Dairy Queen Grill & Chill is going to open in Massapequa in June.

Dairy Queen is trying to usurp Burger King’s throne as the fast-food royalty joust to control the vast kingdom of Long Island.

The Illinois-based ice cream and fast food chain whose TV commercials have teased LI residents for years is finally set to open a franchise location in Massapequa next month—ironically dethroning the “Home of the Whopper” that previously sat at the same location.

“We’ve gotten an overwhelmingly positive response from people,” the franchisee, 34-year-old Laura Maier of Massapequa, told Newsday, adding that she plans to open more than the one drive-through location. “We needed one out here.”

The new Dairy Queen Grill & Chill, or DQ as it is known for short, is listed on the chain’s corporate website as coming soon to 5366 Sunrise Hwy., near the corner of Unqua Road and across the street from Westfield Sunrise Mall. Massapequa Patch broke the news in January.

DQ’s entrance into the local marketplace comes after the much-anticipated debut of Sonic in Deer Park two years ago sparked lines down Route 231 and reports that the southern chicken chain Chick-fil-A is shopping for real estate on LI.

Dairy Queen is best known for its soft served ice cream—especially the chocolate-dipped cones—and Blizzard treats but also sells ice cream cakes and a full menu of hot fast food fare.

The original opening date was set for late May but was pushed back while hiring and construction continues. It is reportedly scheduled to open June 5.

The chain, which was founded in 1940, now has more than 6,000 locations in the US, Canada and 20 other counties. The LI location will be the fifth in New York State after four others upstate.

Long Islanders will no longer have to wait for the next road trip to find out why DQ’s commercials advertise treats “So Good It’s riDQulous.”

Nassau County police arrested a 16-year-old boy who posted a threat on his Facebook page to blow up Mesivta Ateres Yaakov School on Washington Avenue in Lawrence.

The threat was brought to the attention of the principal, who called 911. Police evacuated home on surrounding streets in addition to the school for two hours while the building was searched.

The student, whose name was not released, will be arraigned Wednesday at First District Court in Hempstead on charges of making a terrorist threat and harassment.

While that case was being investigated, an office employee at Unqua Elementary School on Unqua Road in Massapequa received a call from a man who made a terroristic threat against the school, police said.

Police searched the building during the evacuation and determined there were no explosives inside. That case remains under investigation.

The incidents occurred the same day the NYPD investigated a spike in suspicious items, including loose overheard light wires that reportedly forced the brief partial evacuation of LaGuardia Airport.

Detectives request anyone with information regarding this crime to contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-244-TIPS.  All callers will remain anonymous.

Omar Sepulveda tried to buy a 2013 Suzuki four-wheeled ATV from Island Power Sports on Sunrise Highway using a fraudulent Bank of America Visa card and a fraudulent American Express Platinum card at 2:37 p.m., police said.

The clerk called 911 upon learning that both cards were fraudulent, police said. The 30-year-old Bronx man fled but was stopped shortly later by an officer with whom he got into a scuffle, police said.

Sepulveda flailed his arms and kicked his legs while resisting arrest but was eventually taken into custody, police said.

The officer was taken to a local hospital where he was treated for a sprained knee.

Sepulveda was charged with assault, attempted grand larceny, criminal possession of a forged instrument, identity theft, forgery and resisting arrest.

He will be arraigned Wednesday at First District Court in Hempstead.

Brian Davis, the attorney for Raymond Roth, speaks to reporters outside Nassau COunty court on March 21, 2013.

A Massapequa man has admitted faking his own drowning death in an attempt to escape mounting debt, have his family profit from his life insurance policy and secretly start his life over in Florida.

Raymond Roth pleaded guilty Thursday at Nassau County court to fourth-degree conspiracy, a felony, in a plea deal with prosecutors. He’s expected to be sentenced May 21 to 90 days in jail on the condition that he pays $36,000 in restitution to the U.S. Coast Guard and Nassau police for resources wasted searching for his body at Jones Beach last summer.

“I’m feeling better, I’ve started school,” the 48-year-old unemployed telecommunications worker told Judge Tammy Robbins after recapping his two-week psych-ward stay, diagnoses as bipolar and suicide attempt before he turned himself in to police last August.

Roth’s 22-year-old son, Jonathan, had reported that Raymond went missing while swimming at the beach July 28, prompting a search that lasted days until police learned he was at his time share in Florida. Jonathan pleaded guilty to conspiracy and filing a false report Monday.

“He was not thinking rationally at the time,” Raymond’s Garden City based attorney, Brian Davis, told reporters outside the courthouse. He said his client was planning to get a job on a fishing boat or at a tiki bar in the Sunshine State.

Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said the bizarre case proved to be a needless distraction for search and rescue workers.

“This case easily could’ve turned tragic had an actual emergency occurred while this defendant sent first responders on a wild goose chase,” Rice said.

