UPDATE, FEB. 5:
Suffolk County Police First Squad detectives are asking anyone who had any contact with Donald Cristiano, Jr. on Feb. 3, to contact the First Squad at 631-854-8152.
The mug shot of Cristiano, from his Feb. 4 arrest, is below.
A Bay Shore man was arrested Feb. 4 after he impersonated a cop and abducted two teenage girls in Lindenhurst, Suffolk County Police Department said.
At approximately 3:35 p.m. two girls, ages 14 and 16, were walking west on Herbert Avenue in Lindenhurst when a man driving a white SUV approached them.
The man, later identified as Bay Shore resident Donald Cristiano Jr., allegedly told the two girls that he was a police officer.
Cristiano then asked them what they were doing, and stated that he was investigating gang activity in the area, Suffolk County executive Steve Bellone said at a press conference about the incident.
After the girls told him that they were headed to nearby Lindenhurst Memorial Library, Cristiano persuaded the girls to enter his SUV and he would give them a ride to the library.
Upon entering the library’s parking lot, Cristiano told the 16-year-old to exit the vehicle so he could speak to the 14-year-old. He then drove off with the 14-year-old to a nearby park, police reports said.
The man parked the vehicle and began to touch the 14-year-old, but she was able to fight him off and flee the vehicle, according to police reports. She allegedly escaped to a nearby home for help, and the homeowner called 911.
Cristiano, 46, has been charged with two counts of Kidnapping 2nd degree, two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, one count of criminal impersonation 1st degree and one count of luring a child.
He will be held overnight at the First Precinct and arraigned on Feb. 5 at First District Court in Central Islip.
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