DA: Woman sets tree on fire after spat

Incensed at her boyfriend following an argument, a Central Islip woman set fire to a Christmas tree in the house they shared, causing major damage to the home, Suffolk prosecutors said Tuesday.

After torching the tree on Dec. 21, Ashlie Woods, 25, walked upstairs and told a disabled tenant about the fire, then called 911 and admitted to an operator that she had set the blaze, Assistant District Attorney Peter Timmons said at Woods' arraignment in Suffolk County Court.

Woods and the upstairs neighbor, Patricia Sterchi, were not injured in the fire, Timmons said. Woods' boyfriend, Peter Knudson, was at work and the couple's 6-year-old son was at school at the time, Timmons said.

Woods pleaded not guilty Tuesday to second-degree arson and fifth-degree arson. If convicted, she faces a maximum penalty of 5 to 25 years in prison.

She was held on $150,000 bond or $75,000 cash bail. She is due back in court on Feb. 9.

Woods' attorney, Daniel Barker of the Legal Aid Society, declined to comment.

The Hoffman Lane home is uninhabitable, Timmons said, adding that Knudson and the couple's son are living with relatives. Sterchi, who is about 50 and disabled due to a stroke, also is living with relatives, the prosecutor said.

Earlier on Dec. 21, Woods had set a pile of Knudson's clothes on fire as the couple argued at the house, which is owned by Knudson, Timmons said.

After burning the clothes, Woods went to her mother's home in Medford, he said. She returned to the Central Islip home and set fire to the Christmas tree on the first floor, the prosecutor said.