‘I Made a Bad Mistake’

A man who recently pleaded guilty in district court to breaking into the Amaden Gay Agency in East Hampton Village on March 12 was arrested by East Hampton Town police on April 17 and charged with two more counts of burglary. 

Kevin Joe Simmons, 59, allegedly broke into two offices in a commercial building on Flamingo Avenue in Montauk early on April 15, stealing several items from each. Police said the first break-in occurred in the office of the Montauk Management Group, when Mr. Simmons climbed through an unlocked window, making off with six bottles of alcohol valued at $250. 

According to police, he then entered a second business office at 11 Flamingo Avenue, that of Montauk Plumbing and Heating, through an unlocked rear door. He is accused of stealing bungee cords and a blade from an electric saw.

East Hampton Town detectives apparently utilized surveillance video to help them identify Mr. Simmons, who was picked up in the area of the train station. He allegedly told police, “I was high when I went into the building. I made a bad mistake.”

If he is found guilty as charged, that mistake could be compounded by the open case in county court. 

Mr. Simmons was originally arrested on March 13 by East Hampton Village police. Unable to come up with the $10,000 bail set at that time, he was held in county jail until his attorney from the Legal Aid Society, Matthew D’Amato, was able to reach a deal with the district attorney’s office on March 27. In return for a guilty plea in Suffolk County Superior Court that day, Mr. Simmons was to be placed on five years’ probation and not have to do any additional jail time.

That deal is off the table, Rob Archer, an assistant district attorney, said during Mr. Simmons’s arraignment on April 18. Mr. Simmons is now looking at “significant time upstate,” Mr. Archer said.

Bail was set at $10,000. Mr. Simmons was released from custody Tuesday, because the district attorney’s office had not obtained an indictment on the felony charges within five days, as is required by law.

Mr. Simmons has continually given the court a Middle Line Highway, Sag Harbor, address as his residence, though East Hampton Town police describe him as homeless. Besides the felony charges in East Hampton Town and Village, he also has two open cases in New York City stemming from arrests by the transit police, both on disorderly conduct charges, according to court records.