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An East Hampton man was arrested for robbing Montoya Communications in the One Stop Market shopping plaza on Springs Fireplace Road. A customer of the hair salon that shares a building with the business that was robbed took a photo of the robber’s car as he fled, which police used to arrest him about 36 hours later. TE MCMORROW
The Neck Path man accused of holding up a check cashing and money transfer business in Springs on January 26 remains in Suffolk County Jail. Unable to make the $40,000 cash bail amount originally set in East Hampton on January 28, Shane Filasky will now have to pony up $50,000 to get out of jail.
The bail amount was raised at his arraignment in State Criminal Court on Tuesday, February 8. Filasky was indicted by a grand jury just days after his arrest on an armed robbery charge, leading to Tuesday’s arraignment.
State Supreme Court Justice Anthony Senft Jr. determined, after examining the case file from the bench, that Filasky “poses a risk of flight to avoid prosecution,” given that he was indicted on two felony charges, including armed robbery. Conviction on that charge alone, under state law, requires a sentence of three and a half to 15 years in state prison.
Senft heard arguments on bail from both an assistant district attorney, Stephanie Tuorto, and Filasky’s attorney, Daniel Pilo from the Suffolk County Legal Aid Society.
Tuorto laid out the accusations: At about 4:55 p.m., Filasky walked into Montoya Communications, in the One Stop shopping mall on Springs-Fireplace Road, dressed in black, wearing “a ski mask and mirrored glasses.” The female victim was alone in the store at the time. Tuorto said that Filasky “had his hand in his pocket, pointing at her, with what appeared to be a firearm.”
Panicked, the female victim opened the cash drawer. According to her statement to police, she handed Filasky some of the $100 and $50 bills in the drawer, when he began repeatedly screaming, “More! More!” She emptied the drawer of the big bills, and Filasky left the shop, allegedly with over $33,000 in cash.
A customer in a neighboring business followed Filasky, police said, and photographed his getaway vehicle, a white pickup truck.
The next day, according to an acquaintance of Filasky, while driving the same truck, Filasky went on a shopping spree with him at Macy’s in Hampton Bays. The acquaintance said he was in possession of a lot of large bills.
Not everything purchased by Filasky that day was in the Macy’s department store, the acquaintance said: After they left the store, he said Filasky bought both crack cocaine and heroin from a man in the parking lot.
They drove back to East Hampton using back roads and were briefly engaged by East Hampton Town Police in a car chase, which was called off out of concern for the welfare of the public, according to the police, after Filasky forced several cars off the road. The acquaintance also said that Filasky was smoking crack as he was driving.
East Hampton had put out an alert to all police departments to be on the lookout for Filasky’s truck.
After the aborted chase, Filasky continued driving west on Route 27, ending up in the parking lot of the Hollywood Motel in East Farmingdale, a site described by police as a “hotbed” of narcotics trafficking. There, the pickup was spotted by Suffolk County Police, who approached. According to the acquaintance, Filasky turned to him and said, “I’m f---ed.”
County Police charged Filasky with several misdemeanors, including separate charges of possession of crack and of heroin. He was released by Suffolk County into the custody of East Hampton Town Police the next day.
At Filasky’s arraignment, his attorney, Pilo, said, “Speaking to his family earlier today and yesterday, his mother not too long ago lost her house, and Mr. Filasky has been the sole support for her remaining housed. He is the one who is able to take care of her and keep her from being homeless.”
Senft considered the matter for several minutes, quietly examining the documents in the court file, before he set cash bail at $50,000, bond bail at $150,000, and partial bond secured by a 10 percent posting at $500,000.
Filasky’s next court appearance is scheduled for March 3.