Davis said that Raymond, who is reportedly enrolled in culinary school, is hoping to reconnect with his son, who accused Raymond of abusing him and coercing him to participate in the scheme.

Raymond Roth

Raymond’s wife, Evana, filed for divorce last year after she discovered emails revealing her husband and son had plotted the fake drowning a week in advance. Raymond had also put the family home up for sale, sold his clothes and emptied the couples’ bank accounts.

After the plot started to unravel, Raymond called police himself to say he would turn himself in, then was stopped for speeding in South Carolina while on his way back to New York.

Raymond had faced up to 15 years in prison if he had been convicted at trial of insurance fraud. His son is due back in court April 15. Raymond declined to comment to reporters while leaving the court.

Irene Leutje

Nassau County police are asking for the public’s help in solving the mystery of a 60-year-old woman who had been missing for about a month before she was found dead about five miles from her North Massapequa home.

Construction workers reportedly discovered the body in the bushes outside of a vacant, Sandy-damaged waterfront home on Ocean Avenue in Massapequa on Valentine’s Day. Police identified the woman Tuesday as Irene Luetje, a Farmingdale State College secretary known to friends and family as “Renee.”

“Unfortunately at this point it’s a mystery to us why she was there, how she wound up there and ultimately how she died,” Det. Lt. John Azzata, head of the Homicide Squad, told reporters during a news conference Wednesday.

Investigators said that they found no apparent trauma to the victim and there appears to be no signs of foul play, but medical examiners have yet to complete an autopsy. It wasn’t clear how long she was dead before being found.

Newsday reports that Luetje’s family filed a missing person report for the woman after she neither showed up to grandniece’s birthday party Jan. 6 nor went to work the next day.

What happened in the five weeks between her disappearance and discovery remains a mystery. The worker who made the find told WCBS radio that he heard rushing water and was looking for the water main when he spotted the body.

Azzata said Luetje was known to take long walks, was taking medication for hypertension and doesn’t appear to have been robbed. He suggested that she could have been seeking assistance for a medical problem when she collapsed.

“The campus is terribly saddened by her death,” said Kathy Coley, a college spokeswoman. “We send our deepest condolences to Irene’s family.”

Homicide Squad detectives ask anyone with information regarding this person to contact them at 516-573-8800.

Nassau County police said Bryan Flack was crossing Merrick Road when he was hit by a Nissan Frontier that was making a left turn from Jackson Avenue at 5:39 p.m.

The victim was taken to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead about four hours later.

The 65-year-old Massapequa driver was not injured but his truck was impounded for brake and safety checks.

Seventh Squad detectives found no criminality involved.

More than 100 firefighters responded to the fire on Van Buren Street just after 1 a.m., police said, and discovered the victim on the second floor of the house. The man, who was not identified pending family notification, was pronounced dead at 2:50 a.m., police said.

“The fire is considered non suspicious at this time and the investigation is ongoing,” police said in a news release.

Nobody else was injured in the blaze, police said.

Omar Santiago suffered a head wound after allegedly stealing from a West Sayville wedding.

It turns out 2012 was a bang up year for stupid crime on Long Island as local suspects—some of whom are still fighting their charges—raised the bar for WTF police news moments.

And it wasn’t an easy year to be a stand-out crook. Remember the Sandy crime sprees, gas line assaults and post-superstorm price gougers? Then there’s the alleged public corruption, including the conviction of former Nassau County Legis. Roger Corbin, the arrest of Hempstead Town Clerk Mark Bonilla and a half dozen Nassau County police officers and officials facing various charges over the past 12 months.

While those who made this list didn’t leave anyone dead, some came close or, at the very least, put the suspects and public at risk. Move over Lindsay Lohan, these are our local candidates for TruTV’s World’s Dumbest Criminals.

10. Alleged West Sayville Wedding Gift Thief

Weddings are always nice. Love is in the air. There’s usually an open bar. Families put aside their feuds for a day. But someone always makes an ass of themselves. Or, in Omar Santiago’s case, Suffolk County police said he ruined one couple’s nuptials over Labor Day weekend by trying to steal a box of gift envelopes. The New Jersey teen was quickly apprehended by fellow guests as he ran from the West Sayville Country Club after stuffing a bunch of the envelopes down his pants. Smooth. The gifts were returned and Santiago pleaded not guilty.

9. New Cassel Man Plays Dentist

The tools Nassau police said Manuel Carranza used.

OK, this one is kind of disturbing. Many people are scared of the dentist, but Nassau County police said more than 100 folks had no problem having an undocumented immigrant with a sixth-grade education use unsanitary second-hand tools to perform dental work on them in his dirty New Cassel home/office. A tipster dropped a dime on the wannabe tooth fairy in April—after he’d been running his cash-only business for at least a year. Manuel Carranza was charged with unauthorized practice of a crime, criminal diversion of a prescription and other counts.

