(Updated: 3:15 p.m.) A 21-year-old Riverhead man with a violent criminal record threw a Molotov cocktail at a home on Sigal Avenue last night, according to Riverhead Police.
Monwell A. Wright “ignited a glass bottle containing a flammable liquid and threw it into the north side” of the house at 24 Sigal Avenue last night at about 9:40 p.m. Wright, who police said lives at number 23 Sigal Avenue, then fled the area, according to a police press release issued early this morning.
The bottle did not break and the house was not damaged. Police officers extinguished the resulting fire, according to the report. The Suffolk County Police Arson Squad was notified and responded.
The resident of the home was inside with several family members, police said. No one was injured.
Wright was located and placed under arrest on a charge of attempted arson in the second degree, police said. He was arraigned this morning in Riverhead Justice Court where he entered a plea of not guilty and was held in lieu of $5,000 bail. He is scheduled to return to court on Thursday, June 18.
Last August, Wright was indicted by a grand jury on robbery charges in the June 1, 2014 beating and robbery of a scooter-bound disabled Vietnam veteran.
He had been released from jail in May 2014 following his conviction that January on an assault and robbery charge in January, in which he beat a 26-year old Latino man with a rock, demanding money.
Wright’s rap sheet has a number of previous entries, including charges of menacing, criminal possession of stolen property, trespass, indecent exposure and marijuana possession.
Editor’s note: A criminal charge is an accusation. By law, a person charged with a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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