Drug Charges, Theft, Too

A Bayport woman who was scheduled for release on Friday from the county jail remains in custody after being charged the day before with four more offenses. Kayla Murray, 26, also known as Kayla McKean, remained in custody as of yesterday, unable to post the new bail set for her.

She originally faced two felony grand larceny charges, along with several drug possession-related misdemeanors, stemming from a March 26 incident involving the theft of credit cards and prescription drugs from Yong Jo Ji, an artist with a studio on Plank Road in East Hampton. Bail was set at $5,000, which she could not pay. Under state law, someone who is jailed on felony charges must be either indicted or released within five days.

That would have been Friday, but while the woman was in jail Mr. Ji realized he was also missing an eight-inch Samsung Galaxy tablet. Police confirmed that it had been in Ms. Murray’s possession when she was arrested and  charged her with petty larceny and possession of stolen property, as well as two more drug-possession charges, all misdemeanors.

Brian Francese, Ms. Murray’s Legal Aid Society lawyer, asked East Hampton Town Justice Steven Tekulsky last Thursday during his client’s second arraignment to free her and send her to a drug rehabilitation program. Justice Tekulsky asked whether this would be the first time she would be placed in a treatment program instead of jail. The answer was no.

“People do nothing until they are faced with the prospect of being in jail or going into treatment,” Justice Tekulsky said.

The district attorney’s office asked that bail on the new charges be set at $7,000. Mr. Francese called the amount excessive. “The defendant has no ties to the Town of East Hampton,” Justice Tekulsky noted, adding that she did have several prior misdemeanor convictions. He set bail at $2,500.

In addition to the charges here, Ms. Murray faces a misdemeanor charge in county court of possession of a hypodermic needle.