8. Bellport Teen Allegedly Brings Drugs to Court

Ah, to be young again. That feeling of invincibility that gets so many kids in trouble is apparently strong with this one. Authorities said that Keandre Hudson swallowed bags of cocaine and heroin before being arrested for fleeing police in October. He passed the drugs while locked up at Suffolk County jail, where he is being held after not posting bail. The 17-year-old Bellport man then allegedly brought the drugs with him to court while pleading not guilty Nov. 20 to fleeing cops and other charges. That’s when investigators searched him, found the narcotics and added new charges, authorities said. What more convenient place to get arrested than before a judge?

7. Garden City Man Accused of Mailing Poo to Ex-wife

Love stinks, as The J. Geils Band famously sang. But federal authorities alleged that Gerald Desiderio took that song a bit too literally when he reportedly mailed alimony checks smeared with poop to his ex-wife in Arizona. The 51-year-old Garden City man apparently took a cue from the likes of drug dealers who don’t realize they can get busted for dropping narcotics in the mail. The feds said Desiderio also mailed vulgar notes, “tasteless objects” and a photo of a knife with a serrated blade. He will face the charges in Arizona, although if there’s any upside to the charges being on the federal level, he won’t have to deal with “America’s Toughest Sheriff,” Joe Arpaio.

6. Drunk Driver Saved by Cops Before Train Hits Her Car

This one could have ended a lot worse. In a scene torn out of The Fugitive, a drunken driver mistakenly turned onto the Long Island Rail Road tracks in Bay Shore last spring, got stuck and had to be rescued by Suffolk County police officers moments before a train smashed into her car. Police had tried to radio ahead to get the train to stop, but there wasn’t enough time. Neither the officers, the driver nor anyone aboard the train were injured, but the Volkswagon was totaled. Oh yea, and the 43-year-old Islandia woman was arrested for DWI.

Suffolk police found this alligator in Mastic Beach Sept. 28.

5. Nine Alligators Found on Long Island in Six Weeks

Here’s the lone stupid crime on this list that remains unsolved. Were there more alligators dumped across Nassau and Suffolk counties before the temperatures dropped to sub-Everglades levels? Maybe. But now that winter’s in full swing, any baby gators that turn up next will likely be frozen to death. The tiny killing machines started popping up Sept. 28 in Mastic Beach. Others were found in Shirley, Wading River, Lake Ronkonkoma, Yaphank and two turned up in Baldwin in two days. The most recent one was discovered in Southampton on Nov. 11. Who knows how many more would’ve been found had Sandy not struck in the middle of this mysterious gator dumping spree.

4. Jason Kidd Nabbed for Hamptons DWI Crash

Jason Kidd in his Southampton police mugshot

What makes the NY Knicks’ point guard arrest stupider than any other drunken driving charge or celebrity brush with law enforcement? The 39-year-old NBA All Star had only signed a $9-million contract with the team 10 days before allegedly wrapping his SUV around a utility pole near his Water Mill home in July. Adding to the stupid timing of the allegations was that they came just as team owner James Dolan decided against matching the Houston Rockets $25-million contract offer for breakout star Jeremy Lin. Kidd’s fighting the charges.

3. Williston Park Man Charged With Shooting Girlfriend Over Zombies

People have strong feelings about the fictional zombie apocalypse. But none more so than The Walking Dead fan Jared Gurman, who Nassau police said was so adamant in his argument that the government can release a zombie virus that he shot his girlfriend of four years in the back outside his Willison Park home Dec. 4—about three weeks before the world didn’t end for the Mayan “apocalypse.” The woman survived and Gurman was charged with second-degree attempted murder. He’s being held on $1 million bail.

2. The Long Island Hot Dog Hooker

Catherine Scalia, aka the Long Island hot dog hooker.

This is one for the ages. Longtime stripper, bikini lover and tube-steak slinger Catherine Scalia, 45, propositioned undercover cops at her Baldwin hot dog truck last May. They charged her with prostitution when they showed up at her East Rockaway home. She argued she only was giving lap dances, not selling sex, then pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor prostitution charge and was sentenced to seven days time served. We’re not judging strippers or wiener salespeople here. What’s so stupid about this case—aside from the hilariously incongruous combination of professions—is that she was busted for doing the same thing in the same spot on Sunrise Highway years prior. And vowed to continue.

1. The Jones Beach Faked Death Plot

Sometimes people joke about faking their own death, starting their life over under an alias and living off the life insurance money. Most people have enough sense to know that it’s too ridiculous an idea for it to ever work. Then there’s Raymond Roth of Massapequa, who Nassau authorities said tried to do just that after allegedly cleaning out his wife’s bank account, putting his house up for sale and faking his own drowning at Jones Beach in August. He later turned up in Florida, sped back to LI when the alleged plot unraveled and turned himself in after a stop at the psych ward. He pleaded not guilty, along with his kid who’s accused of helping him. His wife’s filed for divorce.