Out-of-town teenagers were accused this week of stealing nearly $10,000 in fishing rods and reels from boats docked at Gone Fishing Marina on East Lake Drive in Montauk back in July.

East Hampton Town police detectives arrested Ryan Vincent Neil, 18, of Islip and Tyler Eric Mayoka, 17, of West Islip, Sgt. Daniel Roman said yesterday. They were each charged with three counts of fourth-degree grand larceny, a felony, on Dec. 17 at about 9:40 a.m. Two younger teens were charged as juveniles, Sergeant Roman said. 

Police said that on July 6, between 10:15 and 11 p.m., the young men, who had been in Montauk on a fishing trip, went to Gone Fishing Marina and took the high-end equipment from boats when no one was aboard. 

 According to the police report, Mr. Mayoka and Mr. Neil removed two Shimano Tiagra fishing rods, two Shimano 50-series fishing reels, two Lamiglas fishing rods, two Shimano fishing reels, one Penn spinning rod, and one custom graphite fishing rod from an 18-foot Wahoo center console and a 35-foot Cabo. The combined value was $3,775.

They allegedly also took $2,863 in items from a 22-foot Key West center console boat. They were a Penn warfare 30 series fishing reel, one Avet MXL fishing reel, one Avet SX fishing reel, one Tsunami shield 300 fishing reel, one Diawa Saltiga eight-foot fishing rod, one custom Lamiglas eight-foot fishing rod, one Tsunami seven-foot fishing rod, one custom Lamiglas seven-foot fishing rod, one Bass Pro Redfish 7-foot-6-inch fishing rod, and one Penn Conflict seven-foot fishing rod. 

They also went on a 32-inch Boston Whaler center console and took three Penn fishing rods outfitted with Penn conventional reels and one custom-made rod labeled “3M&R,” outfitted with a Shimano Static 10000 reel, worth $3,100.  

Detectives “recovered most of, if not all of the stolen equipment,” Sergeant Roman said. The defendants were released on their own recognizance. They will be in court after the new year.

A man who was on the run for 19 years following a crash in Springs that left his passenger dead pleaded guilty to the charges on Wednesday. He will be sentenced in January, exactly 20 years to the day of the crash. 

Wilson Pantosin, a 45-year-old from Ecuador who was found living in Texas earlier this year, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the second degree, a felony, two counts of vehicular manslaughter in the second degree, also a felony, and two counts of driving while intoxicated, a misdemeanor, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy D. Sini. Mr. Pantosin had fled the area after he was released on bail following his initial arrest. 

“Almost 20 years after the defendant killed his friend while driving drunk, justice is finally being served for the victim,” Mr. Sini said. “This conviction was the result of great work and collaboration by my office, particularly assistant district attorney Maggie Bopp, and the Suffolk County Police Department’s Fugitive Squad who made sure this defendant answered for his crimes.”

On Jan. 28, 1999, Mr. Pantosin, who was 25, was driving a 1995 Dodge Neon north on Hog Creek Road in Springs when he lost control of the car and drove across the oncoming traffic lane and onto the southbound shoulder, investigators said. The car struck a tree, a utility pole, and a guy-wire before overturning and catching fire. Mr. Pantosin was able to get out of the burning car and suffered only minor lacerations to his head.

East Hampton Town police asked him if there was anyone else in the car and he said there was not. But, after personnel from the Springs Fire Department extinguished the flames, police discovered the remains of Wilson Illaisaca, 25, of East Hampton, in the passenger seat of the vehicle.

Mr. Illaisaca’s cause of death was thermal injury and smoke inhalation with blunt force trauma as a contributing factor, according to the Suffolk County medical examiner, the D.A.'s office said. 

Mr. Pantosin's blood alcohol level about 55 minutes after the crash was .22 percent, a toxicology report showed. 

He was released o $1,000 bail following an arraignment in East Hampton Town Justice Court, and then never showed up at his next court date in March of 1999. 

It was not until earlier this year that he was found in Harris County, Tex. The fugitive squad extradited him from Texas, and he was brought back to Suffolk County on Feb. 28.

Mr. Pantosin faces a maximum sentence of five to 15 years in prison, and he is scheduled to be sentenced in front of Suffolk County Acting Supreme Court Justice Fernando Camacho on Jan. 28, 2019.

A 66-year-old man was arrested after East Hampton Town police said he discharged a shotgun inside his house following a domestic dispute on Thursday afternoon. 

