An immigrant accused of beating two police officers at a Manhattan shelter was arrested again for snatching a woman’s cellphone and credit card and then promptly released without bail, The Post has learned.
Alexander Ayala, 24, was charged with identity theft and possession of stolen goods, according to a criminal complaint. The robbery occurred on August 12 at around 3:30 p.m. near the intersection of 11th Avenue and West 49th Street.
Authorities said Ayala grabbed the unidentified victim’s credit card and phone and fled on a bicycle. Later that day, he attempted to use the woman’s Amazon credit card at Gourmet 45, a delicatessen on Third Avenue, and at a T-Mobile store on Lexington Avenue, the complaint states.
The prosecution accuses him of two counts of third-degree identity theft and one count of criminal possession of stolen goods as the basis for the crimes he is charged with.
However, because the charges do not allow for bail, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office asked the court to release Ayala on probation.
Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Simiyon Haniff released Ayala on bail.
In May, prosecutors asked the courts to hold Ayala on bail of $20,000 in cash, $20,000 in insurance and $40,000 in partially secured bond after a near-riot broke out at the Roosevelt Hotel lodging facility, where several migrants allegedly ganged up on two police officers.
Ayala was charged with two counts of assault and one count of obstruction of justice for his actions that day. The charges also included attempting to snatch one of a police officer’s hats as a souvenir.
Instead, he and the other defendants were released on probation – despite Ayala’s criminal record, which includes a domestic violence charge in December.
The confrontation at Roosevelt began on May 19 at around 2:15 p.m., when police were called to the shelter because of a dispute between two groups of migrants.
Sources told The Post at the time that the asylum seekers quickly surrounded and attacked them.
One of the officers was bitten on the left arm during the scuffle and suffered bruises on his left leg, while the other officer suffered head injuries and wounds on his right elbow and wrist.
Both officers ended up at Mount Sinai West Hospital and the NYPD subsequently arrested four migrants.
Two of them – Kennedy Jesus Mavarez Lugo and Nicol Cedeno – were charged with assault on a police officer, while the third, Yhonneiber Milano, was charged with robbery and obstruction of justice.
Ayala was initially charged only with attempted robbery for trying to steal the hat, but the charge has now apparently been upgraded to assault, according to court records.
Ayala, whose last known address was the Roosevelt, is scheduled to appear in court on September 12 to answer for both the attack on the police officer and the theft of the phone and credit card.
