Driver's parents charged with evidence tampering New York authorities lodge charges related to UConn hit-and-run BY KATHY BARATTA Staff Writer MANALAPAN - The parents of the teenage driver who recently pleaded no contest to charges he was driving the Nissan Armada that struck Carlee Wines, 19, of Manalapan, on the University of Connecticut campus in Storrs, Conn., on Jan. 20 have been charged in connection with the incident. Wines, a freshman, died on Jan. 22 from injuries sustained in the accident, which occurred as she was crossing a street on the edge of the UConn campus. The driver of the vehicle did not stop at the scene. Anthony C. Alvino and Donna Alvino, of Lindenhurst, N.Y, whose ages were not available, were charged in an upstate New York jurisdiction with tampering with evidence, a felony, and tampering with witnesses, conspiracy to tamper with evidence and hindering prosecution, all misdemeanors. The Alvinos' son, Anthony Alvino Jr., 18, entered his no contest plea before Rockville Superior Court Judge Terrence Sullivan on Oct. 26 when he appeared in court in Rockville, Conn. Alvino was charged with misconduct with a motor vehicle (resulting in death), evading responsibility, tampering with physical evidence, possession of alcohol by a minor, traveling unreasonably fast, failure to grant right of way to a pedestrian in a crosswalk and failure to drive in the proper lane. Alvino is expected to be sentenced in early 2008. Anthony Alvino and Donna Alvino were charged by Judge William H. Mountain of the Olean City Court in Olean, N.Y., on Nov. 13, according to a court spokesperson. The spokesperson did not know the potential penalties the Alvinos could face if they are convicted. Anthony Alvino and Donna Alvino were released without bail and will appear for further court proceedings on Jan. 4 in Allegany Court, according to the spokesperson. The parents' involvement came when they visited their son at his school in the days after the incident on the UConn campus. At the time, Anthony Alvino was a student at St. Bonaventure University in Olean. A police affidavit which details the incident at UConn and the subsequent investigation states that Donna Alvino told her son and two of his friends who were passengers in the vehicle at the time of the accident that the SUV could be repaired in such a way that no one would know it had been involved in the hit-andrun. Alvino's friends were not charged in connection with the incident. The police affidavit states that at one point Donna Alvino instructed her son's friends to tell no one of the incident and to look upon it as a "life lesson that they now had to live with." According to the affidavit, she said they should not talk about it with anyone except for their parents if they had to. Alvino was in Connecticut visiting his girlfriend, UConn student Michele Hall, of Wantagh, N.Y., at the time of the accident. Hall, who was a passenger in the vehicle at the time Wines was struck, has also been charged in connection with her actions that night. On Jan. 26, after police had already followed up leads that took them on inspections of 100 Nissan Armada SUVs in towns throughout New England, UConn police were contacted by a New York attorney who told them he was representing the Alvino family. The attorney told police where to find the 2004 Nissan Armada that was registered to Donna Alvino. Attorney Raymond Perini, of Hauppauge, N.Y., is representing Anthony Alvino and Donna Alvino. He said he is the attorney who contacted UConn police and told them where to find the vehicle. Perini said the Alvinos, who are the parents of a son and two daughters, are heartsick for the Wines' loss of their daughter. "The Alvinos really extend their deepest sympathies to the Wines family. They know what it must be like to lose a child," he said. "At the time we surrendered the vehicle to the UConn police we did that believing they weren't even close" to identifying the vehicle or the driver. Perini said to this day he does not believe police investigators were "even close" and maybe had an "idea" of the vehicle. He said a "big part" of the Alvinos' decision to come forward was because Carlee Wines' parents had "put out a request for information because of the anguish and pain they were going through." "All they can do is say it's a horrible tragedy for the Wines family and they are doing what they can to make it right," he said. "They (the Alvinos) allowed me to do that knowing I was going to put their son's name out there and they knew their son was going to go to prison. "They knew they were putting their son in state prison because they were giving (law enforcement authorities) all the evidence to do that. A big part of that was to give (the Wines family) some closure and to expedite the investigation," he said. Perini was asked to comment on the allegations in the affidavit which state that Anthony Alvino and Donna Alvino attempted a cover-up of the incident in the first few days following the incident. "They (the Alvinos) go to counsel and counsel tells them what to do and they did it. I don't know what period of time a parent has to make very difficult decisions. I know it's easy to say they should have done it immediately. I think they did the right thing when they had the time to think it through," the attorney said. When asked if his clients will plead out like their son did or wait for trial, Perini said, "It's too soon to say what further decisions they will make regarding the charges. We're in talks with the district attorney."