A man who has been arrested 139 times thanked New York for getting rid of its bail laws that likely would have kept him in police custody, reports The New York Daily News . The man behind the taunts, Charles Barry, has already been arrested six times in 2020.
A new law went into effect on January 1 that requires judges to let go any person accused of either a misdemeanors or nonviolent felony. All six of Barry’s crimes fell into one of those two categories, meaning that the career criminal has been released from police custody every time.
Two of Barry’s arrests this year came after he stole money from subway commuters who were buying Metrocards at the appropriate vending machines. Another arrest came after he pickpocketed $50 from a woman at a subway station near Bryant Park.
So far he has not suffered any consequences for the crimes committed.
In the past, Barry has been to state prison six times and racked up charges such as grand larceny, petty larceny, and fraudulent accosting.
However, with the new law in effect, it is unlikely that Barry will face similar ramifications in the future, and the 56-year-old was sure to boast about his change in fortune to reporters.
“I take $200, $300 a day of your money, cracker! You can’t stop me!” he gloated about the prospect of stealing from more victims.
“Bail reform, it’s lit!” Barry continued. “It’s the Democrats! The Democrats know me and the Republicans fear me. You can’t touch me! I can’t be stopped!”
Barry continued to sing his praises for the new bail laws.
“It’s a great thing. It’s a beautiful thing,” he said. “They punk’ed people out for bullsh*t crimes.”
However, though Barry might be enjoying the new bail law, others have not been quite so complimentary towards the new program.
“At least before, he’d be remanded and be behind bars for a couple of days. He wouldn’t be able to victimize people,” said Assistant Chief Gerald Dieckmann, the No. 2 officer in the NYPD’s Transit Bureau (via The Daily Mail ) .
However, many progressive groups have celebrated the new reforms. Chief among them was the Legal Aid Society.
“Locking up Mr. Barry on unaffordable bail or worse, remanding without bail, ultimately does nothing to protect the public and fails entirely to address his actual needs,” the group claimed in a statement, citing Barry’s “needs” as “economic stability.”
New York is unfortunately not the only state to suffer from thievery. As previously reported by The Inquisitr , a Minnesota woman was left outraged after a porch pirate stole her package — even though the thief left a polite note in the process.