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New York – Danielle Bertothy, the Missouri tourist accused of starting a fire that consumed several businesses in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Ricoright after New Year, She will remain detained in the aforementioned state at least until Wednesday of next week..
The El Nuevo Día report this Friday indicates that the Prosecutors in the case requested, through a motion, that the woman not be allowed to leave on bailafter leaving the island a few hours after the events.
The 36-year-old defendant appeared yesterday at an initial hearing in the Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. headed by Judge Noelle C. Collins.
The First Alert 4 report details thatThe woman arrived in the judge’s room handcuffed and wearing a sweatshirt with the phrase “Grateful Dead”the same one she had when she was arrested the day before. Bertothy responded sparingly to the judge’s questions without showing much emotion.
Bertothy was arrested at her home in St. Peters by ATF agents.
Bertothy, who is represented by attorney Justin Gelfand, waived the identity hearing.
Gelfand asked that the hearing to determine whether or not he will be granted bail also be held in Missouri. The Prosecutor’s Office accepted the request, so it will be held on January 22.
Cocaine and a firearm are seized in Bertothy’s home
The motion presented by the federal prosecutor’s office in Puerto Rico indicates that Officers who raided Bertothy’s residence confiscated cocaine and a firearm..
The motion also specifies that Although the suspect has not confessed to the facts, she told agents that she had done some things that were not typical of her..
To support her request for preventive detention, prosecutor Corinne Cordero Romo stated in the judicial text that Bertothy represents a flight risk and a danger to the community.
He argued that the woman left Puerto Rico shortly after the fire after leaving the Airbnb where she was supposed to stay until December 11.
“Preventive detention is appropriate here because the defendant poured gasoline and set fire to a bar, store, restaurant and hotel with approximately 20 guests the day after New Year’s, endangering the lives of numerous people before fleeing the District of Puerto Rico”, stated the federal authorities.
According to the document signed by Cordero Romo, “numerous factors favor the arrest, including the nature and circumstances of the accused crime, the weight of the evidence (which includes videos of the accused with a gas container in the bar shortly before the fire and walking towards the fire where he remains until the fire is lit) and the danger to the community.”
The information that investigators have indicates that on January 2, at around 9:37 am, The accused asked a friend on the island to help her find someone to pick her up in the El Combate beach area. and transfer her to the airport that same day.
A driver picked her up at approximately 11:28 am. According to the authorities, Security cameras at a fast food restaurant in the aforementioned municipality captured Bertothy wearing the same shoes as the person seen starting the fire. in other surveillance material.
The incident at Bar Marea began around 8:30 pm on January 1when Bertothy arrived, already drunk, at the place. The woman ordered several drinks. But When he started behaving aggressively, the owners asked him to leave, which he refused..
After being called the first time, municipal police officers escorted the woman to the Airbnb where she was staying. However, she returned to the business 20 minutes later.
“This time, the accused acted more aggressively, so the police were called again.. Finally, she left alone,” Cordero Romo revealed.
At around 12:25 am, when they had already closed the business, Cameras captured a woman, who would be the accused, carrying a red container used to store gasoline in a behavior that is consistent with pouring the liquid.
Immediately, the fire started with the person present. The suspect is then seen walking through the Marinera restaurant on her way back to her Airbnb.
Researchers also have proof that the owner of the Airbnb had provided him with a generator with gasoline and a tourist tank in response to the general blackout reported on the island on December 31.
“The host identified the red gasoline container in the video as having the same characteristics as the one she gave to the defendant, and identified the person seen in the recording as the defendant,” the motion details.
The owners and employees of businesses in the area were the ones who initially identified Bertothy as the cause of the fire based on the recorded images of the altercation in Bar Marea and the subsequent material from surveillance cameras.
The affected establishments were: Luichy’s Seaside Hotel, Marinera Restaurant, Bar Marea and Artesanías Juavia. These are located in the PR-3301 highway. Ángel Luis Marrero Negrón, owner of the inn, rents the other three establishments.
According to preliminary calculations that he provided to the media, Losses were estimated at $500,000..
Agents from the ATF (Agency for Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) raided the tourist’s home on January 7. At that time, she was not arrested.
The foreigner left Puerto Rico on a Southwest Airlines flight which he took from the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport. He arrived in St. Louis on January 3.
That day, the agents had gone to the woman’s home to interview her.
Bertothy’s arrest was reported after the Puerto Rico Federal Prosecutor’s Office accused her of arson. He faces between 5 and 20 years in prison if convicted..
This case echoed among Puerto Ricans in the diaspora who, outraged, began to share the images of the events that circulated on social networks.
The Puerto Rican councilor of St. Louis, Daniela Velázquez, sent a letter to the employers of the woman at HLK Agency to take disciplinary action against her in view of the seriousness of the allegations.
Although the woman was suspended from her job, there are no reports so far that she has been fired from her position at the advertising agency.
Keep reading:
Missouri councilman hopes tourist suspected of burning businesses in Puerto Rico will be arrested
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