution to ensure our students’ continued health and safety." 
District Superintendent Augustine Tornatore did not respond to requests for comment. 
With Vera Chinese 
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly described the jurisdiction of the Town of Riverhead’s police chief.

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Police chief: Narcan helped revive 2 of 3 Riverhead High School students

Chief: Narcan used to revive 2 Riverhead high students

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Inside Kennedy Airport’s Terminal 4, where thousands of international travelers arrive daily, Denny zeroed in on baggage containing a 5-pound cooked pork meal. Then the 6-year-old beagle caught another scent and headed straight for luggage that had plants tucked inside, including ginger contaminated by soil, and fresh moringa, a plant often used for health benefits. 
The passengers were shocked that the innocuous-looking items had been found and seized, but quickly learned they could be carrying dangerous bugs or pathogens that, if unleashed, could damage crops and vegetation, and kill livestock. 
Denny is an enforcement dog at JFK, one of the busiest international gateways in the country, where data shows more than 1 million international passengers filter through monthly. He is one of more than 100 enforcement dogs nationwide trained to detect and help prevent banned plants, animals and illegal drugs from entering the United States.<a data-onecms-id="contentid/storywidget.1.50483221" data-onecms-type="storywidget" href="#/content/contentid/storywidget.1.50483221">LICUSTOMS220109_WIDGET</a>
 
"We don’t have, quite frankly, enough people to search every person coming off an airplane. Besides, that’s not what we want to do," said Joe Demalderis, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection canine handler and agricultural specialist at JFK. "We want to facilitate legitimate trade and travel, while at the same time we have our enforcement strategy. We’re really looking for that .1 percent — that proverbial needle."
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Denny is a member of the national Beagle Brigade, a group of about 120 trained sniffing dogs, mostly beagles, that team with Custom and Border Protection’s agricultural specialists at airports. The dogs undergo a roughly 13-week training program at the National Detector Dog Training Center in Newnan, Georgia, run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. 
The beagles, known for their sniffing powers, are first trained to detect five basic scents: orange, mango, apple, pork and beef. They use these smells to then trace dozens of other odors, Demalderis said. 
Drug, firearm and currency sniffing dogs are often larger breeds and trained at the Customs and Border Protection Canine programs in Texas and Virginia. 
<h3>9,368 plants, 5,470 animals confiscated</h3> 
Last fiscal year, from Oct. 1, 2020, to Sept. 30, dogs helped agricultural specialists at JFK confiscate 9,368 plants and 5,470 animals, including cooked and raw meats and poultry, according to JFK K-9 enforcement statistics.<a data-onecms-id="contentid/storywidget.1.50483223" data-onecms-type="storywidget" href="#/content/contentid/storywidget.1.50483223">LICUSTOMS_chart2</a>
 
Canines at JFK also help thwart the flow of illegal drugs into the country. 
Dogs at the airport stopped about $820,000 worth of opioids, including 13 pounds of fentanyl and 37 pounds of heroin, from being smuggled in last year, drug seizure statistics show. Dogs also helped sniff out about 285 pounds of cocaine, worth about $4.5 million. 
In 2020, dogs helped officers confiscate 351 pounds of the synthetic, mood-altering drug ecstasy, worth roughly $320,000 — more than any year since 2016, statistics show. 
Those caught smuggling drugs are initially arrested by Customs and Border Protection; then cases get turned over to federal agencies such as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Travelers carrying banned agricultural products may face a fine if they fail to declare certain items.<a data-onecms-id="contentid/storywidget.1.50483224" data-onecms-type="storywidget" href="#/content/contentid/storywidget.1.50483224">Story Widget Link</a>
 
