On The Beat

It was a scene played out all over the civilized world. A hungry driver pulled up to the booth Friday morning looking for the breakfast special. “Bacon, egg, and cheese,” she said to the attendant, who was wearing her uniform, as usual.

But Yvonne DeCaro was wearing a Suffolk County deputy sheriff uniform, not Burger King or McDonald’s garb. And the driver, Lizabeth Ildefonso, 44, of Jamesport, wasn’t at a fast food joint, either. She was driving through the visitor’s booth at the Suffolk County Jail. Ildefonso “insisted that she really wanted a sandwich,” DeCaro related. But if the deputy sheriff had a lunchbox, she wasn’t sharing. Instead, she noticed Ildefonso’s eyes were “glassy” and she had a white powdery substance under her nose.

A computer check revealed Ildefonso was driving without a valid license. Police said she also failed roadside sobriety tests, which kind of figures when you think about it.

She was charged with driving while ability impaired by drugs, a felony, as well as driving without a license.

Ildefonso was arraigned and later released on $750 bail. There apparently was no truth to the rumor she was heading over to the Riverhead police compound for some lunch.

Pilfered Power Tools

Riverhead Town Police said they have cracked the stolen power tools case. Someone has been making off with tools from the Lowe’s on County Road 58 for quite some time. On Friday, Peter Schnauder, 52, was arrested and charged with the crimes. The Middle Village man allegedly stole “numerous power” tools from the establishment over the past six-months.

He was charged with three counts of grand larceny in the fourth degree, a felony, and a misdemeanor charge of petit larceny, police said. Schnauder is also facing a March 11 charge of grand larceny in the fourth degree brought by the Suffolk County Police Department, according to a press release. He was processed and arraigned in Riverhead Town Justice Court and remanded to the Suffolk County Correctional Facility.

rmurphy@indyeastend.com