Two University of Albany students who graduated from Walt Whitman High School were among three women arraigned Monday for allegedly falsely claiming they were victims of a racially-motivated attack on an Albany city bus in January, and for allegedly assaulting a woman.

Taylor Sherman, of Northport, said his foray into the world of drugs started in 2005 when he began experimenting with alcohol and marijuana. By the next year, he progressed to cocaine, LSD, MDMA and, ultimately, heroin.

Two years after Oheka Castle owner Gary Melius was shot in the head outside the luxury Huntington hotel and catering hall, his home, Suffolk police and the FBI confirmed yesterday that they are partnering to investigate the botched assassination.