“It’s the Democrats! The Democrats know me and the Republicans fear me. You can’t touch me! I can’t be stopped!” he yelled.
By World Israel News Staff
Charles Barry, a New York City subway thief arrested 139 times, thanked Democrats for his immediate release under New York’s new bail reform law, Fox News reports on Sunday.
The perpetrator has already been arrested six times since the new law went into effect on Jan. 1. He has been released each time without having to post bail.
“Bail reform, it’s lit!” Barry yelled outside the New York Transit Police’s Columbus Circle station on Thursday. “It’s the Democrats! The Democrats know me and the Republicans fear me. You can’t touch me! I can’t be stopped!”
Barry, 56, has previously served several prison sentences and has a record that includes “six felonies, 87 misdemeanors and 21 missed court hearings, according to the New York Daily News.
His main crime appears to be stealing subway riders’ money. He has stolen hundreds of dollars from commuters by grabbing money out of people’s hands, posing as a transit worker and offering to help people buy tickets.
On Thursday, police arrested him for leaping over a subway turnstile at Penn Station.
“I’m famous! I take $200, $300 a day of your money, cr—-r! You can’t stop me!” Barry shouted to reporters. “It’s a great thing. It’s a beautiful thing. They punk’ed people out for bullsh– crimes.”
NYPD’s Transit Bureau Assistant Chief Gerald Dieckmann told the Daily News “At least before, he’d be remanded and be behind bars for a couple of days. He wouldn’t be able to victimize people.”
New York City’s new bail reform law has had ramifications for the city’s Jewish population.
In late December, shortly before the law went into effect The New York Post reported, “Suspects arrested in last week’s spree of eight anti-Semitic attacks are being quickly released right back into the neighborhoods they terrorized thanks to ‘bail reform’ legislation.”
One of those released, Tiffany Harris, had been charged with “punching and cursing at three Orthodox women, ages 22, 26 and 31, in Crown Heights, Brooklyn,” on December 27. She was released the next day.