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Cortlandt Manor Man Arrested for Child Endangerment in Lake Peekskill
Putnam County Sheriff Donald B. Smith reports that a man has been arrested on a child endangerment charge in connection with events reported recently at a school bus stop in the Lake Peekskill section of the Town of Putnam Valley. Mr. Satnarine Etwaru, aged 63, of Cortlandt Manor, Westchester County has been charged after he allegedly accosted several children and tried to entice one of them into his car.
It was reported on March 8th that an unknown man approached four children, in three separate incidents, at or near a school bus stop at the intersection of Mathes, Johnson, and Becker Streets in Lake Peekskill. He asked all four for driving directions.
In one of those incidents, the stranger drove up to a 12-year-old boy who was standing alone at the bus stop, got out of his car, approached the boy and asked him for directions, which the boy provided. The man then asked the boy to get into his car and drive with him, saying he wanted the boy to help him find his destination. The boy became frightened and ran away.
On March 9th, the Sheriff's Department deployed extra marked and unmarked patrols in the area of Lake Peekskill where the previous day's incident occurred. At about 7:20 am, a 14-yearold girl was taking out the trash at her family's home along Mathes Street when she was approached by the same man and car described in the prior incidents. This time, the man stopped his car near the girl, held up what appeared to be a business card between his fingers, and motioned for her to come to his car. The girl hurried back into her house to tell her mother and the man drove away. The mother and daughter walked down the street together and flagged down a sheriff's patrol car operated by Deputy Richard Mansfield.
After receiving the mother and daughter's report, Deputy Mansfield continued to check the area. At about 7:30 am, he spotted a car parked in the driveway of a Mathes Street residence, and saw a man standing by the car. The man and car fit the descriptions reported in the incidents.
The deputy approached the man, whom he identified as Mr. Etwaru. He told the deputy that he was a house painter and that he had come by car from Cortlandt Manor to that Mathes Street residence for the last four days to do painting work there. Investigators later confirmed that information.
Mr. Etwaru agreed to speak with authorities about the reported incidents and investigators interviewed him at the Sheriff's Department headquarters in Carmel. After interviewing Mr. Etwaru, and after consulting with the Putnam County District Attorney's Office, investigators charged the Cortlandt Manor man with one count of endangering the welfare of a child.
The endangerment statute makes it an offense for a person to act "in a manner likely to be injurious to the physical, mental or moral welfare of child less than seventeen years old...." The offense is a class A misdemeanor, which is punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine of $1,000.
Mr. Etwaru was arraigned at 6:00 pm on March 9th before Justice Louis DiCarlo in the Town of Putnam Valley Justice Court. The judge released the defendant on his own recognizance and ordered him to return to court on April 13th at 10 am. The judge also issued orders of protection directing him to stay away from the five children approached in the four incidents.
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