A Backpack Full of Evidence

He arrived in Montauk two months ago, Carlos Bonet, 21, told East Hampton Town Justice Steven Tekulsky Sunday morning during his arraignment on misdemeanor charges of petty larceny, possession of stolen property, and possession of a small amount of cocaine.

Police said that he had gone on a shoplifting spree in the 7-Eleven in Montauk Saturday afternoon, making off with Bluetooth headsets and a cellphone charger. The manager called police, who soon had Mr. Bonet in custody. They allegedly found the stolen items in Mr. Bonet’s backpack, along with a small plastic bag with the remnants of cocaine and a small amount of marijuana. Police quoted Mr. Bonet as saying, “It’s cocaine, not heroin. That shit was good, too. It is already in the system.”

In court the next morning, Mr. Bonet was represented by Gordon Ryan, who was there to represent another defendant. Justice Tekulsky told Mr. Ryan to “look at the last couple of pages,  10, 11, 12,” of the paperwork, which “indicates  a defendant with the same name having some charges in Georgia.”

“I did time there,” Mr. Bonet interjected. Justice Tekulsky noted that there appeared to be pending charges against him in other courts as well.

Mr. Bonet, who told the court he is a dishwasher at a Montauk restaurant, could not provide a phone number but gave his mother’s number in Pennsylvania instead.

“Your roots in the community barely exist,”  Justice Tekulsky said as he set bail at $1,000. Bail was not posted and Mr. Bonet was sent to county jail in Riverside. He is scheduled to be brought back to court today.

In a different arraignment on June 11, East Hampton Town Justice Lisa R. Rana had James D. Beckwith before her. East Hampton Town police had charged Mr. Beckwith, 55, with harassment, a violation, on June 10 but when, according to police, he refused to be handcuffed and started fighting them, they subdued him by deploying a Taser and charged him with resisting arrest as a misdemeanor.

The harassment charge came after police were called to Sherwood Lane, where a verbal dispute between Mr. Beckwith and Theodore Mastromichaels was heating up. The latter man said Mr. Beckwith had been threatening about a fence he was building.

In court the next day, Ms. Rana noted that she had arraigned Mr. Beckwith two years ago, in January 2014, on a misdemeanor charge of aggravated drunken driving. “You have a long, long history of alcohol-related arrests,” she said. With that in mind, she set bail at $4,000, which was posted.