Fabio and Judith Monasterolo of Holbrook plead guilty to dumping near protected wetlands in Mastic Beach, DA says

A Holbrook couple has pleaded guilty to illegally dumping cinder blocks and concrete near protected wetlands in Mastic Beach and will have to pay more than $2,600 in restitution, fund a cleanup crew for the area and personally plant more than 50 trees in the pine barrens as part of a plea agreement with the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, the office said Monday.

Fabio Monasterolo, 51, and his wife, Judith Monasterolo, 55, pleaded guilty to fourth-degree criminal mischief, a misdemeanor.

Prosecutors contend the Monasterolos illegally dumped broken chunks of concrete and cinder blocks from their black Dodge Ram pickup truck near wetlands adjacent to the intersection of Jefferson Drive and Grove Road in Mastic Beach on April 23 at about 2 p.m. — an act that was captured on camera by a witness.

The witness took several photographs of the couple and the dumped material in a wetland owned by the Town of Brookhaven that abuts a tidal wetland, prosecutors said.

“Judith Monasterolo, who was in the passenger seat of the Dodge Ram, allegedly then gave the witness two middle fingers as Fabio Monasterolo drove them away from the scene,” prosecutors said in a news release announcing the plea agreement.

The couple’s attorney, Jorge Macias, did not return a message Monday.

“These defendants would have escaped responsibility for dumping in our wetlands had it not been for a concerned citizen who reported them to the Town of Brookhaven after capturing them on camera during their illegal acts,” Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney said in a statement. “Thanks to our partnership with the Town through our Quality-of-Life Town Coalition initiative, this couple is now an example of what will happen to those who think they can turn Suffolk County’s vibrant ecosystem into their personal junkyard.”

Brookhaven Town officials provided the photographic evidence to the district attorney’s Biological, Environmental and Animal Safety Team (BEAST), which began an investigation, prosecutors said. The defendants were arrested on May 1.

County Judge James McDonaugh ordered the Monasterolos to pay the Town of Brookhaven $2,602 in restitution for the initial cost of cleanup, fully finance a daylong cleanup of other pollution in the tidal wetlands by a Town of Brookhaven work crew, participate in a pine barrens reforesting initiative by personally planting trees and issue a written apology to the witness who photographed the dumping.

“This couple decided to make our wetlands their personal dumping ground,” Brookhaven Town Supervisor Edward P. Romaine said in a statement. “As I said when they were caught on camera: we have no tolerance for illegal dumpers, and when we catch you, we will prosecute you.”

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.