Crime & Safety

East Hampton Man Pleads Guilty to Arson Charges

Three firefighters were injured in May 2010 fire.

, an East Hampton man who was charged with setting fire to a village house that led to the injuries of three firefighters in May 2010, has pleaded guilty to felony charges. 

Ward, who was arrested last November after an , changed his plea of not guilty in Suffolk County Criminal Court on Nov. 14 before Judge William Condon. There is reportedly a plea agreement in place where he will receive two to six years in prison.

He will continue to be held on $100,000 bond, $50,000 cash bail in Suffolk County jail in Riverside until sentencing on Dec. 21. 

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According to county court records, Ward pleaded guilty to three counts of felony assault and two counts of third-degree arson.

One count of arson is for the fire at the Osborne Lane house on May 2, 2010. The other arson charge covers a charge related to lighting a Porsche on fire not far from the Osborne Lane house on Oct. 29. In that case, he told police, according to a sworn statement, "I felt like lighting something on fire."

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In a sworn statement, Ward told police he had lit the wood siding on fire, as well as twigs and leaves, to stay warm, while hanging out on the back deck. He had been arrested for squatting at the house the previous February.

East Hampton Fire Department firefighter Robert Yurkewitch was hurt fighting the fire when his leg went through the charred wood deck. In an interview last year, he said he had second degree burns on his legs that took five months to heal, but was released from the hospital the same day.

Michael Heller, another volunteer was assisting in the overhaul process, searching for hotspots on the second floor, when he took a wrong step and fell. He fell nearly two stories from the landing of where the staircase had been, falling onto , the on-duty town fire marshal and also a former chief in the fire department. Browne was standing on the third to last step of the stairs leading to the basement, just about to start his investigation.

Heller's helmet fell off and he had a cut on top of his head that was bleeding, he said in an interivew last year. Browne took the brunt of the fall. He was out of work for five months, and later another two months following surgery in December.

Greg Sherman, the homeowner, told police about $360,000 in damage was done to the house.

The cause of the fire was marked undetermined by fire investigators until the Porsche fire led police to Ward. 

According to police, Ward had thought about burning the house in the days after he was arrested for squatting at the house and returned there a few times over the months in between. While keeping warm on the deck, he reportedly told them, a fire to keep warm got out of control.

"I started stomping on it 'cause I wanted to put it out and get it under control again, but it wasn't working, the deck was burning good at this point," he said in a sworn statement. He couldn't find a hose, so he attempted to urinate on the flames. 

Scared, he said, he ran away, but came back to see "smoke coming from the deck shooting up into the sky." He left, again, and went home. "I went to sleep that night and tried not to think about it."

He told police he was scared and ran away, but came back to see "smoke coming from the deck shooting up into the sky." He left, again, and went home.

Ward recalled walking to work at the next day and hearing the homeowner crying to investigators. "I am sorry for what happened, I was just trying to get warm. I didn't mean it," police said he said.


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