The subject of a search by Pleasantville police after he was suspected of setting fire to his father’s home Wednesday, Dec. 10, served time in prison in recent years after he admitted encouraging someone to kill a woman for him.
James Vastola was released from prison Dec. 4 after serving an additional three months for an apparent parole violation, according to online records of the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
Vastola was sentenced in 2024 to 1 to 3 years in prison for his guilty plea to second-degree criminal solicitation. According to the June 2021 felony complaint by Pleasantville police, on April 23, 2021, Vastola sent a series of text messages to an associate urging him to kill a woman for him, offering $1,000 and saying he’d offer an additional $1,000 for every month until it was done.
“If I won’t be loved I will be feared I’m not gonna kill myself I’ll just hurt her,” he texted, according to the complaint.
Vastola told his associate he would take the heat for him. “Or if you don’t like doing it I need to get into a room with her and I’ll take care of the rest.”
Court records reveal Vastola was initially placed on one-year interim probation, which usually indicates he would avoid a state prison if he abided by the conditions of probation.
Vastola’s father reports fire in basement
Shortly before 5 a.m. Wednesday, Vastola’s father reported on a 911 call that his son had started a fire in the basement of his home on Greenmeadow Road, police said.
Vastola, 32, was gone by the time police arrived. His father was treated at a hospital for smoke inhalation and released. The incident forced Pleasantville schools to open three hours late and under lockout conditions.
Vastola is described as being 6-foot two inches tall and weighing 210 pounds. He was last seen in a black and green sweatshirt, black sweatpants and white sneakers.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call Pleasantville police at 914-769-1500.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Suspect in Pleasantville search served time for solicitation to kill
Reporting by Jonathan Bandler, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
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