Man Accused Of Threatening Judge, Officer, Sheriff: Cops

PUTNAM COUNTY, NY — A Bronx man accused of stalking and harassment five years ago in Cold Spring is now accused of making threats against a local judge, a police officer and the county sheriff.

Putnam County Sheriff Robert L. Langley Jr. reports the arrest Thursday of 46-year-old Eugene A. Vitello. He is charged with several counts of aggravated harassment and stalking.

In November, Langley received a letter via US mail in which the writer threatened to harm him and commit criminal offenses against his family members. It was the second such letter that Langley and his family had received within the year, he said.

An investigation was started to try and determine its origin.

A few weeks after Langley received the second letter, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office was contacted by the Cold Spring Police Department about a similar incident. Multiple letters had been received by the Cold Spring Court which contained worrisome threatening language, including death threats, to the Honorable Thomas Costello, Cold Spring village justice, and to Cold Spring Police Officer Edward Boulanger.

Since the letters received by the Cold Spring Court and the letters received by Sheriff Langley were similar in critical areas, a joint investigation between the Sheriff’s Department and the Cold Spring Police Department was started.

Investigators Ryan McMahon and Paul Piazza, Jr. worked with Cold Spring Police Investigator William Bujarski and Cold Spring Chief Larry Burke.

The investigators cross-referenced incidents which involved all three parties that had been threatened. Vitello emerged as a suspect.

Police said Vitello had been arrested by Officer Edward Boulanger in 2013 and charged with stalking and harassing a Cold Spring business owner. Langley, who was a retired law enforcement officer at the time, had been a witness in that matter. It had been adjudicated in front of Judge Costello.

On Thursday, Piazza and Burke traveled to the Bronx and interviewed Vitello, who was subsequently taken into custody without incident and transported back to Putnam County for processing.

Vitello was arraigned in front of Judge Tim Curtiss, Town of Kent, for the Cold Spring Court. He was then released without bail. Orders of Protections were issued for all affected parties and their family members.

Vitello is scheduled to return to the Village of Cold Spring Court on Feb. 13.

PHOTO: Eugene Vitello/ Putnam County Sheriff's Office

Editor's Note: This article has been changed to correctly name Village Justice Thomas Costello.

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