A 39-year-old Brooklyn man is facing felony charges after authorities say he broke into his parents' Central Islip home and set it on fire overnight, a blaze that killed two dogs trapped inside and sent five police officers to the hospital with smoke inhalation. Robert Alston was arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip and pleaded not guilty to arson, burglary and false personation charges.
According to court documents cited by News12 Long Island, Alston broke into his parents' home on East Cherry Street before authorities say he set the structure on fire. Police responded to a 911 call reporting the fire at 23 East Cherry St. at approximately 12:20 a.m. Saturday, and authorities reported no one else was inside the house at the time. Officers attempted to rescue two dogs from the burning home but were unable to save them, according to the station's report.
Officers Hospitalized Trying to Reach Trapped Dogs
Five officers were hospitalized after suffering smoke inhalation while responding to the fire, per the same account. Brentwood-Central Islip Patch reports those officers attempted to enter the burning home and pull the dogs out. Central Islip Fire Chief Joseph Vereline told Newsday that responding firefighters encountered heavy smoke pushing out the front door along with visible flames, but brought the blaze under control in under an hour.
Vereline also told Newsday that one dog rescued from the residence was rushed to a nearby animal hospital but did not survive, while the second dog was found deceased inside once the fire was extinguished. The Central Islip Fire Department extinguished the blaze with help from neighboring fire departments that responded to the scene, and two dogs ultimately died in the fire.
Neighbor Reacts to Allegations Against Homeowners' Son
Neighbor Denilson Acosta told News12 the allegations were hard to process, saying, “Your own son would try to rob you and burn down the place. It's not really acceptable.” Alston lives in Brooklyn, according to the outlet's reporting, raising questions locally about what brought him back to his parents' Central Islip property while they were away.
Charges Carry Mandatory Prison Time Under State Law
Suffolk County Arson Squad detectives investigated the fire, and authorities ultimately charged Alston with second-degree arson, second-degree burglary and false personation, according to Newsday. False personation means giving police a false name, and in New York it is classified as a Class B misdemeanor under state law prohibiting suspects from intentionally giving officers a false name, birth date or address after being warned of the consequences, per the Saland Law criminal defense firm.
The two felony counts Alston faces are far more serious. Second-degree arson is classified as a Class B violent felony under New York Penal Law, punishable by five to 25 years in state prison, according to the Law Office of Matthew Galluzzo, PLLC, and applies when a person intentionally burns a structure knowing or having reason to know a non-participant may be present. Second-degree burglary, meanwhile, is a Class C violent felony carrying a mandatory minimum sentence of 3.5 years and up to 15 years in prison when a defendant unlawfully enters a residential dwelling, per Saland Law's analysis of the statute.
Suffolk County Legal Aid has been assigned to represent Alston as the case moves forward, Newsday reports. The Suffolk County Police Department, which serves five major towns including Islip, maintains a specialized Arson Squad tasked with conducting origin and cause investigations across the county, according to background information on the department's structure.
Central Islip has seen other serious violent crime cases in recent months. Hoodline previously reported on a shooting on Hawthorne Avenue in August, in which a 39-year-old man was charged with violent felonies after chasing and firing back at a vehicle from which he had been shot. What drove Alston to allegedly target his parents' home while they were away has not been addressed in court filings, and it remains unclear whether prosecutors will pursue additional charges tied to the deaths of the two dogs.