Police responded to 51 Oakview Highway in East Hampton at 2:04 p.m., after Mark Laton's wife, whose name was not released, called 911, according to Detective Sgt. Dan Toia. Officers learned that Mr. Laton had fired one shot into the ceiling, he said. No one was injured during the incident.

Mr. Laton fled the scene on foot before police arrived. They found him a short time later in a wooded area behind his home. He was taken into custody without incident. 

He was charged with reckless endangerment in the second degree, a misdemeanor — Detective Toia said there was no intention to harm someone, which is why police levied the reckless endangerment charge.  Mr. Laton was released. He will be arraigned in East Hampton Town Justice Court on Dec. 20. 

East Hampton Town police officers were on the receiving end of some generosity this holiday season, and decided to pay it forward.

Gurney’s Resort donated its facilities for the East Hampton Town Police Benevolent Association’s annual holiday party on Saturday night and hosted the party at a minimal cost, according to Anthony Bosco, the P.B.A. president. In turn, the P.B.A. decided not to charge its members to attend the party and instead asked them to take toys for local children in need. Officers past and present ended up donating a total of 40 toys for children of different ages. 

“Gurney’s did something nice for us, so we figured we would do something nice for the community,” Mr. Bosco said. The officers will distribute the toys to children in need and through community and church groups before Christmas. 

In addition, the P.B.A. sponsors two to four local families in need each year by donating toys and clothing. Kim Notel, the department’s DARE officer, gets information through the schools as to who needs help, Mr. Bosco said.

“This year we decided to expand on that and hope to continue it moving forward,” Mr. Bosco said. Given the success of the effort, the P.B.A. hopes to hold a toy drive each holiday season regardless of the cost of its holiday party, he said. 

Also last week, the Southampton Town Police Department did its part to spread some holiday cheer. Police officers from the town police, with help from New York State police officers and members of the Southampton Town Police Explorers program, took children shopping at Target in Riverhead, which had a hand in making the outing a success.

The Southampton Town Policeman’s Benevolent Association made contributions that allowed for the shopping spree. Officers also provided families who participated with dinner and cake, making for a fun night out.

With uncontested races for commissioners in each of the local fire departments, there was not much of a surprise when the polls closed Tuesday night — except in Bridgehampton, where the outgoing fire chief mounted a last-minute, write-in campaign, albeit an unsuccessful one, against the incumbent, Bruce Dombkowski.

Tim Sieger, the outgoing Bridgehampton chief, announced on Monday that he was seeking the position and asked voters to write in his name on the ballot. Chief Sieger did not seek re-election as chief after one year in the position and several years as an assistant chief.

Come Tuesday night, Mr. Dombkowski, the chairman of the Bridgehampton Board of Fire Commissioners, was re-elected to another five-year term with 67 votes. Mr. Sieger received 40. In total, 116 voters turned out, with 9 votes deemed invalid.

A newcomer will join the Springs Board of Fire Commissioners. David Allen, a member of the Fire Department, received 58 votes and will fill the seat held by Kenneth Brabant Sr., who did not seek re-election after 25 years. 

Mr. Allen grew up in Springs, where he lives with his wife and son. He first joined the Fire Department in 2002 and has been a lieutenant for four years. He has worked as a mechanic for the Town of East Hampton since 2001.

"Growing up in Springs and being a member of the Fire Department, I looked forward to the opportunity to be fire commissioner, where I can be involved in the decisions that affect the community and the Fire Department," Mr. Allen said this week.  

In Montauk, Richard Schoen, who is the vice chairman of its board of fire commissioners, was re-elected to another five-year term with 61 votes, according to Dawn Lucas, the district's secretary-treasurer. A total of 63 votes were cast; one was for Eddie Ecker, a department member and former town police chief. The other was defective, Ms. Lucas said.

Mr. Schoen was elected in 2013, after serving as the Fire Department's chief. He had previously served as a commissioner. 

In Amagansett, Daniel Shields II also earned another five-year term, with 29 votes. He now serves as the district's chairman.

The owner of the Princess Diner in Southampton was sentenced Friday to six months in jail for his part in scheming to defraud and failing to pay his employees. Richard Bivona, 58, of Water Mill also had to pay $132,000 in unpaid wages to 23 restaurant workers, according to Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood, who announced the sentencing on Friday.

John Kalogeras, 57, of Commack, the former manager of the Princess Diner, who, with Mr. Bivona, falsely promised the workers their wages, including credit card tips that had been illegally withheld, was sentenced Friday to a conditional discharge, which means if he is arrested on another crime within the next year he could be resentenced.

