by Melissa Bailey | Dec 21, 2010 8:20 am

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Posted to: Fair Haven

Just as Angelo Reyes was building homes, he was burning them down as well, a federal prosecutor charged.

As the developer showed up in court to answer to charges he burnt down his own laundromat, the prosecutor accused him of setting “at least 12” fires to properties across Fair Haven.

Reyes’ court-appointed lawyer, Richard S. Cramer of Hartford, said he believes Reyes will not be charged with the other 11 fires, and he will fight “vigorously” to keep those allegations from being discussed before a jury.

The revelation took place Monday afternoon before Judge Thomas P. Smith in U.S. District Court in Hartford. Reyes was summoned there for a detention hearing following his arrest Friday on federal arson and conspiracy charges related to the July 30, 2009 fire that destroyed his People’s Laundromat at 83 Lombard St.

Reyes has denied any role in the arson. On Monday he entered a not guilty plea, which is standard procedure at this point in time in criminal cases.

After his brother and two sisters put up their houses for collateral, Reyes was released from federal custody without paying any money. He was swiftly arrested by the Branford police for a larceny charge related to some lumber that was allegedly not paid for.

Attorney Cramer (pictured) said he believes Reyes will be freed from state custody promptly after posting bond.

“His brother’s a bail bondsman,” Cramer noted.

That brother, Wilson “Porky” Reyes, owner of Porky’s Bail Bonds and a Grand Avenue bar, was one of six supporters who showed up to the small, carpeted, second-floor courtroom for the hearing at 2 p.m. Reyes’ wife Irma and two sisters, former Fair Haven Alderwoman Maria Reyes-Rivera and Shirley Reyes-Ortiz, joined what became an emotional hearing weighing Reyes’ many good deeds with his potential “danger” to the community.

Angelo Reyes walked into the courtroom in handcuffs shortly after 2 p.m. wearing a khaki jumpsuit and a large jean jacket. When he sat down at the defense table, he was handed a warrant from the Branford police for larceny. About 10 minutes later, he heard a volley of additional allegations from prosecutor Stephen Reynolds.

Reynolds told the court that the feds believe Reyes “has been directing third persons to set fires” on at least 10 properties since 2002. The targets include properties Reyes owned at the time, properties he hoped to acquire, and in one case, another person’s property.

“Mr. Reyes has been, for the last seven to eight years, Arsons R Us,” Reynolds charged.

The prosecutor rattled off a list of Fair Haven addresses where the alleged arsons occurred: 41 Mather (twice in 2002), 139 Lloyd (2002), 186 Wolcott (2002 and 2003), 271 James (2002), 42 Lombard (2005), 84-86 Downing (2008), 238 Poplar (2008), 211 Lloyd (2008), 95 Downing (2008), and the People’s Laundromat in 2009.

The federal government has evidence, in the form of insurance documents and witness testimony, that Reyes directed the fires in order to recoup insurance money, Reynolds said. In one case, a witness told the feds that Reyes torched another person’s building in an act of “retaliation,” he continued.

The government has at least three witnesses who are willing to testify that Reyes ordered arsons, Reynolds said. So far, the feds have charged Reyes only in the laundromat fire. The others may be introduced in court either as a superceding indictment bringing additional charges against Reyes, or as supporting evidence that Reyes torched People’s Laundromat, Reynolds told the court.

Cramer, a criminal defense lawyer for 30 years, said after court that if the feds haven’t charged Reyes with the other fires at this point, then they are not likely to bring additional charges. If the prosecutors try to bring up the other fires in court in front of a jury, “they will be fought vigorously by the defense,” Cramer pledged, “because the jury shouldn’t know about them.”

Cramer added that while Reynolds claimed to have witnesses to additional fires, any witness is anonymous at this point and so his or her credibility has yet to be examined.

Reynolds brought up the 11 other fires by way of making a larger point: That Reyes is a “danger to the community,” and thus should not be released from custody.

To prove his point, Reynolds recited charges included in the federal indictment, that Reyes ordered a father-son pair, nicknamed Baldo and Baldito, to carry out the fire—then paid for Baldito to hide out in Florida when the investigation got “too hot.” The father and son both cooperated with the federal investigation, Reynolds said.

