Jeffrey Neftaly Portillo, of Bay Shore, faces arson charge in Plainview blaze

Police arrested and charged a Bay Shore man after he allegedly lit a yard sign and clothing on fire in Plainview, tossed both into some brush and then threatened a witness, according to the Nassau County Police Department.

Jeffrey Neftaly Portillo, 18, was taken into custody about 7 p.m. Friday near the intersection of Plainview Road and Dorothea Street, the police said in a news release Sunday.

The Plainview Fire Department responded and extinguished the fire, which had spread to some brush but was "minor" in size, Nassau County Fire Marshal Michael Uttaro said Sunday.

A witness told police Neftaly Portillo used a lighter from his backpack to set a hat on fire as well as the yard sign, which advertised a pest control business, according to the release. The witness, a 70-year-old man sitting nearby in a vehicle, saw the defendant throw the flaming debris into a wooded area next to a nearby pond, the police said.

When the witness got out of his car to take pictures and attempt to stop him, Neftaly Portillo "displayed a knife' and claimed to have a "piece," slang for a weapon, according to the police. The witness called 911, and officers located Neftaly Portillo in the area and placed him under arrest, the release said.

Neftaly Portillo was charged with fifth-degree arson and second-degree menacing, both class A misdemeanors punishable by up to a year sentence. He was released late Friday and ordered to appear at First District Court in Hempstead on April 14, according to a police spokesman.