Crimes Nearby: 'Abusive' Photos Taken of Local Nursing Home Patients

Three Village/Port Jefferson
'Abusive' Photos Taken of Local Nursing Home Patients
New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced Wednesday that two certified nurses' aides have been charged with taking gruesome, illegal photographs of 11 patients at a trio of area nursing homes.

The A.G. reported that the aides, both Centereach residents, violated the patients' privacy and trust, taking photos of one patient's bedsore, a video of a dementia patient "riveted with fear," and other instances Schneiderman called "abusive and alarming."

Schneiderman said the 11 incidents occurred at Jefferson's Ferry in South Setauket, the Long Island State Veterans Home in Stony Brook, and Woodhaven Nursing Home in Port Jefferson Station.

The two nurses, 25-year-old David Rover and 23-year-old Thomas Mocera, were both arraigned in a 15-count indictment – all felony charges – on Tuesday in Suffolk County Supreme Court. Rover is charged with seven counts of unlawful surveillance, one count of dissemination of an unlawful surveillance image and two counts of offering a false instrument for filing. Mocera is charged with five counts of unlawful surveillance. Each count carries a sentence of 15 months to 4 years imprisonment.

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Hauppauge
Joseph Catalli, 25, of Shirley, was arrested in Hauppauge on a charge of criminal possession of a controlled substance. Police said Catalli was on Route 347 in Hauppauge when police found that he had numerous plastic bags containing heroin.

Smithtown
Cynthia Schreiber, 22, of Smithtown, was arrested and charged with third-degree felony drug possession after police said she had crack cocaine on her when she was in a car on Rt. 112 in Medford. Police did not say that Schreiber was the driver. Schreiber was also arrested and charged with seventh-degree heroin possession, which is a misdemeanor.   

Police are investigating a May 10 car fire on Old Willets Path in Smithtown, which happened around 8 p.m. The blaze, which involved a 2009 Nissan Altima, was extinguished by the Smithtown fire department. The car was impounded by police and is being investigated as arson.