8 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • SEPTEMBER 2019
NEWS
WEB BRIEFS LI AT A GLANCE
EPSTEIN’S GLEN COVE TIES
A Long Island native is one of the two lawyers
that convicted pedophile and accused sex trafficker
Jeffrey Epstein named to be co-executor
of his nearly $600 million estate before Epstein
died. Darren Indyke, 54, who reportedly worked
for Epstein for more than 26 years and was intimately
involved in his business dealings before
being tasked with handling the estate, graduated
from Glen Cove High School in 1982, the Press
confirmed. “Indkye’s name appears on charitable
filings, real estate records, trademark filings, and
other business matters related to Epstein and his
inner circle,” Yahoo Finance reported, adding:
“Indyke has been involved with virtually all of
Epstein’s business dealings in the last two decades
— his name appears as the treasurer and
vice president of Epstein’s three most prominent
nonprofits.”. Authorities have said the
66-year-old registered sex offender
who allegedly sex trafficked
and abused dozens of
girls who were
minors over the
years, died by
appa rent
s u i c i d e
Aug. 10. in
his Manhattan
federal
jail cell
following an earli- er attempted suicide. The
FBI and U.S. Department of Justice’s inspector
general are investigating the wealthy financier’s
death. Indyke hired a criminal defense attorney
in anticipation of federal authorities continuing
to investigate Epstein and his finances after the
financier’s death. Epstein’s Manhattan federal
jail suicide last month sparked multiple probes.
FREEPORT SUICIDE
MISCLASSIFIED?
Nassau County investigators improperly concluded
that a 20-year-old Freeport man’s 2016 shooting
death was a suicide instead of a homicide,
according to a lawsuit that the victim’s family
filed last month. The family of Johmeik Simmons,
who died of a single gunshot wound to the head
while two others were present, remains unconvinced
that the college-bound former high school
football star would take his own life and believes
that Nassau police and medical examiners erred.
The suit seeks to have authorities reclassify his
death as a homicide and then investigate the case
as such. The family hired a private investigator,
who questioned irregularities, such as Simmons’
wound lacking the gunpowder residue typical of
a close-range gunshot, “the gunshot wound being
made to a part of the head that is atypical in cases
of suicide,” and that he was shot on the right side
of the head despite being left-handed.
FAREWELL, FIOS1 NEWS
Long Island will lose one of its two hyperlocal
cable TV news stations when FiOS1 News goes off
the air this fall as Verizon FiOS pulls the plug on
its answer to Altice’s News12. Verizon declined
to renew its contract with Rye Brook-based RNN,
which produced FiOS1 News for Long Island, Hudson
Valley, and New Jersey audiences. The move
will put 150 journalists across the New York Metro
area out of work. Without FiOS1 News, Verizon
FiOS subscribers will have News12 in
its place
as a
part of a deal
Verizon struck with
Altice earlier this month.
The change also follows Altice cutting
staff levels at News12. It comes a decade after
FiOS1 entered the market.
VACCINE LAW FALLOUT
CONTINUES
Families steadfast in their conviction not to vaccinate
their children after New York State repealed
the religious exemption for immunizations in
June left unvaccinated students on Long Island
in limbo this summer. That’s because families
were hopeful that critics of the law could block
it in court, but a federal challenge was withdrawn
and a lawsuit in Albany was tossed, although an
appeal was pending as of press time. Families that
still refuse to vaccinate their kids were considering
home schooling, moving, or splitting up
their family come September. The state law was
in response to the largest measles outbreak in
25 years.
SOMETHING IN THE WATER
DuPont and 3M wittingly sold products containing
toxic chemicals that contaminated Long Island
drinking water supplies for decades, three local
government entities claim in new lawsuits. The
Village of Mineola, Carle Place Water District,
and Port Washington Water District filed the
suits against the manufacturing conglomerates
in Central Islip federal court. The goal is to get
the companies to pay for installation of expensive
treatment facilities to remove the toxins
from drinking water wells, as now mandated
by recently increased New York State drinking
water standards. The toxins are per- and polyfluoroalkyl
substances PFAS, a class of chemicals
that include perfluorooctanoic acid PFOA and
perfluorooctane sulfonic acid PFOS, which have
consumer, busi- ness, and industrial uses. The
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency warns that the
c h emi c a l s
can be
toxic at
low levels
and can
be carcinogenic.
The suit notes that the
chemicals are particularly
dangerous to pregnant women and
young children.
MORE LI CORRUPTION ALLEGED
The Town of Hempstead Buildings Department’s
deputy commissioner was arrested Thursday
for allegedly stealing more than $59,000 from
Cedarhurst Republican Committee, Nassau
County prosecutors said. A grand jury indicted
John Novello, who is also executive leader of the
Cedarhurst Republican Committee, on 11 counts,
including felony charges of grand larceny, and
misdemeanor charges of petit larceny and election
law violations. Prosecutors said the 51-yearold
Hewlett Harbor man spent the money from
the committee’s campaign account on his home
mortgage, winery trip, luxury candies, entertainment,
and personal expenses from January
2016 through last month. Novello pleaded not
guilty, was released without bail, and is due back
in court Sept. 26. If convicted, he faces up to 15
years in prison. The arrest came on the same
day that Richard Porcelli, a former campaign
manager for ex-Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor
John Venditto, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor
count of conspiracy and was sentenced to a year
of community service for his role in a corruption
scheme.
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