The two were arrested in September 2017 following a 35-count indictment on charges that they withheld more than $82,000 in wages from 13 employees and threatened the workers and their families when they asked to be paid, the attorney general at the time, Eric Schneiderman, said. The number of employees and the amount owed increased as the investigation unfolded. 

Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Fernando Camacho also sentenced the business entity, RJT Food & Restaurant L.L.C., to a conditional discharge. 

Mr. Bivona had been required to pay $88,428 to 15 workers for unpaid wages earned between August and December 2016, and an additional $43,583 to eight other employees for unpaid wages earned between January 2017 and February 2018, for a total of over $132,000, the attorney general's office said. 

“Every worker is entitled to the wages they earn – period. When employers skirt the law and steal from their employees, they’ll face the consequences,” Ms. Underwood said. “We’ll continue to enforce the law to protect all New York workers.”

Mr. Bivona took over the now-defunct diner, on Montauk Highway near the Flying Point Road intersection, from Mr. Kalogeras and his family in August of 2016, but kept Mr. Kalogeras on as the manager to run the day-to-day operations. Restaurant employees, such as cooks, dishwashers, bussers, and servers — some of whom had worked at the diner for over 10 years — continued to work under the new ownership.

Between August and December of 2016, the two men withheld wages, which often included overtime hours. "Employees who received cash tips lived off those cash tips exclusively since Bivona withheld most of their credit card tips from them or paid them only a partial amount several weeks later," a statement form the A.G.'s office said. 

The men repeatedly promised their employees that they would pay them soon, and the employees continued to work at the diner in the hopes that they would eventually be paid. They ultimately quit after months of broken promises.

Mr. Bivona pleaded guilty to a scheme to defraud, a felony, and failure to pay wages, a misdemeanor, on March 9. Mr. Kalogeras pleaded guilty to failure to pay wages. RJT Food & Restaurant L.L.C. pleaded guilty to a scheme to defraud and failure to secure workers’ compensation coverage, felonies.

The attorney general said the New York State Department of Labor, the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, and the Southampton Town Police Department were involved in the investigation.

One week after Amos Goodman was asked for and submitted his resignation as chairman of the East Hampton Town Republican Committee, the committee named Manny Vilar, who mounted unsuccessful bids for councilman this year and supervisor last year, as its new chairman. A unanimous vote was taken at the committee's meeting at the American Legion Hall in Amagansett on Thursday night.

"We have to sit back, reposition ourselves, and re-evaluate," Mr. Vilar said on Friday of the committee he now leads. "For the committee itself, we have to look at the direction we want to take. I believe strongly that, regardless of whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, you're a public servant."

"We're deeply driven by our concern for East Hampton Town," he said, "for our working families, for our community."

Mr. Vilar, the founding president of the Police Benevolent Association of New York State, assumes leadership of the Republican Committee after the party suffered lopsided losses in 2017 and 2018, and the news this week that his predecessor was charged with fraud related to signatures gathered on nominating petitions ahead of last month's election.

The Republicans are also greatly outnumbered in the town: There are 8,122 registered Democrats versus 3,739 registered Republicans in East Hampton, according to the Suffolk County Board of Elections.

Nonetheless, Mr. Vilar called for a coalition of voters who feel disenfranchised, and likened his party to the Reform Democrats, a splinter group led by David Gruber that fielded its own candidates for town board and the East Hampton Democratic Committee this year. "To have a viable alternative, because of overwhelming enrollment numbers, we're going to have to work as a coalition," he said. "I'm a big-tent person. I'm happy to attract Republicans, Democrats, Independents, libertarians, no party affiliation."

"I question how the town is spending its money," he said of the town board, at present made up of a 5-to-0 Democratic supermajority. "Town government is operating in a sense that it's one-party rule, and it's not even one-party -- it's very reminiscent of Tammany Hall," he said, referring to the Democratic Party political machine that controlled New York City and state politics for more than a century.

"It's a handful of people in one party. If you look at the Reform Democrats, it appears that there's a mentality of 'You're either with me or you're out' " at Town Hall. "David Gruber and the Reform Democrats are absolutely right in all the issues they're bringing forward, which are all the issues we've been bringing forward."

"If anybody feels disenfranchised, left out, put out, as in the case of the Reform Democrats, join us," Mr. Vilar said. "Let's bring open and transparent government to Town Hall."

A 21-year-old Springs man who was arrested earlier this week after he allegedly confessed to killing his aunt's dog was back in court on Friday, this time in Riverhead.

