A migrant accused of leading an assault on a pair of New York City police officers in Times Square earlier this year before being quickly released was arrested again for serial theft, according to media reports.
Yohenry Brito, 24, of Venezuela, was arrested Tuesday for a pair of thefts at Sephora makeup stores in Manhattan, law enforcement sources told the New York Post.
One theft occurred in July in which Brito allegedly cut through security wires on display cases to steal fragrances. The other happened on Aug. 6, when he stole $1,358 worth of merchandise from store shelves before fleeing with an accomplice, police sources told The Post.
The accomplice was not caught.
"As we said from the beginning, the individuals who attacked our Times Square Unit brothers have zero respect for the law and can’t be trusted to remain on the street without causing more mayhem. We are glad that he is back behind bars," Patrick Hendry, president of the NYC Police Benevolent Association, told the newspaper.
Brito was previously arrested and released for at least three other thefts that occurred both before and after Times Square police gang assault.
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He was one of seven migrants seen kicking and punching the two officers on Jan. 27, prosecutors said. The migrants were told by the cops to move along a street when the violence began.
Five of the accused migrants – Yorman Reveron, 24, Jhoan Boada, 22, Wilson Juarez, 21, Darwin Andres Gomez-Izquiel, 19, and Kelvin Servita Arocha, 19 – were charged with assault on a police officer and obstructing governmental investigation and were released without bail.
Boada was later exonerated after prosecutors determined he was not one of the men seen in the video.
Brito was initially released with the other asylum seekers, but he was taken back into custody after a public outcry and ordered held on $15,000 cash or a $50,000 bond. At the time, he had two pending misdemeanor theft cases.
However, he was released back onto the street in February when Rev. Juan Ruiz, a minister at the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Brooklyn, put up the $15,000 bond.
"Our church is basically a sanctuary," Ruiz told The Post at the time. "We assume that people are innocent until they are proven otherwise."
After his release, Brito was arrested for allegedly trying to steal children’s clothing and fragrances from Macy’s.
"I am very tempted right now to put you in jail," Judge Laura Ward said in Manhattan Criminal Court told Brito in court. "I am telling you right now, if I learn you are rearrested for anything at all between now and this case being finished, I will order a warrant, and I will place bail so high, you will not get out."
"If you jaywalk, if you jump a turnstile, if you do anything at all and I have to issue a warrant, you will not see the light of day until this case is over," she continued.
Brito is now being held on $50,000 cash bond on the Times Square police assault because of the latest arrests.
