Two Suffolk corrections officers and a retiree, William Fries, who is a Conservative Party vice-chairman, were caught early Thursday with a large campaign sign for Southampton Supervisor candidate Linda Kabot in their pickup truck.
Robert Coughlan, the Quogue Village police chief, declined to identify the men by name but said the incident occurred at 12:30 a.m. He said they were not arrested but turned over to the county Sheriff’s department.
Fries on Friday denied stealing Kabot’s sign, and said the incident was “completely bizarre” and “a total setup” by Kabot backers, including Southampton Police Chief James Overton, who Fries said showed up at the scene. The Conservative Party backs incumbent Republican Patrick “Skip” Heaney, who lost a GOP primary to Kabot.
Coughlan said an official police report will not be released until today
But Fries maintains he was several miles outside the village on County Road 31, between Sunrise Hwy. and Gabreski Airport in Weshtampton, when he found a Kabot sign attached onto an existing Heaney billboard....
Rick Brand
...which they had permission to place on private property. Fries said he removed the Kabot sign and put it in his truck.
After they left and turned onto Montauk Hwy., Fries said, an off-duty Quogue officer in a pickup followed them until they were stopped by a total of five police cars. After questioning, he said, they were ordered to take Kabot’s sign to another site several miles away, and released.
Sheriff Vincent DeMarco called the episode “embarrassing” and said Internal Affairs will conduct an inquiry once a police report is issued.
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