A homeless man with a Bronx connection remained in Suffolk County jail Tuesday morning, June 25, charged by East Hampton Village police with two counts of burglary and criminal possession of stolen property. His targets were a house on Maidstone Lane and a cabana at the nearby Maidstone Club.
Village police said on the evening of Friday, June 21, Daniel Mark Feder, 56, entered a house on Maidstone Lane, and stole several items. The list of stolen items included a Maidstone Club vest, valued at $200, a pair of Vineyard Vines shorts, a pair of Lands’ End boxer shorts, a Vince Camuto women’s dress, a Velvet Heart blouse, and a luggage lock.
Feder fled when confronted by the homeowner, who was in the house when Feder allegedly entered it.
The next morning, the police said, he entered an unlocked cabana at the Maidstone Club, and made off with a duffel bag with some clothes in it. He was picked up by police almost immediately after that theft.
Police said they found Feder hiding in some bushes near the 17th hole on the Maidstone golf course.
It was not Feder’s first brush with village police. In January 2016, he was picked up for allegedly stealing a pair of sunglasses valued at $1300 from the Oliver Peoples store on Newtown Lane. Unable to make bail at that time, he was held for five days before being released when a grand jury failed to indict him on the felony charge in a timely manner. Feder then vanished for the next three-plus years. Earlier this month, he was picked up by East Hampton Town police, who held him after they discovered a bench warrant for his arrest had been issued out of East Hampton Town Justice Court when he failed to appear for his court dates related to his 2016 arrest.
Feder was ordered released once again on June 11 after being picked up on the warrant, with the understanding that he would report to his caretaker in the Bronx. That, apparently, did not happen, as the caretaker sent police a notice that Feder was missing.
Attorney Brian DeSesa represented Feder for his arraignment before East Hampton Town Justice Steven Tekulsky on Saturday. DeSesa told the judge that any bail set would be tantamount to jail time, since Feder had no money nor means of raising any. Tekulsky said the district attorney’s office had asked bail to be set at $40,000, given the charges.
Tekulsky asked Feder what his connection to East Hampton was. Feder answered that he works in the entertainment field. “I do business with Martha Stewart,” he said. While Tekulsky said that that amount requested by the DA was excessive, he said that some bail was in order, given the felony charges, setting it at $2000. He then warned Feder that if anyone, including Martha Stewart, were to post the bail, he must return to court.
Robert K. Futterman, the former Manhattan real estate mogul, was arrested twice by East Hampton Town police on a misdemeanor criminal charge in a 12-hour period in late May, at about the same time Newmark RKF was terminating its relationship with him. Newmark RKF came into existence after the commercial real estate giant Newmark Group purchased the company RKF, which was founded by Futterman, who was widely respected for his acumen in the Manhattan commercial real estate market. Futterman lives in Manhattan, and appears to have been, at the time of his arrest, staying in an Old Montauk Highway beachfront house that rents for $83,000 a month.
Futterman’s attorney, Edward Burke Jr. of Sag Harbor, said that the most serious charges brought by East Hampton Town police were based on flawed information from the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles.
The most serious charges are for allegedly driving a rented, loaned, or leased vehicle that lacks an ignition interlock device, a misdemeanor. Such a device prevents the driver from starting the vehicle if his breath shows the presence of alcohol in his system.
The need for an interlock stemmed from Futterman’s conviction in 2012 on a felony charge of driving drunk with a child in the car. Futterman had been arrested in 2011 by Sag Harbor Village police on a driving while intoxicated charge. That charge mushroomed into four felony charges, one for each of the four children police said were seated in the car at the time of the arrest.
Burke said the requirement for the interlock device was due to sunset after six months, yet was never expunged from the DMV abstract for Futterman.
The first of the recent arrests happened in Montauk on May 26 at 10:06 PM just east of where Montauk and Old Montauk Highways intersect. Futterman was said to have been driving a 2016 Land Rover. Police said he was pulled over for a multitude of infractions, including speeding, failure to keep right, failure to yield coming off of Old Montauk Highway onto Montauk Highway, failure to use the designated lane, and a charge of driving without holding onto the steering wheel.
When the arresting officer ran Futterman’s license, the requirement from DMV for an interlock device popped up. On top of the moving violations, Futterman was hit with the misdemeanor charge. Futterman was taken to the Montauk precinct station, processed, and released with an East Hampton Town Justice Court appearance ticket. When police searched Futterman after his arrest, they allegedly found a packet of marijuana on him, leading to a simple violation charge of possession.
He was released after the second arrest on May 27, when he was charged with driving the same car without an interlock device, after he posted $200 in station-house bail.
