Four drug arrests in East Hampton Village

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East Hampton Village Police made four drug arrests last week in the village center, including one of a man allegedly caught using a hypodermic needle to inject a narcotic similar to heroin and three others for the possession of crack cocaine.

East Hampton Village Police Chief Jerry Larsen said that the arrests were unusual. “We don’t usually come across people smoking crack in our parking lots,” he said.

Ronald Merrill, 46, of East Hampton was arrested on Tuesday at 2:51 p.m. on Newtown Lane and charged 
with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, a felony, criminal possession of a hypodermic instrument, a misdemeanor, and appearance in public under 
the influence, a violation. Police said that while on patrol they received 
a report of a suspicious man near 
76 Newtown Lane. An investigating officer found Mr. Merrill acting in 
an erratic manner in the Reutershan parking lot, near the public 
bathrooms, according to police. A passerby told the officer there was drug paraphernalia in the bathroom. While one officer questioned Mr. Merrill, another searched the bathroom and found a blue raincoat with seven syringes and 10 patches of Fentanyl and a silver spoon with residue, police said.

When questioned about the items, Mr. Merrill admitted they were his 
and that he had injected himself 
while in the bathroom, according to police.

Fentanyl is a narcotic with similar effects as heroin that is approximately 100 times more potent than morphine.

Mr. Merrill’s bail was set at $15,000. He was taken to Suffolk County Jail in Riverhead.

Jessica Nevins, 26, of Brookhaven, Joseph Foresto, 52, of Lake Grove, and Jonathan Loftus, 26, of Ridge were arrested on Thursday at 5:56 p.m. in the Chase Bank parking lot on Main Street and charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree and criminal use of drug paraphernalia in the second degree, both misdemeanors. Police said that while an officer was on foot patrol he observed a black Ford Taurus parked in a handicapped parking space behind Chase Bank. Police said the officer approached and while questioning the driver, Mr. Loftus, Ms. Nevins asked if she could go inside the bank to make a withdrawal and the officer allowed her to go.

Mr. Foresto, who was in the back seat, was listed as the owner of the car. Police said he got out of the car to look for the registration and both he and Mr. Loftus began to act very 
nervous, police said. The officer 
asked and was given permission to search the car. A pack of Newport 
cigarettes was found with a glass 
drug pipe inside and police said they then took custody of Mr. Foresto and Mr. Loftus and retrieved Ms. Nevins from the bank and had her wait as they continued to 
search the car. They found several 
more glass pipes, a makeup container with cocaine inside, a plastic case with several drug pipes and a metal container with a methadone pill inside. A Chase Bank envelope with Ms. Nevins’s name on it—containing a glass drug pipe, a packet of heroin and several pieces of crack cocaine—was also found on the ground in the area where she was sitting outside the bank, police said.

Mr. Foresto’s car was impounded. Mr. Loftus was released on $1,500 bail. 
Ms. Nevins, whose bail was set at $1,500, and Mr. Foresto, whose bail was set at $2,000, could not make bail and were taken to the Suffolk County Jail.