CVS employee who fatally knifed shoplifter walks free after posting $100K bail
The Big Apple CVS employee charged with fatally knifing a serial shoplifter during a fight in a Midtown store was freed from behind bars Thursday after posting his $100,000 bond.
Scotty Enoe, 46, who has been in custody at Rikers Island since his arrest over the stabbing of 50-year-old homeless man Charles Brito last Thursday, was fitted with an electronic ankle bracelet before being released under strict conditions.
“Obviously he’s happy to be getting out of jail. He’s looking forward to being home and he’s looking forward to going back to work,” his attorney, Adam Freedman, told The Post after a hearing in Manhattan Criminal Court.
A handcuffed Enoe, who was wearing a white T shirt and chinos, listened as Judge Laurie Peterson set a slew of severe restrictions for his release during the hearing.
The CVS worker — who faces charges of murder and criminal possession of a weapon — agreed to surrender his passport and not stray from the five boroughs.
Enoe, who suffers from sickle cell anemia and holds down a number of jobs aside from CVS, will be allowed to work between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. but must be home by an 8 p.m. curfew, the judge said.
He is also only allowed a maximum of two hours of outdoor recreation time per day.
“I really appreciate the fact that they recognize this as not your run-of-the-mill kind of case, and that this guy should not be in jail pending some sort of resolution of it,” Enoe’s attorney said.
“So we’re pleased that he’s going to be getting out today.”
“He’s got a chronic illness, and he was getting medical attention for it, so at least from that perspective he’s happy and we’re pleased, and his health seems to be OK,” Freedman added. “But obviously he’s going to get much better attention and care in the community than he ever would with the Department of Correction.”
Enoe was spotted leaving court later Thursday clutching his belongings in a clear plastic bag, but declined to answer questions and tried to shield his face with his shirt.
Enoe’s mother, Lucille, who said last week her son was a dedicated employee who had taken on multiple jobs while battling his debilitating rare blood disorder, told The Post she was happy his hefty bail was paid and that he’d be able to come visit her later Thursday.
“I can just tell you I’m happy. I’m happy. I’m very happy,” Lucille Enoe, 72, said by phone. “I just know he’s on bail but I’m not sure who posted the bail.”
One of Enoe’s other employers, not CVS, had helped him out by posting his bail, his attorney said.
Big Geyser, a beverage distributor based out of Maspeth, Queens, forked up the cash, according to court records. Celebrity bail bondsman Ira Judelson wrote up the bond, according to the documents.
Enoe is accused of stabbing Brito, a serial shoplifter, inside the CVS store at Broadway and West 49th Street in the early hours of July 6.
The employee allegedly told cops he did it in self-defense after he was pummeled by Brito without provocation, according to a criminal complaint.
“I did not stab him over CVS products. I stabbed him over [him] punching me. Look what he did to my face,” Enoe allegedly told the responding officers.
Sources said Enoe was hospitalized with contusions to the face after the fatal encounter, and he was later brought to a police precinct and charged.
Cops said they found a blood-soaked folding knife and brass knuckles on him after he was taken into custody.
His attorney told The Post that Enoe, who has no criminal history, may have had the knife on him because he was opening boxes at work.
Brito, the slain homeless man, had more than a dozen previous shoplifting arrests to his name and was known to target drugstores in Upper Manhattan, records show.
Enoe is due back in court on Sept. 7.
Additional reporting by Steven Vago
