Father and son say Angelo Reyes hired them for New Haven arson jobs

Oct. 02--NEW HAVEN -- Osvaldo Segui Sr. and Osvaldo Segui Jr. testified Wednesday that defendant Angelo Reyes told them to burn down a house at 95 Downing St. and set fire to a car on Quinnipiac Avenue.

This marked the second time the father-son team testified against Reyes, who at one time was a prominent Fair Haven developer. Last October, they described in federal court how Reyes allegedly hired them to burn down Reyes' People's Laundromat at 83 Lombard St. because of financial problems.

But the federal jury acquitted Reyes on all charges.

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When defense attorney John R. Williams Wednesday referred to the fact that the Sequis' testimony did not result in a federal conviction, the prosecutors objected, Superior Court Judge Jon C. Blue quickly ordered the jurors to leave the courtroom and he asked prosecutors if they wanted to move for a mistrial.

"This is really outrageous," Blue told Williams. He reminded Williams that he, the prosecutors and Blue had agreed before the trial that the jurors were not to know about the federal acquittal.

Senior Assistant State's Attorney John P. Doyle Jr. conferred with Senior Assistant State's Attorney Seth Garbarsky during the lunch break, after which Doyle told Blue they did not want to seek a mistrial. But Doyle asked Blue to tell the jurors that the federal and state cases were separate matters.

Blue did instruct the jury that the subject matter of the two cases was "very different." He added, "What happened there has no bearing on what happens here."

When Segui Sr. took the witness stand Wednesday morning, he acknowledged under Doyle's questioning that he had pleaded guilty to federal and state charges stemming from the arson investigation and had served four years in prison.

During Williams' cross-examination, Segui Sr. conceded that after he entered into the agreement with authorities to testify against Reyes, he avoided receiving the mandatory minimum federal sentence of seven years. He also acknowledged that State's Attorney Michael Dearington in June offered him prison time concurrent with his federal sentence. On that day, Segui Sr. was released from custody. He received credit for being incarcerated since his arrest in 2010 and faces no more prison time.

Segui Sr. said he had known Reyes for 15-20 years, had lived rent-free in one of his properties and did landscaping, maintenance and other work for him.

Doyle then asked Segui Sr. if he had been involved with setting the fire at 95 Downing St. in the early-morning hours of Oct. 9, 2008. Segui Sr. said this was true.

"I was told about what had to be done," he said, "and I had it done."

When Doyle asked who had told him to set that fire, Segui Sr. said: "Angelo Reyes."

Asked what Reyes allegedly had said to him, Segui Sr. replied: "'You need to get rid of it because Robert (the owner or co-owner of the building) owes me money and he won't pay.'"

"Mr. Reyes wanted to buy the land at 95 Downing St.?" Doyle asked.

"Exactly," said Segui Sr.

He said Reyes gave him detailed instructions about how to burn down that vacant two-story house. He said Reyes told him "to get my son to do it."

Segui Sr. said Reyes paid for the gasoline used to ignite the fire. "We just picked up the gas and lit it up."

He said his son started the fire. "I didn't stay there."

The following day, he said, Reyes paid him "200 bucks," which he shared with his son.

Reyes, dressed in a dark suit, showed no emotion as Segui Sr. testified.

When Doyle asked Segui Sr. why he had arranged with his son to follow Reyes' alleged instructions, he replied, "I usually did what he told me to do."

Segui Sr. said Reyes also told him and his son to set fire to a car in front of 979 Quinnipiac Ave. on May 26, 2009. Reyes allegedly had a dispute with a woman living there but Segui Sr. didn't tell him why he allegedly wanted the car burned.

According to Segui Sr., Reyes also bought the gasoline for that job.

During Williams' cross-examination, Segui Sr. conceded federal authoriites had not required him to pay the usually mandatory restitution to the victims of his crime: more than $100,000 to an insurance company.

Segui Sr. also acknowledged that, as Williams described it, he has been "under treatment for many years for psychiatric problems" and had "a severe drinking problem" at the time of the fires in 2008-09.

When Segui Jr. was called to the witness stand by Garbarsky, he said he, too, had pleaded guilty in 2010 to federal charges related to arson. He said his federal sentence was time served: 32 months. He will face no additional time for state charges.

In return, he said, he had agreed "to tell the truth."

Segui Jr., 26, said his father and Reyes had been "really good friends as long as I can remember."

He said Reyes had told him to set the fire at 95 Downing St. and in the car.

Segui Jr. alleged that Reyes told him of the Downing Street house: "He was half-owner and the other half-owner was having issues fixing the house and paying it off. It was completely empty and he wanted it burned."

He said Reyes instructed him to use a gasoline container, pieces of newspaper, a lighter and a hammer to break a window so he could get into the house. He alleged Reyes gave him the gasoline money.

The day after that fire, Segui Jr. said, Reyes paid him $300, which he said he shared with his father.

The next year, Segui Jr. added, Reyes allegedly told him to "burn a car for him."

"He said he had a problem with the owner of the BMW and he just wanted me to burn it," he testified.

Segui Jr. alleged that Reyes gave him gas explosives and a lighter to torch the car.

The day after that fire, he alleged, Reyes paid him $150.

In cross-examination, Williams asked Segui Jr.: "Mr. Reyes told you the house was half his and therefore he wanted it burned down? Wouldn't that strike you as extremely bizarre?"

Segui Jr. didn't have to answer that question because prosecutors objected to it as being argumentative.

Call Randall Beach at 203-680-9345. Do you have questions, feedback or ideas about our news coverage? Connect with New Haven Register editors at AskTheRegister.com.

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