2 Photos
Southampton Town Police arrested a woman at the Hampton Bays Dollar Tree on an armed robbery charge after she had just been released from custody on multiple arson charges. DANA SHAW
Amanda Burnside's Hampton Bays arson spree was followed by an armed robbery after she was released from custody. SUFFOLK COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE
Just two hours after she was released from custody without bail after being arraigned on three felony arson charges in Southampton Town Justice Court, an East Quogue woman was arrested at the Dollar Tree store in Hampton Bays on the morning of November 13 and charged with attempted robbery.
The release of Amanda Burnside, 41, without bail on the felony arson charges prompted a blistering statement from Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney on the evening of November 13 decrying her release.
Describing Burnside as an “alleged serial arsonist,” Tierney noted that his office had requested that Burnside be “held in jail on $500,000 cash, $1 million bond, or $1.5 million partially secured bond,” stemming from three arson incidents that unfolded in Hampton Bays on Sunday, November 12.
Instead, Tierney said, the arraigning judge, Justice Gary J. Weber, released Burnside on her own recognizance and “told her to report for supervised release within 72 hours.”
Less than two hours after her release, observed Tierney, “the defendant allegedly committed an armed robbery.”
“Clearly, the dangerousness of this defendant, who allegedly tried to ignite three homes on fire, was not adequately considered, given that within two hours of her arraignment she allegedly committed another serious, violent felony,” Tierney said in the Monday night press release.
Tierney, a frequent critic of bail reform efforts in the state, highlighted that the “danger that this defendant posed to society could never be adequately considered insofar as dangerousness is not a bail factor that judges can consider under New York State law.”
He vowed to “continue to seek that defendants that pose a threat to public safety remain in custody, despite the obvious flaws to our law.”
In a follow-up text message exchange this week, Tierney said Burnside was connected to three arson incidents in Hampton Bays this week, which were investigated by Southampton Town Police.
“In the first one, she goes up to the house, pours accelerant, but can’t get her lighter to work. In the second one, she does the same thing — the homeowner comes out to confront her, and she asks to use their lighter to start the fire. On the third one, she does the same thing again, and this time gets her lighter to work, so she starts the fire.”
Tierney’s account aligns with a press release from the Town Police sent out late Monday night, November 13.
They report that at about 6 p.m. on Sunday, November 12, police got a call from an Oldfield Lane resident “reporting that someone was trying to burn their house down.” Police arrived and arrested Burnside after saying she had set fire to a wicker bench on the porch of the Oldfield Lane house, and it had spread to the exterior siding of the home. Police said Burnside later admitted to pouring gasoline on the bench and setting it on fire. “Luckily, the homeowner was able to extinguish the fire, and no one was injured,” police noted.
Detectives followed up with a neighborhood investigation after getting two similar calls from residents on West Tiana Road and Fairview Avenue, “who also reported someone trying to set their houses on fire.”
Burnside was charged with one count of arson in the second degree and two counts of attempted arson in the second degree, both felonies, and held overnight before her arraignment in Southampton Town Justice Court on the morning of November 13, “where she was released without bail,” confirmed Town Police.
Then, at around 11:30 a.m., police allege that Burnside “pointed a knife at the cashier and demanded money from the register” at the Dollar Tree on West Montauk Highway.
Police arrived at the Tiana Court business within minutes and arrested Burnside, who was again processed and taken to Southampton Town Justice Court. There, she was charged with first-degree attempted robbery, a felony, and with criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree, a misdemeanor. This time, she was “remanded to [the] county jail,” said police.
“It’s a crazy story,” said Tierney, a frequent critic of bail reform, “and I honestly don’t know what the judge was thinking.”
The presiding judge in both instances was Weber, said Justice Court Director Selena Berbig.
“At the first arraignment, custody status was supervised release through the Suffolk County Department of Probation, as provided by law,” Berbig wrote in a statement. She said that at Burnside’s second arraignment, bail was set at $500,000 cash, $1 million bond or $1.5 million dollars partially secured bond, as recommended by the district attorney.
Arson is among more than 200 crimes that are not eligible for bail under reform measures enacted by state government officials in 2019. There is a movement in Albany to add arson back to the list of violent crimes eligible for bail.
