Perv's home burns
Fire after fliers warned he was moving in
Residents of a Long Island neighborhood were so afraid that a kiddie-perv teacher was about to move in that someone posted fliers alerting everyone — and on Tuesday, his family’s under-construction home was burned to the ground.
“It’s hard to look at that and think it wasn’t done intentionally . . . Homes don’t suddenly combust,’’ said Merrick resident Richard Watkins, 74, who lives a few blocks from the scorched house on Yale Road.
The $1.25 million, partially finished home was owned by Annemarie Reilly, the wife of convicted former Queens middle-school teacher Daniel Reilly, according to the builder.
Daniel Reilly was sentenced to six months in prison in 2013 for repeatedly having sex with a 13-year-old female student.
His wife is a successful Manhattan bankruptcy lawyer. The couple has a young daughter.
Merrick fire officials said cops on patrol called 911 when they spotted the flames at 3:35 a.m. “By the time we got here and started putting water on it, the home started collapsing onto itself,’’ said Ron Luparello, spokesman for the Merrick Fire Department.
Luparello acknowledged that the fire was “suspicious,’’ adding, “I’m well aware of the situation’’ involving the fliers.
Residents said the notices, which featured two mug shots of “LEVEL 2 SEX OFFENDER’’ Reilly — and the family’s future address — began popping up on utility poles and in mailboxes a week or two ago.
“Nobody was happy about him moving in here. We all have children,’’ a neighbor said.
It took awhile for people to connect the home to Reilly because his wife’s name is the only one on the deed, neighbors said.
Even the builder said he didn’t want to continue on the project once he learned who might live there.
“[Annemarie] originally said she had a stay-at-home husband. You don’t think anything at the time,’’ one of the builders, Glenn Miller, told The Post.
“Then the fliers started going up,’’ he said. “We were just as upset as anybody. Basically, my partner called her and said, ‘We don’t want to build your house anymore.’ . . . We said to her, ‘Look, we’re willing to give your money back, plus for all the extras.’
“She basically said, ‘He’s not moving in,’ ” Miller said. “We took that with a grain of salt,’’ but “we couldn’t back out of it.’’
Then, “it looked like they were backing out today,’’ the builder said Tuesday.
“Her attorney called this morning — but wasn’t aware of the fire at that point.”
The planned five-bedroom home had been about 50 percent complete, Miller said. Also damaged in the blaze was the home next door, as well as two GMC cars in its driveway.
Joseph Castiglio, 74, said his son moved into the neighboring house a year ago.
“It’s terrible. He has three children, and he said if it hadn’t been for the Police Department knocking on their doors, they wouldn’t have even known’’ about the blaze until it might have been too late, Castiglio said. “It has to be arson.’’
Neither the Reillys nor the wife’s real-estate lawyer returned calls seeking comment.