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'Really? You Want a Free Attorney?’

Thu, 05/23/2019 - 07:12

A tennis player on a scholarship at Auburn University in Alabama is facing a felony charge of criminal mischief after being arrested in Amagansett early Sunday morning.

East Hampton Town police say Oliver E. Plaskett, 20, an Englishman, broke three windows at 129 Montauk Highway in an effort to gain access to the premises. “I thought it was my house,” Mr. Plaskett later told detectives. “I just wanted to sleep.” He finally gained access through a rear door, but fled after setting off an alarm. He was additionally charged with trespassing, a misdemeanor.

He was represented at his arraignment later that morning in East Hampton Town Justice Court by Brian DeSesa of Edward Burke Jr. & Associates. Mr. DeSesa, who was there on behalf of another client, had volunteered to take on the morning’s six other defendants.

“You’ve got a whole host of trouble,” Justice Lisa R. Rana told Mr. Plaskett when his turn came. He asked her to be allowed, in future court appearances, to be represented by a lawyer from Legal Aid.

“Really? You’ve got a summer rental out here, you’re going to college, and you want a free attorney? That is not happening,” she responded. “You can afford to summer in East Hampton, you can afford an attorney.”

She asked if he had called anyone to post bail. He told her his friends were all asleep. “Eventually, they will sober up,” she said.

Mr. DeSesa told the court that Mr. Plaskett’s parents own a house in England. “You’re going to have to call your parents,” Justice Rana said as she set bail at $500. It was later posted.

Another man facing a felony charge is Mario A. Olaya, 21, of Springs, who, police said, during a July 25 altercation at Wolfie’s Tavern near closing time, “threw a Corona beer bottle” at Bryan Cueva-Calle, striking him in the head and causing severe injury.

“I’m not going to lie, I hit him,” Mr. Olaya told police. “He hit my brother first, but yeah, I hit him with the bottle.”

Mr. Olaya, a former captain of the East Hampton High School varsity soccer team who led the team to its first county championship in 2011, was charged with assault in the second degree. He was freed after his family posted $10,000 bail.

Another former student at East Hampton High School was arrested in East Hampton Village early Sunday morning. Justin R. Cruz, 20, while being questioned after a traffic stop on Borden Lane, allegedly handed over identification for a Rodger Rodriguez, saying the card was his own.

He was charged with false personation, a misdemeanor, as well as possession of a small amount of marijuana. But those are the least of his current problems with the law. “In 2013, I issued an arrest warrant for you because you violated terms of probation,” Justice Rana told him at his arraignment. “Where have you been for the last two years?”

Mr. Cruz said he was living in Queens, and thought his probation officer would transfer his term to New York City jurisdiction. It was an argument Justice Rana wasn’t buying.

“You owe money,” she said, referring to unpaid fines from previous convictions. “You have a warrant history in this court. There was a huge police chase.” She was referring to a 2012 incident in which Mr. Cruz, handcuffed, escaped from police custody after being arrested on Cedar Drive in Springs. He managed to elude a mini-manhunt, which included a Suffolk County police canine unit, but turned himself in early the next morning, sans handcuffs.

Justice Rana set bail at $3,000. Mr. Cruz has been in county jail since then, and was to be brought back to Justice Court today.

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