Jose J. Galvez-Garcia waived his right to have his case presented to a Suffolk County grand jury and instead appeared in county court on what is known as superior court information, or S.C.I. That often indicates negotiations are already in play that will lead to a guilty plea.

Mr. Galvez-Garcia's lawyer, Stephen Grossman of East Hampton, said the move speeds the process along for his client. Outside the courtroom, when Mr. Grossman was asked if his client was willing to enter into a plea deal, he said that first Mr. Galvez-Garcia had to consult with an immigration attorney, which Mr. Grossman is not.

"We have to get an opinion from immigration council, and I will do that forthwith," he said, adding that his client needs to fully understand the immigration consequences associated with entering a guilty plea.

In Padilla v. Commonwealth of Kentucky, the United States Supreme Court ruled that criminal defense attorneys must advise clients who are not citizens about the deportation risks. Mr. Galvez-Garcia, a native of El Salvador, is in the United States on a green card, Mr. Grossman said. He has been living here about three years.  

Mr. Galvez-Garcia was arraigned before Justice Mark Cohen after a brief conference with his attorney. He spoke through an interpreter during the proceedings and told Justice Cohen that he understood that an S.C.I. had "the same force and effect as an indictment voted and filed by a grand jury." Mr. Grossman entered a not guilty plea to the charge of aggravated cruelty to animals, a felony, on his behalf. 

Jacob Kubetz, the assistant district attorney handling the case, asked Justice Cohen to continue the bail, $25,000 cash or $50,000 bond, set in East Hampton Town Justice Court on Tuesday. Mr. Grossman said the amount set in the lower court was reasonable. Mr. Galvez-Garcia remains in the Riverside jail in lieu of bail. 

There was no indication that his family planned to post his bail. His mother, stepfather, cousins, and his aunt, the owner of the dog, declined to comment after meeting with Mr. Grossman following the proceeding. Several members of the family were in tears as Mr. Galvez-Garcia was led into the courtroom in handcuffs to face the judge.  

East Hampton Town police said Mr. Galvez-Garcia took the 4-year-old dog, a cockapoo named Simba, from the front yard of his aunt’s house on Thomas Avenue in East Hampton on Sunday evening, then drove to a secluded area off Breeze Hill Road near Three Mile Harbor in Springs and choked and repeatedly stabbed the dog until it died. He tried to bury it, but, in an interview with police later, said he was too drunk. The family found the dog's mutilated body on Monday.

During a police interview later, Mr. Galvez-Garcia admitted he tried to snap the dog’s neck and choke it, and then stabbed it with a knife from his mother’s kitchen to make sure it was dead. A veterinarian who examined the carcass determined the dog’s neck had indeed been broken, and Mr. Galvez-Garcia was charged with aggravated cruelty to animals, a felony.

He faces a maximum of one and one-third to four years in prison. At the end of the proceeding, Mr. Galvez-Garcia and his attorney inquired about the minimum sentence. "It could be as little as probation," Justice Cohen said of the parameters set by law. 

"We've got to change the laws," said Lois Watts, an East Hampton resident who attended the arraignment with her service dog, which caused a brief stir in the coutroom before the proceedings began when it defecated on the floor. 

Two former East Hampton political party leaders were charged this week with fraud related to signatures gathered on nominating petitions ahead of last month’s election, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office said.

Amos Goodman, who resigned last week as the East Hampton Town Republican Committee chairman, and Pat Mansir, the vice chairwoman of the East Hampton Independence Party and a former East Hampton Town councilwoman and town trustee, are facing felony charges.

Mr. Goodman, a 35-year-old Springs resident who ran for Suffolk County legislator in 2015, is alleged to have submitted nominating petitions, including for Green Party judicial candidates, that contained at least 43 forgeries, the D.A.’s office said late Tuesday night. One signature was of a person who was dead, the D.A. alleged. Mr. Goodman is facing 10 counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree and 10 counts of offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree.

He was scheduled for arraignment yesterday morning in Suffolk County District Court in Islip.

The D.A.’s office said Ms. Mansir submitted nominating petitions for her party’s candidate that contained eight forged signatures, including of one person who was deceased. She was arraigned Tuesday on eight charges — four counts of possession of a forged instrument and four counts of offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree. Justice Jennifer A. Henry released her on her own recognizance.

Ms. Mansir proclaimed her innocence in a telephone call yesterday. “I didn’t do these things,” she said of the charges against her. “I never did anything like that.” She did acknowledge that her nominating petitions were “sloppy.”

