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Jay Rowe
Jay Rowe, the 48-year-old Springs man who eluded justice for five days after not showing up for his sentencing last week after he was convicted of a kidnapping and armed robbery in Springs, turned himself in on Monday, August 1.
He is being held in the Suffolk County Jail in Yaphank, and will be sentenced August 11.
Rowe was originally supposed to be sentenced to 9½ years in state prison by State Supreme Court Justice Richard Ambro on July 27. Free since posting $60,000 bail in May 2021, Rowe failed to appear in court, causing Ambro to issue an arrest warrant.
That original sentence, which Rowe had been promised by Ambro when he pleaded guilty in March, is now very much in doubt, as is the $60,000 bail, Rowe’s attorney, Colin Astarita, acknowledged on Tuesday.
On July 27, when Astarita stood before Ambro sans defendant, he told the judge that he had spoken to Rowe the night before, and that his client had been prepared to come to court, though he also said Rowe “seemed out of sorts.”
That call was the last publicly known contact anyone had with Rowe until Astarita reestablished contact, apparently within 24 hours of him turning himself in.
Astarita is involved in an unrelated trial this week and communicated Tuesday via text. He said that, though he had been out of contact with his client for several days, he was able to speak on the phone with him on Monday. Astarita was at the Criminal Courts Building in Riverside at the time of the conversation.
He said that he told Rowe, “If you want to turn [yourself] in, that I would be there and notify the judge — which is exactly what I did.”
Rowe, with Astarita at his side, turned himself in to the judge, who ordered him to be immediately remanded, the attorney said.
Under a plea deal with prosecutors, Rowe had pleaded guilty and admitted in March to abducting a Springs woman at gunpoint. The victim was seated in her car in the Springs School parking lot, just before school let out on March 8, 2021.
He targeted her when he learned she was carrying over $8,000 in cash, which he stole after forcing the woman to drive to a secluded nearby dead-end street.
Springs School was placed on lockdown for one hour, and a massive manhunt for Rowe ensued.
Rowe is married with four children and is a long-time resident of Springs, Astarita has said previously in court.
The July 27 arrest warrant was the second arrest warrant that Ambro has issued for Rowe. On March 23, 2021, after the indictment against 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 Northampton, Massachusetts.
Astarita has said previously in court that he helped facilitate Rowe’s surrender last year, as well.
Though the attorney had initially described the evidence against Rowe as “circumstantial,” the forensics backing up the charges were overwhelming, according to the D.A.’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 wanted a sentence for Rowe of 12 years. While the judge promised Rowe at that time the shorter 9½-year sentence, he warned, “My promise, though, is contingent on your behavior between today and the sentencing date.”
Ambro continued, telling 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.
