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Jay Rowe
Jay Douglas Rowe, the Springs man for whom an arrest warrant was issued after he failed to appear for sentencing on two violent felony counts on Wednesday remained at large as of Friday afternoon.
Rowe, 48, was to be sentenced July 27 to 9 ½ years in state prison.
He was free on $60,000 bail, which was posted last year. It is not known who posted that bail money, but it is now in jeopardy.
Also now in jeopardy is the 9 ½-year sentence Rowe had been promised.
Rowe pleaded guilty in March to the kidnapping and armed robbery of a Springs woman whom he abducted at gunpoint from the parking lot of Springs School in March of last year. He targeted her when he learned she was carrying over $8,000, which he stole after forcing the woman to drive to a secluded nearby dead-end street.
Detective Sergeant Ryan Hogan of the East Hampton Town Police was tight-lipped about the search for Rowe when he spoke on Friday, saying only, “It is an ongoing investigation.”
Rowe is married with four children and is a long-time resident of Springs, his attorney Colin Astarita has said previously in court.
He is originally from Hancock, New York, where he attended high school, according to Rowe’s Facebook page.
The July 27 arrest warrant was the second that the judge in the case, New York State Supreme Court Justice Richard Ambro, has issued for Rowe.
On March 23, 2021, after the indictment for Rowe was unsealed, Ambro issued his first warrant when Rowe did not appear in court. According to the District Attorney’s office, Rowe had left New York after the crimes were committed, going to the state of Massachusetts.
Astarita said, after Rowe turned himself in last year to be arraigned on March 29, 2021, that his client had been in contact with the police through his office, despite his absence.
Though Astarita had initially described the evidence against Rowe as “circumstantial,” the forensics backing up the charges were overwhelming, according to the district attorney’s office, including video that tied Rowe’s vehicle and Rowe himself to the crime.
Before Rowe entered his guilty plea on March 25, prosecuting attorney Rose Romeo told the court that the people had asked for a sentence of 12 years. While the judge promised Rowe at that time the shorter 9 ½ -year sentence, he warned him, “My promise, though, is contingent on your behavior between today and the sentencing date.” Justice Ambro continued, warning Rowe that he needed to be in court for every single scheduled appearance, and that if he were to find himself in trouble with the law, the judge would mete out a much stiffer sentence.
Trouble with the law appears to be exactly where Rowe now finds himself.
On July 27, when Astarita stood before Justice Ambro sans defendant, the judge reminded Astarita of his previous statements from the bench. Astarita told Ambro that he had spoken to Rowe the night before, and that his client was prepared to come to court, though he also said Rowe “seemed out of sorts.”
That call is the last publicly known contact anyone has had with Rowe.
A warrant for the arrest of Jay Rowe, the 48-year-old Springs man who terrorized his own community last year when he abducted a local woman from the Springs School parking lot at gunpoint, then robbed her, was issued Wednesday, July 27, after he failed to appear in court for his sentencing.
Rowe had been scheduled to be sentenced to nine and a half years in state prison by New York State Supreme Court Justice Richard Ambro in his Riverhead courtroom Wednesday morning, as part of a plea deal that was reached earlier this year. In March, Rowe pleaded guilty to charges of kidnapping, armed robbery and grand larceny.
Rowe never showed up.
His attorney, Colin Astarita, was asked by Ambro where his client was. Astarita told the court that he had been in contact with Rowe the night before, and that Rowe understood that he was to be taken into custody after sentencing. However, he added, “he seemed out of sorts.” Astarita asked the court to be allowed to reach out to Rowe, though he also told the court that Rowe had not been answering his texts or calls.
Rose Romeo, the prosecuting attorney representing District Attorney Ray Tierney, asked for an immediate warrant. Braslow agreed, pointing out that the people had asked for a 12-year sentence, while he had granted a lesser term.
That shorter sentence could be in danger if Rowe does not turn himself in soon. Also in danger is the bail or bond posted on Rowe’s behalf that secured his release back in May of last year. It appears from online records that $60,000 cash was posted.
The kidnapping occurred last year on March 8, around 2:30 in the afternoon, just before school was to let out. Rowe surprised the woman, who was parked in the school’s lot, when he opened the passenger door and got in, pointing a gun at her stomach.
He forced her to drive to a nearby dead-end. He then searched the console in her vehicle, where there was more than $8,000. He took the money from her and began yelling that she was lying to him. He took the woman’s cellphone and fled the scene.
The woman drove to a nearby business and called the police. A massive manhunt ensued, and the Springs School was placed on lockdown, which lasted for over an hour.
Rowe had followed the woman for some time, apparently after he saw her with a large sum of money in East Hampton Village.
It is the second time Ambro has issued a warrant for Rowe’s arrest. The first was a couple of weeks after the crime, when detectives with the East Hampton Town Police, working with Suffolk County Police, developed Rowe as the prime suspect, using surveillance video connecting Rowe to the vehicle he had used to tail the woman when he committed the crimes. On March 23, an indictment was unsealed, causing Ambro to issue the warrant for Rowe, who was reportedly in Massachusetts.
Six days later, he had turned himself in through Astarita and was arraigned on the violent felony charges, which he pleaded guilty to almost exactly one year later.