The arson Reyes allegedly ordered at his laundromat put people’s lives at risk, Reynolds argued: At the time of the fire, an employee and two friends were inside the laundromat. Video surveillance footage shows them looking at what appears to be a puddle, then seeing something dripping from the ceiling. The three people smelled gas, then “high-tailed it out of there” before the building erupted in flames, according to Reynolds.

“When you watch that fire, it’s chilling,” he said.

People living in apartments above the laundromat were also put at risk because of the fire, Reynolds added. He said the alleged crime showed “reckless disregard” for people’s safety.

After the building went up in flames, Reyes told the Independent in an emotional interview that the building had been uninsured. (Click on the play arrow to watch.) Reynolds called that “a lie.” The building carried $500,000 in insurance, he said.

Reynolds argued that Reyes faced significant financial hardship at the time and torched the building in attempt to get money to bail out of debt. The insurance company has never paid, however, because the fire was flagged as “suspicious.”

Cramer brought two witnesses to try to illustrate that Reyes would not have set fire to his own building for financial purposes. Murray Trachten, a prominent New Haven lawyer and former city zoning chair, testified that he has presided over the closing of most of Reyes’ real estate transactions in the past 20-25 years. He testified that Reyes has defaulted on his loan to the mortgagee on the laundromat, and now owes that company over a half-million dollars, so Reyes would not get any money even if the insurance claim were paid, because the money would all go to the mortgagee.

Reyes filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on June 21 of this year and “has no income or assets now,” testified a second lawyer, Richard Novak, who’s representing Reyes in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

Reynolds also brought up Reyes’ criminal record to seek to demonstrate poor character. His record includes convictions for weapons possession, drugs, larceny and absentee ballot fraud. Reyes served 57 months in federal prison for possession of cocaine with intent to sell.

The defense argued—and the judge agreed—that those offenses took place long ago in the past and that Reyes has since done a lot to improve his community. Reyes has spent the last decade turning his life around from jailed drug dealer to Fair Haven’s leading rebuilder of homes and commercial property, a civic leader promoting rebirth of the neighborhood’s main commercial corridor. He has renovated and sold 80 homes to working people in Fair Haven. He opened two successful laundromats, the first of which was People’s. He’s in the process of reviving storefronts and offices on Grand Avenue.

Reyes has also worked hard to elect Democratic politicians. An October campaign swing of Grand Avenue by then-U.S. Senate candidate Dick Blumenthal, led by U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, included Reyes’ Grand Avenue laundromat. DeLauro embraced Reyes warmly. Blumenthal started asking about Reyes’ business; then a flash of recognition swept his face and, maintaining a distance, he made a reference to the arson case involving Reyes’ other laundromat.

Speaking of Reyes’ criminal record, Judge Smith concluded, “The most serious offenses have been in his distant past.” He called Reyes “a gentleman who is genuinely involved in his community.” “That is something that distinguishes him from the people who appear before the court every day who has done nothing and seek to pass himself off as a contributor.”

Reyes “has many positive qualities that need to be taken into account,” Judge Smith said.

Reynolds also argued that Reyes poses a flight risk, because he allegedly paid for Baldito to skip town to Florida.

Cramer then brought up Reyes’ three siblings, who attested they would put their own houses up as bond for their brother.

Reyes’ wife Irma broke down in tears as she described her husband as a family man raising their two children. The couple have two kids together: a 16-year-old daughter and a 10-year-old son.

Reyes broke down in tears when his wife mentioned that Monday was his son’s birthday.

Judge Smith concluded that Reyes has “significant family ties” in the area and “appears to have a very loving and intact relationship with his family.”

After a few empathetic words, he concluded that the government had failed to show that Reyes was enough of a danger to his community or a flight risk to be kept behind bars.

He gave Reyes a $500,000 non-surety bond, meaning he only has to pay if he fails to show up in court.

Judge Smith left Reyes with a warning: “If I hear of any more fires on your properties,” the judge will revisit his decision to set Reyes free on bond.

“Don’t have any more fires,” he advised.