Earlier this week, Frank DeVito, a frequent critic of Southampton Village Mayor Jesse Warren and his administration, admitted that he was responsible for dropping off a brown paper bag containing three envelopes and other items at Village Hall on June 17 of last year, the day before the village election, which was only recently turned over to the New York State Police’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation, at Warren’s direction.
After reading a story on 27east.com about the brown bag and the referral to State Police, DeVito reached out to The Press to claim responsibility for sending the items to Village Hall, stating that the envelopes contained needling “going away cards” for the mayor and Village Administrator Charlene Kagel-Betts, as well as another card addressed to the mayor’s fiancée. They were Hallmark cards he had purchased at the Rite Aid in Southampton Village, he said.
DeVito said he dropped the bag at the front desk at Village Hall and instructed staff there to “make sure Jesse gets this.”
He delivered the cards “going away” messages to Warren and Kagel-Betts with sarcastic intent, because he was under the assumption they would not be able to continue in their roles at the village because of “allegations against them,” he said.
His assumption did not pan out.
Warren would not discuss the contents of the envelopes when reached on Wednesday, April 27, nor would he explain why he ordered them turned over to State Police rather than Village Police, the 10-month delay, and what about them he believed merits a criminal investigation.
“This is an ongoing police matter and I cannot comment,” Warren said. “I would [refer] you to the respective law enforcement agencies.”
Acting Village Police Chief Suzanne Hurteau, reached Friday, also would not comment on the matter or explain why it had been referred to State Police rather than her department.
A State Police spokesperson would only say on Friday, “The State Police are investigating this matter.” They did not immediately return calls earlier in the week seeking an update on the matter.
Earlier this week, when he came forward to claim responsibility for the bag and its contents, DeVito insisted that he had been told by State Police that the investigation had been “dropped.”
The Village Police blotter stated that on April 19 a Village Police detective retrieved the envelopes from the village clerk and transferred them to State Police and that Hurteau contacted the State Police to ask for an investigation at Warren’s request.
The blotter states that the envelopes had initially been delivered to Southampton Village Administrator Charlene Kagel-Betts in a brown paper bag, along with tissue boxes and a roll of toilet paper, on June 17, 2021.
Reached by phone earlier in the week, Kagel-Betts also offered little in the way of explanation about the envelopes, saying that because it was the subject of a police investigation she wasn’t at liberty to discuss the matter in detail.
She offered some insight into the original drop-off of the bag, a narrative that did not line up with DeVito’s account, stating that it had been left at a podium set up just outside Village Hall where a traffic control officer had been stationed to help control the flow of people in and out as a safety precaution because of the COVID pandemic. She said the bag had been dropped off at that podium after the traffic control officer’s shift was over, and that she was not at Village Hall during that drop-off but rather was out, with several other village officials, making final preparations on the eve of the election.
She said the identity of the person who dropped the bag off had not been picked up by any security cameras. She declined to say any more about the bag or its contents.
Cailin Riley on May 4, 2022