ROME, N.Y. — New York State Police have arrested 39 people for alleged crimes committed at Woodstock '99, and are investigating 96 other reported crimes, including eight sex offenses, officials said Wednesday (Aug. 4).

Police also announced a fourth death tied to the three-day festival, which was held July 23-25 at the decommissioned Griffiss Air Force Base. Frank Cooper, 31, of St. Petersburg, Fla., died Sunday from the effects of heat exhaustion, said State Police Capt. John Wood, who is in charge of the investigation of Woodstock crimes.

Cooper, whose condition was complicated by diabetes, had been taken from the festival site to St. Luke's hospital in Utica on July 24, Wood said Wednesday afternoon from his office in Oneida.

He was the second Woodstock attendee to die of heat exhaustion. Another died of a heart attack on the first day of a festival, and a woman was hit by a car and killed on her way home from the event.

Wood said police are optimistic about tracking down participants in the festival-ending riots, in part because of the substantial response to photos of the rioting that the police posted last week on their website (www.troopers.state.ny.us).

Wood said he doubled the number of troopers investigating Woodstock crimes from five to 10 after receiving 155 e-mails and several phone calls offering information about the photos.

Many of the tips contain substantive leads, and police may send troopers to Vermont, Pennsylvania and other states to investigate, Wood said.

Citing copyright violations, the Associated Press asked police to remove its photos from the website, but officials have no plans to do so, according to police spokesperson Jamie Mills. "We believe it's fair use," Mills said.

Meanwhile, Wood took issue with local officials who have tried to downplay the fire-fueled chaos that ended the festival. "[Rome Mayor Joseph Griffo] prefers to call it a disturbance, but when people are shoving me, and throwing bottles and rocks at me and calling me a f---ing pig, that seems like a riot to me," he said. Wood estimated that a few thousand people took part in the riot, led by 200-300 ringleaders.

Woodstock organizers have blamed the riots, in which 60 people were hospitalized, as the work of a few "deranged" festival-goers. "People have to be held responsible for their actions," Woodstock spokesperson Elizabeth Chanley said.

Of the sex offenses police are investigating, five are classified as rape and three as sexual abuse, which generally means fondling, Wood said.

Wood said police are having trouble identifying the alleged attackers in these cases, "because you had a transient city — there one day and gone the next. It makes our job pretty tough."

The Woodstock-related crimes the police are still investigating include 66 thefts, 15 cases of criminal mischief and five drug cases, three of which involved marijuana. Two of the four deaths also are being investigated, the state police said in a statement.

During the festival, 10 people were arrested on drug charges, according to the statement. Of those, five were accused of having marijuana and one was accused of possessing nitrous oxide gas. At least two of the remaining four allegedly had psychedelic mushrooms, Oneida County Assistant District Attorney Grant Garramone said.

Police also arrested festival-goers for vandalism, assault, riot, disorderly conduct, trespassing, resisting arrest and harassment.

The latest figures do not include a 26-year-old prison guard from Rome who was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl when she left the concert site in the festival's final hours, since the attack allegedly took place off site. Rape counselors reported talking to numerous sexual-assault victims during the three-day event, and a rape counselor and a social service counselor reported two separate gang rapes in the mosh pit in front of one of the festival's main stages.

In a statement last week, Woodstock promoters John Scher, Michael Lang and Ossie Kilkenny said, "We're shocked and dismayed by the allegations of sexual abuse, and we're doing everything we can do to help the investigation, including handing over all the video tape and any records that we have. If the alleged perpetrators are caught, we hope that they will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

Wood said Woodstock promoters have fully cooperated with all police investigations, using security chief Ken Donahue as a liaison. "He's been totally professional throughout," Wood said.