Riverhead search warrants uncover illegal housing, blight at two properties

Riverhead officials swept two Riverhead properties on Friday and came away with more than 30 violations, a sign of how far neighborhood complaints had escalated at 533 Osborne Avenue and 332 Hamilton Avenue.

Code Enforcement officers and Riverhead police executed search warrants at the two addresses after repeated concerns about unsafe living conditions, illegal occupancy and quality-of-life problems. Investigators reported people living in illegal basement spaces, an abandoned and boarded-up dwelling that was still occupied, unsafe building conditions, unlawful rental arrangements, litter and rubbish, and multiple structures that lacked required permits or certificates of occupancy.

The town also documented more than 16 unregistered vehicles across the two properties, along with exterior maintenance problems and other blight. Taken together, the findings suggest these were not isolated code issues but long-running problems that had started to affect the surrounding blocks.

Town Supervisor Jerry Halpin cast the operation as a public-safety move, not a cosmetic cleanup. Riverhead’s Code Enforcement Division says its job is to enforce the town code, property-maintenance rules and parking regulations in the interest of public safety and a higher quality of life for residents, business owners and visitors. The latest action was in line with that mission and with the town’s willingness to use search warrants when officials believe complaints have turned into immediate hazards.

The April 25 enforcement also fit a larger pattern in Riverhead. In August 2024, town officials executed a search warrant at a Newton Avenue house after a long investigation into alleged overcrowded conditions. And in April 2022, Riverhead police executed search warrants at 332 Hamilton Avenue and 607 Osborn Avenue in response to community complaints of drug dealing. The return to Hamilton Avenue and Osborne Avenue shows how some properties can remain on the town’s enforcement radar for years.

The town did not identify the property owners, tenants or any legal representatives involved in the latest action. It also did not say whether anyone was displaced or given a deadline to correct the violations, leaving the next stage of enforcement to determine whether the crackdown produces lasting change or only a temporary pause in the neighborhood’s problems.