Police Charge Mastic Beach Man with Stealing Items from Vehicles, Driving While Impaired

An investigation that has taken several weeks is resulting in additional charges for a man arrested in February.

New York State Police say that 32-year-old Richard T. Hildebrandt, Jr. of Mastic Beach, New York had been arrested on February 17, 2022 at approximately 5:22am after troopers responded to a call from Delaware County 911 emergency services.  The call was regarding "a suspicious person in the parking lot" of Mountainside Residential Care, a nursing home facility run by the Westchester Medical Center Health Network.

Troopers located the person and vehicle matching the description provided at the Margaretville Hotel.  While talking with him, according to a written release from the NYSP, "troopers observed characteristics associated with impairment.  Hildebrandt was asked to perform Standardized Field Sobriety Tests, which confirmed impairment and he was arrested."

He was evaluated by a Drug Recognition Expert and charged with a misdemeanor charge of Driving While Impaired by Drugs.  He was scheduled to answer the charge in Middletown Town Court on March 3, 2022.

State Police say that, during the initial arrest, troopers "also noticed that Hildebrandt had numerous items inside his vehicle that didn’t seem to add up to the reason why he was in the area.  They secured his vehicle and items which included sports equipment, tools, and other miscellaneous items."

Additional investigation revealed that some of the items match the descriptions of items taken from several unlocked vehicles that had been rummaged through in the Margaretville area.  The NYSP says that many of those items were located in Hildebrandt's car.

Police say that one of the vehicles was locked and sustained damage when it was broken into, allegedly by Hildebrandt.

Following the additional investigation Hildebrandt Jr. was charged with the following:

• Grand Larceny in the 4th Degree (Class E felony)
• Criminal Possession of Stolen Property in the 4th Degree (Class E felony)
• Four counts of Petit Larceny (misdemeanor)
• Four counts of Criminal Possession of Stolen Property in the 5th Degree (misdemeanor)
• Criminal Mischief in the 4th Degree (misdemeanor)

Hildebrandt Jr. is scheduled to answer the latest charges in Middletown Town Court on April 14, 2022.

[AUTHOR'S NOTE:   This post is for informational purposes and is based largely on information received from the New York State Police.  The reader is reminded that all arrested persons are innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.  At the time of this posting no additional information is available.]