Ex-LI butler, charged with stealing from former employers, tried to flee U.S., authorities say

U.S. Customs officials in Boston arrested a former Southampton butler wanted on charges of spending $6,000 of his former employers’ money on liquor — as he attempted to flee the country, authorities said.

James Mounsey, 34, of Ireland, who was facing grand larceny charges, was arrested Dec. 15 at Logan Airport by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officers, Southampton police said.

Mounsey purchased the liquor at a local liquor store June 22, using his former employers' information, two months after he had been fired, police said. A judge issued a warrant for his arrest Dec. 7.

Mounsey's attorney, Jason Bassett, called the account of attempting to flee the country "categorically false." He said Mounsey has dual citizenship in the United States and Ireland and said police began asking about the case while he was abroad.

Bassett said he was working with police, but neither he nor Mounsey was aware of an active warrant. Mounsey had flown to Boston to visit friends and was returning home when he was stopped and arrested at the airport by Customs officers, Bassett said.

Southampton Town detectives said they had arranged to have Mounsey turn himself in, but police said he fled.

The Suffolk County Fugitive Squad returned Mounsey to New York, where Suffolk County prosecutors charged him with grand larceny, identity theft and possession of stolen property.

He was arraigned Friday in Suffolk County Court, where he pleaded not guilty. He was ordered to surrender his passport and placed on supervised release, Bassett said. 

He is scheduled to return to court Feb. 2.