The vagrant charged in Saturday’s Chinatown homeless massacre was roaming the streets because a nonprofit group posted his bail while he was jailed for allegedly groping a young woman, The Post has learned.
The get-out-of-jail-free card was one of two big breaks that Randy Santos, 24, scored this year — a Brooklyn judge also let him slide on a potential yearlong jail sentence after he defied a deal he cut on a turnstile-jumping charge.
The groping and fare-evasion cases were both pending when he allegedly used a 3-foot piece of metal to fatally bludgeon four sleeping men and leave a fifth clinging to life early Saturday.
But in both earlier cases, Santos repaid the compassion he was shown by failing to appear in court or ignoring a judge’s order, leading to two open warrants for his arrest when he allegedly went on the skull-bashing spree.
Santos was busted on March 8 at the Fortune Hotel, a homeless shelter in Queens, where a 19-year-old female employee told cops he squeezed her rear end while she was letting him into his room, according to court papers.
He was charged with offenses including forcible touching and third-degree sexual abuse — and was released without bail.
In May and July, judges twice ordered Santos picked up on warrants for failing to appear in court, with the second incident resulting in $1,000 bail being set following his July 23 arrest, court records show.
Santos — who officials said is a native of the Dominican Republic and lawful permanent resident of the US — spent nearly three weeks in jail before the Bronx Freedom Fund bailed him out on Aug. 12, sources familiar with the matter said on Monday.
But he soon skipped a scheduled court appearance, leading a judge to forfeit the bail money and order a warrant for his arrest on Sept. 16, court records show.
Founded in 2007, the Bronx Freedom Fund provides bail of up to $2,000 for defendants charged with misdemeanors to help them “avoid the dire consequences of pretrial detention,” according to its most recent IRS filing.
It receives 100% of its funding from unspecified “private donations and foundations” and had just over $1 million on hand as of July 30, 2018, the tax-exempt group’s returns show.
A high-ranking law enforcement official was outraged that Santos benefitted from charity.
“If you’re not coming back to court, you shouldn’t get bail,” the source said.
Neither the fund’s director, Elena Weissman, nor its chairman and co-founder, David Feige, returned requests for comment.
In addition to getting bailed, Santos got off easy following an earlier arrest for fare-jumping in Brooklyn’s Jay Street/MetroTech subway station on Feb. 25.
He was granted a conditional discharge, called an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal (ACD), and released without bail the next day, but court records show he violated the deal about two months later.
An arrest warrant was issued, and Santos was hauled into court on May 7, then jailed until June 15, according to the Department of Correction.
Although violating an ACD can result in a maximum sentence — which is a year in jail for fare evasion — Brooklyn Judge Hilary Gingold on July 9 left Santos’ deal in place, on the condition that he undergo supervised release by the Brooklyn Justice Initiatives, said a source familiar with the matter.
The program, run by the nonprofit Center for Court Innovation, provides defendants with mental-health counseling, drug treatment, job training and other services, its website says.
But Santos never enrolled, the source said, and a warrant for his arrest was ordered on Aug. 12.
Asked about Gingold’s ruling, Office of Court Administration spokesman Lucian Chalfen said: “That’s how she ruled. That’s what she thought was appropriate.”
Santos was scheduled to appear in Brooklyn Criminal Court Monday afternoon, but the proceeding was canceled after an aide to Supervising Judge Michael Yavinksy appeared and spoke privately with Judge Gina Levy Abadi.
Supervising Court Attorney John Quigley then told Santos’ Legal Aid lawyers: “We’re just going to restore the ACD and live to fight another day. Do we need your client’s approval to do that?”
The lawyers all shook their heads no, and a court officer told reporters in the gallery that Santos had waived his appearance pending a hearing on Nov. 6.
He is now due in Queens Criminal Court on Tuesday.
Additional reporting by Kevin Sheehan