“My client denies the allegations and looks forward to being proven innocent, though she never should have been put in a position to have to defend her good name,” Carl Irace, an East Hampton attorney who is representing Ms. Mansir, said late Tuesday night.

At his arraignment yesterday, Mr. Goodman was represented by Craig Fleischer of Keahon, Fleischer & Ferrante. He pleaded not guilty and was released on his own recognizance.

Mr. Goodman did not return a call yesterday. On Monday he confirmed that he had resigned from the Republican Committee, a move that followed a request from the committee’s executives. He denied earlier accusations of fraud that had been leveled by Elaine Jones, chairwoman of the East Hampton Independence Party. His resignation was “not because of any investigation,” nor, he said, had the district attorney’s office contacted him. Rather, he said, “I’m not confident that there’s a strategy to electoral success, or at least one I can deliver. The idea of fighting to retain some position that I was not enjoying and was a thankless task didn’t appeal to me.”

In a statement yesterday, the Republican Committee said, “It would be inappropriate to comment on what is an active investigation. It is the official policy of the EHTRC to adhere to all laws, rules and regulations.” The committee “does not condone any conduct that would not be expressly permitted. We would also caution that speculation during this investigation is in [and] of itself counter to all parties involved” given due process protection.

The D.A.’s office also announced the arrest of two other East End men, William Mann, 60, of Cutchogue, and Gregory Dickerson, 55, of Mattituck, who were charged with unrelated petition fraud, as well. Both are Suffolk County Board of Elections employees.

“Through their alleged actions, the defendants corrupted the democratic process and violated the public’s trust,” Suffolk District Attorney Tim Sini said in the statement issued on Tuesday night of all four who were charged. “This brazen scheme to get preferred candidates on the November 2018 ballot by any means necessary included the alleged filing of petitions with forged signatures, some of which included forged signatures of deceased individuals. In addition, one of the defendants is alleged to have used his position as a member of the Suffolk County Board of Elections to deceive voters into signing petitions they might otherwise have declined to sign. This kind of conduct is unacceptable; if you abuse your position of public trust and attempt to disrupt the integrity of the election process, you will be brought to justice.”

The Republican Committee had asked for Mr. Goodman’s resignation two weeks ago after it became aware of an investigation by the Public Integrity Bureau of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office. The D.A.’s office said it received complaints from representatives of the Suffolk County Green Party, the East Hampton Town Republican Party, and the East Hampton Town Independence Party.

The investigation was said to be focused on the validity of nominating petitions submitted by Mr. Goodman for Lisa Larsen, a 2015 candidate for town board who had been mentioned as a possible candidate in this year’s special election. Republicans ultimately named Manny Vilar its candidate in the special election for a seat on the town board.

Ms. Jones, the Independence Party chairwoman, had made allegations of fraudulent signatures after Mr. Goodman previously leveled the same accusation at the Independence Party, specifically targeting nominating petitions carried by Ms. Mansir.

David Lys, who had been appointed to the vacant seat in January, won the Nov. 6 election in a landslide, with unofficial results giving him 69 percent of the vote; official results are expected to push that percentage even higher.

The Independence Party had chosen David Gruber, a Democrat, over Mr. Lys and Mr. Vilar for its nomination. Ms. Mansir gathered signatures for Mr. Gruber’s nominating petitions. The East Hampton Town Republican Committee challenged the petitions, and New York State Supreme Court Justice Carol MacKenzie ostensibly agreed with the committee, writing in August that the petitions were “replete with fraudulent dates and forged signatures and/or initials of signatories and/or subscribing witnesses.”

The Independence Party petitions were voided and the Independence line for town councilman was blank on the November ballots.

The investigation did not reveal evidence that any of the candidates were aware of or involved in the alleged schemes, the D.A.’s statement said.

This week’s actions represent a climax to acrimony between Mr. Goodman and the Independence Party officials that had simmered for more than a year. Jerry Larsen, the former chief of the East Hampton Village Police Department and a candidate for town board last year, had sought the Independence Party’s endorsement during the 2017 campaign. Independence Party officials interviewed Mr. Larsen, a registered Independent, along with his running mates on the Republican ticket, Mr. Vilar, who ran for supervisor, and Paul Giardina, but ultimately endorsed the Democratic candidates.

Mr. Larsen, who is Lisa Larsen’s husband, then attempted to force a primary, but a state appellate court overturned an earlier decision and his effort failed over a minor flaw in the wording of his petitions.

