Judge limits testimony of potential witness against alleged thief, movie producer in Sag Harbor burglary
Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney speaks during a 2022 news conference announcing arrests in the burglary of homes in Sag Harbor and Manhattan. On display is evidence from the burglaries. Credit: James Carbone
A woman charged in the theft of more than $1 million in valuables from the Sag Harbor and Manhattan homes of a former boyfriend can't testify at trial about her Hollywood producer co-defendant’s alleged drug and gambling habits, a Suffolk judge ruled.
Jacqueline Jewett, 58, of Connecticut, and Raymond Bouderau, 50, of Manhattan, were charged with grand larceny and burglary in December 2022 for the alleged theft of cash, jewelry, dozens of bottles of wine and firearms from the two residences.
Jury selection is set to begin Wednesday in the case against Bouderau.
At a Dec. 18 hearing, prosecutors with the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said they intended to elicit testimony from Jewett to prove motive for the alleged theft, saying Bouderau is a high stakes gambler who routinely used crack cocaine. But State Supreme Court Justice John Collins ruled Dec. 22 that such testimony should not be allowed.
Prosecutors said Bouderau and Jewett conspired to burglarize the residences in Sag Harbor and Manhattan on Sept. 25, knowing the victim would be out of town.
But Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Sean Buckley referred to Jewett as a “cooperator” throughout the Dec. 18 hearing, meaning she had agreed with the district attorney's office to testify against Bouderau. Her case is still pending before Collins, court records show, and her attorney could not be reached for comment.
Buckley said at the December hearing that Jewett could testify to witnessing Bouderau, a sometime actor and an executive producer of the 2020 film “Bill & Ted Face the Music,” smoke crack cocaine at his California home, her place in Connecticut and at hotels in Connecticut and Las Vegas. She also watched as Bouderau lost $200,000 gambling at Mohegan Sun in October 2020, Buckley said.
Bouderau’s defense attorney, Jonathan Manley, of Hauppauge, argued at the hearing prosecutors offered no evidence that his client’s alleged gambling losses or drug use led to any “indebtedness.”
“It really doesn’t have any probative value toward a motive or intent to commit a crime,” Manley said.
The judge agreed, according to the decision, which notes that under the law prior uncharged crimes or bad acts are allowed only under exceptions that include “motive, intent, absence of mistake or accident, common scheme or plan, or identity of the defendant.”
“The people have not provided any offer of proof to show that the defendant was indebted due to his gambling or drug use, they simply offer that he suffered a significant loss on one occasion, engaged in high-stakes betting, and used illicit substances two years prior to the instant offenses,” Collins wrote.
Law enforcement officials previously said Bouderau was a “sometimes boyfriend” of Jewett. At a news conference announcing the duo’s arrest in December 2022, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said the investigation into the burglaries “revealed a criminal plan that reads like a movie script, a bad movie script.”
The Sag Harbor burglary was reported on Sept. 27, authorities said, noting that investigators found the home had been accessed by forced entry through a basement window, with electrical lines cut and circuit breakers tripped.
The alleged victim discovered a Manhattan residence was also burglarized the same day, authorities said. Investigators then obtained video surveillance from both residences, as well as Apple iCloud and license plate reader data.
“Jewett allegedly secretly gained access to the ex-paramour's iCloud account, where Jewett accessed information about the victim's residences and her possessions,” Tierney said at a 2022 news conference. “Jewett then shared that iCloud information with her boyfriend, Bouderau … and the two of them together conspired to burglarize the victim's two residences.”
Prosecutors linked the duo to the alleged crime after reviewing video surveillance footage and information obtained from license plate readers that included a pickup truck registered to Bouderau.
An online biography lists Bouderau as the CEO of Living the Dream Films, having served as a producer on 10 movies while playing small roles in several of them. In his career, he’s worked with acclaimed Hollywood actors, including Keanu Reeves, Judd Hirsch, Amanda Seyfried, Tracy Morgan and Alec Baldwin.
Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.
