Sisters Targeted on Facebook

A New Year’s Day incident stemming from a lovers’ triangle led on Monday to the arrest of an East Hampton man.

Darius Z. Petty, 24, was in the county jail in Riverside as of yesterday, unable to post the $5,000 bail set by East Hampton Town Justice Lisa Rana during his arraignment on Tuesday. He is charged with felony criminal mischief as well as menacing, a misdemeanor.

The alleged victim, Katrina M. Cafiso, was said by East Hampton Town police to be an ex-girlfriend of Mr. Petty’s brother, Aaron Petty. After receiving an obscene message on Facebook from Aaron Petty’s current girlfriend. police said, she drove her Toyota Corolla to 98 Three Mile Harbor Road, where her ex-boyfriend lives, on New Year’s Day.

When she got out of the car in front of the house, she told police, “Darius Petty appeared in an open window upstairs.” Using profanities, he allegedly threatened her. “He disappeared from the open window for about 30 seconds,” she told police. When he reappeared, she said, he was brandishing “what looked like a silver and black handgun.”

“Darius leaned out of the window and aimed the gun right at me. He was holding it with both hands.” She ran back to the car, she said, “because I thought he’d kill me. Then I heard noises, like ‘pop, pop.’ I sped away as fast as I could.”

When she arrived home, Ms. Cafiso stated, she found that her car had been struck multiple times by shots from a pellet gun, chipping the paint and causing various dings and dents.

Ms. Cafiso was conflicted about what to do, primarily because her own sister has two young children by Darius Petty. But on Sunday, she told police, that sister found a message on her own Facebook page “from Aaron, threatening the whole family.” At that point, Ms. Cafiso called police, who investigated and placed Darius Petty under arrest.

Mr. Petty has a history of troubles with the law. In 2011, he was charged with burglarizing a Westhampton Village restaurant. In another arrest that year, he was charged by East Hampton Village police with misdemeanor drug possession. He ultimately pleaded guilty to that charge, and was sentenced to 90 days in jail. The disposition of the Westhampton Village case is not known.

East Hampton Village police had also arrested him in 2008, for allegedly participating in a mugging. The outcome of that case is sealed, Mr. Petty having been under age at the time.

Justice Rana granted Ms. Cafiso and her family an order of protection against Mr. Petty and his family, including any communication through Facebook. She took the man’s record into account when determining his bail. When Mr. Petty heard the $5,000 amount, he rocked back and forth, according to court observers, making inaudible sounds. As he was being led out of the room, he let out a loud scream. Additional officers assisted in taking him back to Wainscott police headquarters, then to county jail.

A Bridgehampton woman, Skyler Boothe, 35, was arraigned Jan. 1 in East Hampton Town Justice Court for the second time in the last few weeks on a harassment charge. Harassment is a violation, not on the criminal level.

Each incident involved a different alleged victim. The latest altercation had occurred on Amagansett Main Street a few hours earlier.

“I arraigned you in the last two weeks, and I did release you on your own recognizance,” Justice Steven Tekulsky reminded the woman.

“I’ll never do it again,” Ms. Boothe promised. “I’ll give up dating. I’ll never date again.”

Justice Tekulsky released her without bail.