Six migrant squatting suspects released without bail
Former NYPD Lt. Joe Cardinale, who is now running for New York State Assembly, joins ‘America’s Newsroom’ to discuss the impact of squatters’ rights in his state as law enforcement officials struggle with the migrant crisis.
The Bronx judge who set loose six suspected migrant squatters arrested on drugs and weapons charges last week previously released two men who beat up a police officer.
Bronx Criminal Court Judge Eugene Bowen, a Democrat elected in 2023, released the six men against the wishes of prosecutors. One of the migrants, Hector Desousa-Villalta, 24, of Venezuela, had been arrested in August on attempted murder charges before the case fell apart.
Prosecutors had asked to hold Desousa-Villalta on $150,000 cash bail. But Bowen instead released him and five others without bail — and it’s not the first time he’s provoked controversy by doing so.
In November, Bowen was the subject of a scathing New York Post editorial that blasted his decision to set free two men who were caught on video beating up a cop. The officer had asked the men to put out their cigarettes at the Freeman Street subway station, according to the NYPD.
DHS ARRESTS 3 AT SUSPECTED NYC MIGRANT SQUATTER HOUSE LIVE ON CAMERA
Then-judicial candidate Judge E. Derron Bowen poses for a photo with supporters. (bowen4civilcourt via Instagram)
Kaream McClary, 23, and Izayiah Jessamy, 20, were arrested on assault charges for allegedly beating up Officer John Hernandez, the Post reported. Prosecutors requested bail set at $10,000 or $30,000 bond, but Judge Bowen released them without bail, court records showed.
At the time, the decision provoked outrage from Patrick Hendry, the president of the Police Benevolent Association union.
“This shows the absolutely upside down world we’re living in,” Hendry said in a statement to the Post.
“We need New Yorkers to start speaking up and demanding real consequences for those who assault cops,” he…