Depending on the scope of the case, federal agencies may decide to move forward with charges, or the case may get bounced back to Customs and referred to Port Authority police for state-related charges. 
Also important is protecting the region’s food industry. Last year, agricultural specialists found 172 dangerous pests in a total of 14,838 agricultural products seized at JFK, the most since 2018, according to K-9 enforcement statistics. 
The most common critters intercepted at JFK are aphididae, or aphids; miradae, or plant bugs; and noctuidae, also known as owlet moths, Customs and Border Protection regional spokesman Anthony Bucci said. These bugs can cause extensive harm to the environment. 
It's unclear precisely how, but some of these invasive insects have crept into the Long Island area, according to Jola Szubielski, spokesperson with the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. 
While it took 20 years to eradicate the wood-boring Asian long-horned beetle from New York City, there are currently 53 square miles quarantined for the pest in central Long Island, according to the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The beetle may have first entered Brooklyn through untreated packing crates from overseas. 
Last October, the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County issued an alert because of <a href="https://www.newsday.com/long-island/environment/spotted-lanternfly-alert-invasive-insect-kill-1.50364878">sightings of the spotted lanternfly</a>, which could damage vineyards by sucking on vine saps. It was discovered on Staten Island in 2020, after likely arriving on goods imported from Asia, according to the state Department of Agriculture and Markets. 
Amanda Tripple, a Customs and Border Protection agricultural specialist and Denny’s handler, said rice and grains are heavily regulated because of the Khapra beetle. Native to India, the beetle is one of the most destructive pests of stored seeds, grains and grain products. In 2017, JFK specialists found the insect hitchhiking in a box of rice in a shipment of household items arriving from Saudi Arabia. 
Tripple said mangoes from certain countries can carry fruit flies. Tephritid fruit flies spoil fruits and vegetable and can result in major market losses, according to the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. 
"Our purpose here is to educate. We want people to understand we are here to protect our food supply," Tripple said, while gently reminding a family traveling from overseas why various plants, including turkey berry, were banned. "This is a noxious weed. It's invasive." 
Specialists also are on the lookout for animal diseases that could have devastating consequences on the economy. 
In China, an African swine fever outbreak in 2018-19 resulted in 13,355 dead pigs, according to a research article in the Nature Food journal, which publishes research on food and securing food systems. Although the virus has never been found in the United States, pork and meat continues to be restricted, depending on the origination point. 
The highly pathogenic avian influenza, also known as bird flu, can be equally harmful to the bird industry. More than 50 million commercial turkeys and hens died or were destroyed during a 2014-15 bird flu outbreak in the United States, according to a report from the USDA’s Economic Research Service. 
At the time, trading partners also imposed bans on U.S. poultry imports. As a result, the industry suffered more than $1 billion in losses. The United States is the world’s largest producer and second-largest exporter of poultry, according to the USDA. 
Citrus canker, spread through contaminated material, is believed to have originated in India and was rediscovered in Florida in 2005 after being eradicated. The disease isn’t harmful to people but causes fruit to drop prematurely, making it unsellable. 
"Citrus canker down in Florida created a bunch of problems. They had to kill a lot of trees, and that affects our economy. It affects prices and going to the store buying lemons or oranges. It’s one of the only fruits, whether it’s dried or fresh, we regulate it," Tripple said. 
<h3>Most detector dogs are rescues, adopted</h3> 
That's where dogs such as Denny come in. 
Most detector dogs are rescues, or adopted, and have an 85% sniffing accuracy rate, according to the USDA’s dog training center. Each dog is assigned one handler and has frequent breaks, with walks or runs in between jobs. 
Detector dogs are trained to give a passive sitting response, or an active response such as nudging their nose or pawing, and are rewarded with praise, treats or play. 
"He indicated, he went to the bag. … He sat next to it and started pushing his nose and clawing," said Tripple, explaining how Denny found the pork. "It’s like a game to them because they’re just looking for that next treat." 
Tripple said Denny gets a little more excited when he smells meat, while he has a more subtle sitting response when he smells fruit or plants. 
While dogs are an important tool, even without them, specialists at JFK uncovered some peculiar finds last year. 
Last spring, two Guyanese men were separately found with more than two dozen live finches tucked inside hair rollers. Both men received a $300 fine and were sent back to Guyana that same day, according to Customs and Border Protection. Bucci said chirping finches are used for gambling competitions in Guyanese communities. 
Specialists also discovered 22 highly invasive giant African snails in baggage belonging to a man traveling from Ghana last April. The fast-reproducing snail is considered a dangerous pest that consumes 500 types of plants, and can damage stucco and plaster, according to the USDA. Worse, it can transmit a parasitic nematode to people that can cause meningitis. 
When the snail was found in Miami in 2011, it took 10 years and $23.5 million in USDA and state funds to eradicate the invasive species in December, according to the USDA. 
In addition to thwarting unintentional threats such as hitchhiking bugs, specialists are also on the lookout for deliberate dangers like agro-terrorism, where toxic substances can be introduced through food and food products. The specialists also confiscate critically endangered species. 
"We have an important job to do," Tripple said.

Transportation

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liCUSTOMS220109_photos

Dogs help sniff out potential trouble at Kennedy Airport

Dogs help sniff out potential trouble at JFK

Agriculture specialist Amanda Tripple, at Kennedy Airport, discusses the use of dogs to help find items such as plants and fruit in luggage, and explains why these items could be a danger in the U.S. 


