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As a defense attorney decried a judge’s decision Friday to keep Angelo Reyes locked up on a $1.5 million bond, newly released affidavits shed light on the two latest crimes the Fair Haven developer is accused of committing.
Reyes appeared in Courtroom B in New Haven state Superior Court on Friday afternoon, less than 24 hours after he turned himself in on charges related to two suspicious fires that took place in 2008 and 2009. Judge Bruce Thompson declined to lower Reyes’ bail, despite the request of Reyes’ lawyer, Frank Antollino, and the recommendation of the bail commissioner.
Reyes remains in jail pending a March 6 hearing, where he’ll have another chance to request a lower bail.
The state is trying to keep Reyes behind bars as the feds prosecute a separate case against him related to four other arsons, Antollino said after the brief proceedings. “It’s more difficult to present a case [for the defense] if you have a defendant that’s incarcerated.”
Reyes’ arrest Thursday was the latest in a series of criminal charges against the prominent and politically connected Fair Haven developer who had turned around his life after serving jail time on drug-dealing charges. Reyes already has charges pending against him in federal court for allegedly torching four properties in Fair Haven; the feds say he burned down buildings to make way for development plans.
Reyes has consistently denied the charges. “They have their head up their ass,” he said of the investigators in an Independent interview last month. (Read about that and some of his federal charges here.) Reyes claims someone else has been burning buildings and pinning the crimes on him.
The new charges he was arrested on on Friday are the result of claims made by Osvaldo Segui Jr. and Sr., who pleaded guilty in federal court to being hired by Reyes to set fires. They told law enforcement agents that Reyes hired them in 2009 to firebomb a BMW parked on Quinnipiac Avenue and in 2008 to torch a property at 95 Downing St., across the street from Reyes’ laundromat, which burned down a year later.
Click here to read about that; click on the play arrow to watch what Reyes had to say about it at the scene right after the arson.
A complex set of land transactions connected with the property at 95 Downing St. caught the eye of FBI and state police investigators who visited City Hall offices last month. Land records show that Reyes’ brother, Wilson “Porky” Reyes, was able to pick up the property — assessed in 2007 for $105,280 — for only $19,900 after the fire.
Without Prejudice
Just before 12:30 p.m., Reyes was escorted into Courtroom B wearing handcuffs and a black leather jacket over a white buttoned shirt tucked into jeans.
He said nothing during the brief hearing. Bail commissioner Dale Mashia mentioned four times that he had turned himself in voluntarily on Thursday and also said he has submitted $230,000 in bonds for three pending state charges — larceny and witness tampering — and has posted a $500,000 property bond on the federal charges. She also outlined his criminal record, which dates back to 1983 and includes a 1993 federal conviction on cocaine charges. She concluded by asking for $100,000 on each of the two warrants against him.
State prosecutor Jennifer Lindade.
State prosecutor Jennifer Lindade argued that the bonds should remain as set, given pending cases and prior convictions. Reyes poses a flight risk, she said.
“His family has posted $500,000 worth of property in federal court, to assure his appearance in court,” Antonillo replied. He’s never missed a court date or an appointment as the federal case has been prosecuted, Antonillo said. “He surrendured himself as soon as the police called him up and told him they had warrants for these charges.” He asked that the judge follow the bail commissioner’s recommendation.
Judge Thompson denied the request, without prejudice. He said Reyes will have a chance to request again on March 6 in front of Judge Fasano, who set the bail initially.
Reyes and his attorney, Frank Antollino.
The feds have known about the BMW fire and the 95 Downing St. fire for years, Antonillo said out in the hallway moments later. Somehow they never arrested him on those charges before, he said. “I think they’re trying to get him incarcerated.”
The bond is way out of proportion, given the alleged crimes and how long ago the they occurred, he said. “It’s an excessive bond for these charges and the date of these charges.”
The charges are: two counts of conspiracy to commit arson in the second degree; two counts of conspiracy to commit criminal mischief in the first degree; conspiracy to commit burglary in the first degree; and conspiracy to commit reckless endangerment in the second degree.
“It’s Not Gonna Happen”
Arrest warrant affidavits released after Reyes’ hearing paint a fuller picture of just what “these charges” entail.
One affidavit, written by state police Sgt. Michael Pendleton, details the alleged fire-bombing of a BMW on May 25, 2009.
The affidavit gives a possible motive for the firebombing — relating back to a dispute over a permit for a “community outreach event” for a drug treatment center.
Here’s what happened, according to the document, which is based largely on information provided by father and son Segui:
On the day of the arson, Reyes drove the Seguis to a home on Quinnipiac Avenue where a green 1998 BMW 528I was parked. He told them specifically how it should be set ablaze. He told them to come back later that night, break a rear window in the car, pour in gasoline and “put the ‘thing’ in the window.”
“Segui Jr. explained the ‘thing’ was a firework that resembled and ‘old fashioned’ grenade with a long wick,” the report states. “Reyes provided Segui Jr. with a box of the ‘things’ and ten dollars for gasoline. … Reyes told Segui Jr. that he [Reyes] had a problem with the owner of the BMW but did not elaborate.”
