‘Mastermind’ of Suffolk dumping out of jail, officials say

The man prosecutors called the “mastermind” of a dumping scheme at four Suffolk properties is out of jail.

Thomas Datre Jr. was released from jail in December after his sentence expired, according to the Suffolk County Sheriff’s office. He was sentenced on April 27, 2017, to serve concurrent one-year terms for four felony convictions.

“He paid his debt to society, and he’s doing everything he can to remedy the situation,” said Datre’s attorney, David Antwork, who declined to comment further.

Suffolk inmates typically serve eight months per year sentence provided they exhibit good behavior, said an officer in the sheriff’s records department, who declined to give his name.

Contaminated construction debris was dumped at four properties: Roberto Clemente Park in Brentwood; a six-home subdivision in Islandia built for returning veterans in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars; a private, one-acre plot on Islip Avenue in Central Islip; and a sensitive wetlands area in Deer Park. The case led to the convictions of five people, including two town parks officials.

State and local authorities are still seeking millions of dollars in damages for the costs of illegal dumping at Roberto Clemente Park, four years after authorities began investigating the illegal dumping of nearly 40,000 tons of debris containing asbestos and lead there.

Lawsuits filed by New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and Islip Town officials against Datre and dozens of other defendants are pending.

The state is seeking damages for the lost use of Roberto Clemente Park when it was closed for cleanup for three years, while the town is seeking at least $4 million in damages for remediation and rehabilitation costs.

The park, the subdivision and the wetlands parcel have all been completely cleaned up, the DEC said. The Central Islip parcel is in the final stages of remediation, the agency said, after the site lingered with construction debris for nearly five years.

The DEC said it “is rigorously monitoring this cleanup of this site in order to protect public health and the environment and has been closely overseeing the work of the property owner.” Soil samples are needed to determine full remediation.

State Supreme Court Justice Fernando Camacho had deferred Datre’s sentencing to allow him to fulfill a condition of his March 2016 guilty plea, which required that he help clean up the contaminated sites.

SEE PHOTOSIslip dumping scandal: A timeline

Datre, 44, of St. James, had also been sentenced to conditional discharges for four misdemeanor counts of operating a solid waste management facility without a permit.

A number of defendants in Islip’s lawsuit — including members of a local church that sought to rehabilitate the park soccer fields, a project prosecutors said led to the dumping — were added back to the docket after previously being dismissed from the case.

Other lawsuits surrounding the dumping are still in limbo, including a defamation lawsuit filed by Datre’s parents, Thomas Datre Sr. and Clara Datre, against Islip Town.

By Rachelle Blidner

rachelle.blidner@newsday.com@rachelleblidner

Rachelle Blidner covers Suffolk County government, politics and breaking news.