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Police checking suspected probation violation find four children in ‘uninhabitable’ home in Peconic

Suffolk County probation officers and Southold Town Police looking for a man suspected of violating an order of protection in Peconic found a family living in “uninhabitable” conditions.

Southold Police said they were called to assist probation officers with checking a residence at 2865 Henry’s Lane in Peconic Monday evening to look for a Riverhead man suspected of staying there in violation of a State Supreme Court order of protection.

Officers found the man, Jeffrey Dobbins, 32, of Riverhead, hiding in a store room and took him into custody without incident, according to a Southold Police press release.

Officers also found raw sewage flowing out of a first-floor toilet, “weeks’ worth of household garbage stored in a closet” and black mold growing on the first-floor walls, according to the police report.

The Southold Town building inspector was called to the scene and “declared the house uninhabitable due to the sewage in the home and the accompanying methane gas fumes,” police said.

The Child Protective Services department was contacted since four minor children were living in the house with their mother, according to police. Mother and children left the location to stay with a relative, police said.

Dobbins was on probation following his July 29 guilty plea to a January 2016 felony contempt charge for violating a prior order of protection. He is also currently facing drug possession and other charges in Suffolk County District Court, according to online records.

Dobbins will be arraigned in Southold Justice Court today, police said.

Editor’s note: A criminal charge is an accusation. By law, a person charged with a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

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