William A. Donnelly, 42, who has been convicted four times previously of felony charges, spent the weekend in county jail in Yaphank after being arrested by East Hampton Town Police on a new felony charge, grand larceny in the fourth degree.
According to police, Donnelly, who has recently been living in Springs, entered a property on Springs Fireplace Road a little after midnight on February 17 and stole a quantity of scrap metal valued at over $1,000. The property belongs to a plumbing contracting business, which generates scrap metal in the form of pipes, including copper and brass, which are highly valued.
East Hampton Town Police detectives were able to determine, they reported, that Donnelly was the one who committed the crime after examining surveillance video provided to them by the contracting business. Donnelly was arrested last Thursday, March 14. Because of his prior felony convictions, three in New York State, and one in Florida, Donnelly was not eligible to have bail set on the new felony charge by a local judge. In such cases, bail can only be set at the county level.
However, Donnelly’s court-appointed attorney, Melissa Aguanno, pointed out during Donnelly’s initial arraignment in East Hampton Town Justice Court on Friday that the crime he was accused of, grand larceny in the fourth degree, is an offense that no longer qualifies to have bail set, under the bail reform act that took effect in New York State at the start of 2020.
“Since the inception of bail reform,” Aguanno explained on Monday morning, “this particular charge, although a felony, became exempt from cash bail. However,” she went on to explain, another law that was not amended “bars any city court, town court, or village court from issuing bail or releasing a defendant on their own recognizance where a defendant has two or more prior felony convictions.”
Aguanno moved to have the case heard in County Court. Late Monday afternoon, County Court Judge John Collins ruled in Aguanno’s favor and ordered Donnelly released without bail.
Donnelly’s most recent stint in state prison ended when he was released from an upstate facility in September 2019, after serving seven years following a string of burglaries in East Hampton Village and East Hampton Town in 2012. That 2012 arrest occurred after a high-speed chase across Shelter Island, with Donnelly driving a stolen van, which ended when he crashed into some bushes and ran off into the woods, only to be captured following a brief manhunt a little later.