Mr. Goodman referred to those events earlier this year when Ms. Jones accused the Republican Party of “trying to hijack the Independence Party” this year by “getting Independence people to run primaries,” charges she made to The Star.

At that time, Ms. Jones first implied that Mr. Goodman tried to blackmail her, threatening to challenge the Independence Party’s petitions for Mr. Gruber if the party would not allow a primary challenge by Mr. Vilar. “Frankly, I believe that we have to do things differently as a Republican Party if we’re going to have different results,” Mr. Goodman said at the time, referring to Mr. Larsen’s effort to force an Independence Party primary last year. “Part of that is applying strict scrutiny the way it applies to us. So when you see Jerry Larsen bounced off” an Independence Party primary bid in 2017, “you’re damn right I’m going to look at the petitions.” Ms. Jones “can call that blackmail,” he said. “It’s not.”

Mr. Vilar and Mr. Larsen were petitioners in the suit filed on July 25 seeking to invalidate the petitions and thus the Independence Party’s nomination of Mr. Gruber, who lost a Democratic Party primary to Mr. Lys in September. “We have a stack of affidavits saying, ‘I didn’t sign this,’ ” Mr. Goodman told The Star at the time. “We’re going to go to court to get him bounced” from the Independence Party line. The Republicans’ challenge was successful.

Ms. Jones retaliated. Though she did not meet a July 16 deadline to register a complaint with the board of elections, she was adamant about alerting the district attorney, telling The Star in August that, “All I know is that Amos Goodman has forged signatures, and I’m going to the D.A. I’m going to get affidavits from the people who said they didn’t sign Manny’s petitions, and go to the D.A.”

Ms. Mansir, 72, who lives in East Hampton, has long been involved in politics. She was a town councilwoman for 12 years and served for 10 years on the East Hampton Town Planning Board. She last held public office in 2017, when she resigned in her first term as an East Hampton Town trustee, expressing growing frustration with colleagues who “diminish and restrict” other trustees and with what she described as the body’s dysfunction. When she ran for town trustee she did so as a Democrat and was elected with Independence endorsement. She said yesterday that she has not resigned her position with the Independence Party.

Mr. Goodman runs a corporate advisory firm focused on the aerospace and defense industries. He assumed chairmanship of the Republican committee in 2017.

If convicted of the top count of criminal possession of a forged instrument, each defendant faces a maximum sentence of two and one-third to seven years in prison.

Yesterday, Ms. Jones reiterated her version of events, telling The Star that Mr. Goodman had threatened to seek charges against Ms. Mansir if Ms. Jones would not sign a Wilson Pakula authorization, which a party gives to a candidate allowing him or her to run as the party’s candidate if he or she is not registered with that party. “Amos threatened us,” she said. “He told me that if I would sign a Wilson Pakula for Manny he would not pursue Pat. I told him no. I didn’t expect all of this, but it is what it is. . . . We were being blackmailed by him and I wouldn’t stand for it. It was almost extortion.”

"I will support Pat, we’ll support her,” Ms. Jones said of Ms. Mansir. “We will do whatever we can.”

“He doesn’t even know me,” Ms. Mansir said yesterday of Mr. Goodman, “so I don’t take it personally. But I also don’t want to meet him now.” 

Update, 11:45 p.m.: East Hampton firefighters quickly extinguished a fire that broke out on a deck at a house on Accabonac Road Tuesday night, before it spread into the house. 

Chief Gerard Turza Jr. said his department was called to 123 Accabonac Road, on the corner of Floyd Street, at 8:22 p.m. Brian Stanis, the second assistant fire chief, arrived first to find a deck fire that was starting to extend to the house, Chief Turza said. A window was already blown out and the fire was beginning to enter the house.

"A quick, aggressive attack was initiated by first arriving crews and the fire was contained to the area of origin," Chief Turza said.  

There were people in the house when the fire started. No one was injured.  

The East Hampton Town fire marshal’s office is investigating the cause, but Chief Turza said it does not appear to be suspicious.

Originally, 8:50 p.m.: The East Hampton Fire Department quickly knocked down a fire that reportedly broke out on a deck on an Accabonac Road property on Tuesday evening.

Multiple callers reported seeing flames at 123 Accabonac Road at about 8:20 p.m. The bulk of the fire was quickly brought under control.

Accabonac Road, near Floyd Street, was shut down while firefighters attacked the fire. 

East Hampton Village Ambulance Association was on scene, and also had to respond to a second, unrelated call at headquarters. 

This article will be updated with more information when it becomes available. 

Correction: The fire broke out on a deck, not a shed, which was originally reported.