Late that night, the Seguis returned. As Segui Sr. waited in the car, Segui Jr. carried out the crime as planned. Reyes gave Segui Jr. $150 the next morning for his trouble. Reyes gave Segui Sr. $50.
The car, which was uninsured and had 100,000 miles on it, was a total loss. The owners were Madeline and Carlos Vargas. Madeline, who owns a business with her daughter on Grand Avenue in Fair Haven, told cops she knows Reyes only in that context. She said she only had one disagreement with him.
Eight months before the fire, she asked Reyes’ permission to use one of his properties for a “one-time community outreach project.” Madeline is a program manager for a local drug treatment center.
“It’s not gonna happen,” Reyes told her, according to the affidavit.
“Reyes advised Vargas it was his goal to remove all of the drug addicts from Fair Haven. As a result, Vargas told an employee to request a permit through the City of New Haven for a separate property. When the employee began the permit process, the employee was told by someone in New Haven City Hall that Angelo Reyes doesn’t want the event to occur, therefore, the permit for the community outreach project was denied by the City of New Haven,” the affidavit states.
“I’m Still Gonna Get The Lot”
The second affidavit describes how Reyes allegedly had a property torched when the owner refused to sell it to him for development plans.
The alleged arson occurred on October 9, 2008. The affidavit was also prepared by Sgt. Pendleton, based on information from the Seguis.
Here’s what happened, according to the document:
On May 31, 2007, Carmen Lopez, the owner of 95 Downing St. made a criminal complaint stating that Reyes had fraudulently taken out a second mortgage on the property, for $50,000.
Robert Lopez, Carmen’s son, told police he purchased the property from Reyes in 2002. He put the property in his mother’s name because he had bad credit. Robert said Reyes had created fake papers showing that Carmen was employed at Reyes’ Peoples Laundromat, so that she could get a mortgage.
Robert said Reyes then tried to buy the property from him, but he turned him down several times. “When it became apparent that Robert Lopes was unwilling to sell the property to Angelo Reyes, he [Reyes] had the house intentionally burned to the ground,” the affidavit states.
Reyes gave instructions to the Seguis on how to set the fire. They were given several hundred dollars for the job.
At the time of the fire, Robert was in the process of renovating the property, which he had not insured.
The building was demolished after the fire, per order of Andrew Rizzo, city building inspector.
“About 2 – 3 days after the fire at 95 Downing Street, Reyes approached Robert Lopez at a work site and accused him of setting fire to his [Lopez] own property. Reyes then mocked Lopez by stating, ‘I’m still gonna get the lot,’” the affidavit states.
Reyes denied having anything to do with the destruction of the property; he said his lawyer has advised him to stop talking further about that case or any other. (Lopez could not be reached for comment.)
Feds Hit City Hall
Land records from City Hall shed more light on the charges.
FBI Special Agent Jim McGoey and state police Sgt. Pendleton inquired about the 95 Downing St. in visits to city government offices in the first half of January. They were particularly interested in documents regarding a lien the city put on 95 Downing and subsequently releasing the property owner from the lien.
Rizzo slapped a $21,500 lien on the property the day of the fire to cover the cost of having the city hire a contractor to demolish it.
“Due to the fire that occurred on this date, the building … was heavily damaged and has collapsed. Therefore, I deemed the entire structure and site unsafe,” Rizzo wrote in a letter hand-delivered to Carmen Lopez.
The property was obtained by an entity called Green Tree Serving LLC in February of 2010. It paid nothing for it, according to property records.
Meanwhile, Reyes’ brother, Wilson “Porky” Reyes, was interested in buying the house along with a partner. In an interview last month, Porky Reyes said the lien issue had to be resolved first, though. He finally did buy the property from Green Tree, on Sept. 20, 2010. He paid $19,000. Carmen Lopez had paid $110,000 for the property in 2002.
“The big thing was the lien,” Porky Reyes recalled. “It held up the closing for a while” until his lender took care of it.
Agents McGoey and Pendleton were looking for documentation about that lien when they visited first the City Clerk’s office, then the building department and the corporation counsel’s office, in January. They asked about why the city had released the lien. They asked whether it had ever been paid back. And they inquired into Angelo Reyes’ relationship with city officials. (Reyes has worked on numerous mayoral and City Hall-backed aldermanic campaigns.)
Andy Rizzo signed a release of the lien on Sept. 14, 2010, according to land records.
In response to a Freedom of Information request from the Independent, the city provided a copy of a $21,500 check received from Green Tree Servicing, based in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Sept. 1, 2010.
Porky Reyes subsequently transferred the property to a limited liability corporation called Por-Ken. State records list him as a member of the LLC along with Peter Kennedy of Wallingford.
“My partner had put up all the money,” Reyes said. He said his brother had nothing to do with the transaction. “I picked that up off a real estate agent,” he said. “We were going to build a house [there]. But the economy’s not right right now.” He said he has subsequently sold the property. (That sale does not yet show up on the assessor’s online database.)