Wild Goose Chase

Eric Gross Putnam County’s new Command and Communications vehicle was pressed into action for the first time. Deputy Emergency Services Coordinator James Ciulla of Mahopac (right) checks on a team’s location with his fellow coordinator Ken Clair of Brewster (left) and Jamie Gagliardo of Putnam Lake. It was an unbelievable ending to a day-long search for a missing teenager,when the 16-year-old Guatemalan native was found inside the Putnam Correctional Facility under a false identity.

Last Thursday, under the direction of Captain Richard Stellacci of the Sheriff’s Department, more than 100 volunteers, firefighters, EMS providers, and police, representing agencies on the state, county, city, and town levels, spent eight hours in scorching heat scouring the hills and dales, mountains, bodies of water, and neighborhoods in Brewster searching for the boy, who had reportedly last been seen outside a popular Main Street convenience store at 11pm on August 15.

Sheriff Smith’s rivals in the race for the Republican nomination for sheriff pounced in press conferences the following day. Former NYPD Captain Andrew DeStefano called it “a complete breakdown in communication, a complete breakdown in law enforcement policy. This would not happen if you had a Sheriff who was a police commander.”

Judge Jim Borkowski, another challenger, also criticized the sheriff. “This weeks events demonstrate the best of Putnam county and the worst of Putnam County,” he said. “The community, when notified of a missing child, spent night and day searching ... they didn’t care what his race was ... The community came together as never before.”

“All these volunteers, and firefighters, first responders came out because of the incompetence of Sheriff Don Smith,” Borkowski said. “They were all led on a wild goose chase.”

Cold Spring’s Kevin McConville, the Democratic candidate for sheriff, said, “we should never be in the position of not knowing who our detainees are and what their needs may be.”

“This latest problem is another said example of why we need professional experience and proven leadership in that law enforcement agency,” said McConville, the former chief of the MTA police.

Smith responded later that his critics were denigrating the heroic efforts of the community.

In the search, volunteers from Continental Village, Cold Spring, Putnam Valley, and Garrison joined their neighbors from Brewster, Carmel, Mahopac Falls, Croton Falls, Putnam Lake, and Lake Carmel, who were also assisted by State Police helicopters and police canine units.

Nineteen ATVs were used in the operation as rescue parties focused their attention on the wooded area behind the Garden Street School, along the Croton River, and in thick woods off Nelson Blvd. along Metro-North Railroad tracks.

As the hours passed and a team of cadaver-searching dogs arrived on the scene, authorities feared the worst.

Relatives of Francisco Lopez Soto had reported the boy missing after he arrived in Brewster from Central America and moved in with his brother and sister-in-law.

Authorities circulated fliers bearing the boy’s photo and asked the public for its help in locating the teenager.

When temperatures reached 90 degrees and many of the volunteers began to feel the effects of the extreme heat and humidity, the search was called off.

A corrections officer at the Putnam County Jail was checking his mail later that evening and noticed a resemblance to the youth in the photo to an inmate already behind bars. The officer notified his superiors, and Captain William McNamara said “investigators interviewed the inmate and brought his brother to the correctional facility, where he was positively identified as the missing teen.”

Further investigation revealed that Soto had been arrested in Brewster on August 16 after a deputy responded to a report of a disorderly man. Soto was accused of brandishing a broken beer bottle toward the deputy and was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, menacing, and resisting arrest. Capt. McNamara said during booking, Soto identified himself as Noel Garcia and told officers he was 19 years old: “Statements made led officers to believe he was in the United States illegally. A fingerprint check failed to disclose the suspect’s true identity, since there was no prior recording of Soto’s prints on file in any American jurisdiction.”

Sheriff Donald Smith was flabbergasted. In an exclusive interview with the Courier inside the jail last Thursday night, Smith said he was pleased that the “story had a happy ending. This also points out that many challenges exist when it comes to illegal immigration because those in the U.S. illegally don’t get a real identity until they are arrested and enter the criminal justice system.”

Smith called the issue a “real challenge.”

The sheriff praised the many volunteers, including REACT and police agencies, for their dedicated work during the extensive search: “The manhunt pointed out the goodness found in our county. Putnam has a big heart, and when anyone is in trouble, in need, or when a missing child is reported, the people of our county come out in large numbers to render assistance.”

Also assisting during the search were members of the Putnam Bureau of Emergency Services—Commissioner Robert McMahon and his assistant Adam Stiebeling, Emergency Services Coordinators Ron Davies, James Ciulla and Ken Clair, Putnam Director of Emergency Management Tom Lannon, members of the New York City DEP Police, New York State DEC Police, and New York State Police.