Crime & Safety
Residents Charged with Illegal Drug Sale
Anthony Gazzola faces drug charges after being arrested for area burglary charges last week.
Former Brookhaven Highway Department laborer and East Patchogue resident Anthony Gazzola was arraigned Thursday for the illegal sale of the prescription painkiller Hydrocodone.
Gazzola, 21, pleaded not guilty to one count of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree after he was , according to Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota's office.
He's being held on $100,000 bail.
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Gazzola's detainment is expected to be the beginning of a string of arrests involving Brookhaven Town employees and illegal drug sales.
Three other suspects are already facing the same allegations as Gazzola, though only one is a town employee.
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Louis Gardella, 27, and Catherine Bright, 20, both of East Patchogue, also pleaded not guilty Wednesday to one count of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, according to Spota's office. Gardella's bail was set at $5,000, while Bright's was set at $500.
On Sept. 8, Brookhaven sign shop employee Joseph Manzella, 28, of Mastic, pled not guilty to the same charge and was released on $10,000 bail.
Last year, Brookhaven Town Supervisor Mark Lesko gave the DA's office information on town employees suspected of unlawfully selling drugs, Spota said, adding further arrests on this matter are expected.