New York

Newsday

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A four-year effort aimed at teaching Hempstead Town residents ways to fight an ongoing opioid crisis culminated Monday with distribution of the 10,000th kit of Narcan, a drug used to revive overdose victims. 
Town officials and community members gathered outside the Island Park Public Library to mark the milestone. 
Councilman Anthony D’Esposito acknowledged that 10,000 is a number he wished they didn't "have to celebrate. We have a lot more work to do." 
The free training sessions started at the beginning of 2017 and continued through last summer in nearby communities, including Lido Beach and Point Lookout, D’Esposito said. 
"It has affected so many lives," D’Esposito said of the opioid crisis. During the COVID-19 pandemic, "we’ve seen an uptick in opioid overdoses that have led to death and we’ve continued our mission," he said. 
According to the <a href="https://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/overdose-narcan-opioid-deaths-drug-abuse-1.50348870">Garden City-based Family &amp; Children’s Association</a>, 390 people died from drug overdoses in 2020, representing a 34% increase in fatalities in Nassau and a 12% rise in Suffolk. Long Island deaths rose a combined 34% from 2019 to 2020. 
At the event, Ellen Andrasick of Franklin Square said the opioid crisis claimed the life of a 19-year-old family friend. 
"When it hits home, it means more to you than anything," said Andrasick, who took the training. "So we have to get more than 10,000 kits out into the town and into the hands of everybody, doesn’t matter if you’re young or old." 
Providing residents with the kits and training in how to use the devices is about "saving lives" and "educating people," said Hempstead Town Supervisor Don Clavin. 
"I’d rather you have the kit sit on the shelf and never get utilized but if it’s needed, you’ll have it," Clavin said as he held a Narcan nasal spray kit. 
Narcan can be applied through injections or nasal spray. Those taking part in the training learn how to use the nasal spray on an overdose victim. 
Also known as naloxone, Narcan can block the effects of drugs such as fentanyl, opium and heroin by attaching to the same parts of the brain that receive opioids. 
This year, along with Hempstead, Narcan training sessions have been offered in Babylon, Riverhead and Shelter Island, where in <a href="https://www.newsday.com/long-island/cocaine-fentanyl-overdoses-southold-shelter-island-1.50334710">August six people died after overdosing</a> on what police believe was cocaine laced with fentanyl, an opioid.

Nassau

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Hempstead gives out 10,000th free Narcan kit in ongoing opioid fight

Four years on, Hempstead gives out 10,000th Narcan kit

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Nicole Fuller

Former Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota and his top aide, sentenced to five years in federal prison on corruption charges, will have to report to prison next week after an appeals court denied their requests to remain free on bail while they appeal their convictions. 
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in a one-page order dated Nov. 23, denied the requests for what is known in the federal system as "bail pending appeal" from Spota and his co-defendant Christopher McPartland. Both men are due to surrender to the federal Bureau of Prisons before 2 p.m. on Dec. 10. 
Spota, 80, of Mt. Sinai, and McPartland, 55, of Northport, were found guilty of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, witness tampering and acting as accessories to the deprivation of prisoner Christopher Loeb’s civil rights after former Suffolk Police Chief James Burke assaulted Loeb in a police precinct in 2012. Federal prosecutors said Spota and McPartland orchestrated a cover-up of the assault of Loeb, then a heroin addict, after Loeb stole a duffel bag that held Burke’s gun belt, ammunition, Viagra, sex toys and pornography. 
Burke pleaded guilty in 2016 to obstruction of justice and the deprivation of Loeb’s rights and served most of a 46-month prison sentence. 
U.S. District Judge Joan Azrack, who presided over the former Suffolk prosecutors’ 2019 jury trial, last month denied the bail request, saying it failed to raise substantial questions of law that were likely to result in a reversal or a new trial, prompting the lawyers to seek relief from the Second Circuit. 
Spota’s attorney, Alan Vinegrad, did not respond to requests for comment and McPartland’s lawyer, Larry Krantz, declined to comment. John Marzulli, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, which had argued against the defendant’s remaining free on bail while they appeal, declined to comment on the appeals court decision. 
Spota's attorneys had argued the defendants' convictions were likely to be overturned on appeal because they were based on "guilt by association" due to evidence Azrack allowed to be admitted at trial detailing "bad acts by Mr. Burke." 
The Bureau of Prisons last month assigned McPartland to a low-security section of a Texas prison, despite his attorney’s request that he be placed in a minimum-security prison camp, which are generally reserved for nonviolent offenders. 
The prison assignment for Spota has not been revealed in federal court filings.

Crime

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Appeals court denies bail request from ex-DA Thomas Spota and former top aide

Ex-DA Spota, former top aide denied bail by appeals court

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Heroin on Long Island

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