Woman accused of hiding hacked-up body parts around Long Island arrested again — after she was set free without bail
A woman accused of scattering the dismembered remains of two bodies across Long Island is back in prison for theft — just days after she walked free without bail despite the grisly charges.
Amanda Wallace, one of four charged in the gruesome severed body parts case, was arrested again for allegedly stealing beauty products from a CVS in Lindenhurst on Friday night while she was wearing an ankle monitor.
“I did — eyelashes and nail polish,” the 40-year-old told police admitted after her arrest, according to records obtained by Newsday. “I forgot my money and really didn’t feel like walking back over.”
She was arraigned on petit larceny charges Monday and held on $5,000 bail or $10,000 bond.
Wallace had been charged March 6 along with her roommates, Steven Brown, 44, and Jeffrey Mackey, 38, and homeless woman Alexis Nieves, 33.
The four are accused of hiding the meat cleaver-dismembered bodies of two people, but haven’t been charged with the killing yet
All four pleaded not guilty, and the crimes they were slapped with — including concealment of a human corpse — are not bail-eligible under New York state criminal justice reform laws.
Instead, Wallace and the others were put on supervised release with ankle monitors — which was a talking point at her court appearance on the theft charges Monday.
“She did it while wearing a GPS monitor, your honor,” said prosecutor Dena Rizopoulos while asking for bail in court on Monday, according to Newsday.
Judge James McDonaugh scolded Wallace, telling her “At the bare minimum, you should be able to go nine days without being rearrested.”
She is due in court again on March 22.
The victims were identified by police and relatives as Yonkers residents Donna R. Conneely, 59, and Malcolm Craig Brown, 53, who was a cousin of one of the accused.
Their dismembered body parts and severed heads were found scattered about Suffolk County on Feb. 29 after a girl spotted a discarded arm hanging in a bush, according to cops and sources.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney, an outspoken critic of New York’s bail laws, had called the suspects’ release “absurd.”
“This is yet another absurd result thanks to ‘Bail Reform’ and a system where the Legislature in Albany substitutes their judgment for the judgment of our judges and the litigants in court,” he said in a statement after their initial release.
The DA could not be reached for comment on Wallace’s latest arrest.
An attorney for Wallace, Keith O’Halloran, pleaded not guilty for her on the larceny charges, Newsday reported.
“We need to start a new investigation. We have no paperwork on the new cases, we have no discovery on the old case. We are still looking for the information that will tie her to either of these two cases,” O’Halloran said after court Monday.
He added that he was looking into whether the judge “acted properly” in choosing to hold Wallace on bail.
