Suffolk County’s District Attorney blasted a Long Island judge’s decision to release a creep accused of snatching a 4-year-old from a laundromat — despite the “concerning” allegations of the case.
Carlos Corte, 38, was freed on supervised release with a GPS monitor after he was slapped with a second-degree kidnapping charge on Sunday for allegedly leading the young girl away from her mother and out the back of Laundry Kingdom in Patchogue, according to cops.
Judge James F. Leonick agreed to spring Corte — who had an outstanding bench warrant — on supervised release after his defense attorney claimed he brought the tot to a library to help find her parents, but a language barrier led to a misunderstanding about his intentions.
But prosecutors didn’t buy his attorney’s claims and said Corte should have never been released.
“We respectfully disagree with it [the outcome]. I think if you look at the facts of the case, clearly they’re concerning,” Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney told The Post on Sunday.
“Also, you have a situation where there was already a bench warrant issued. This person has tenuous ties to the jurisdiction,” Tierney said.
“So this is just another situation where it appears as though, you know, we’re gonna have to act and act quickly to protect the community.”
Suffolk County legal aid attorney Alexandra Dyroff told the courtroom at Corte’s arraignment at First District Court in Central Islip that the alleged kidnapping appeared to be a result of miscommunication.
“Your honor, my client has had zero interaction with law enforcement. We’re asking for a release on his own recognizance. He thought the girl lived alone without parents,” Dryoff said.
“He took her to the library and told an employee there as such, but there was a language barrier. It seems to be a mistake,” the defense attorney argued.
Tierney maintained that the defense’s argument did not alleviate his concerns about the allegations in the case.
”So there’s a lost child, and you believe a child is lost, and then you take that child to another place, and then you just leave that child there, isn’t that worse?” Tierney said about the defense lawyer’s reasoning. “Again, these are allegations.”
Corte allegedly chillingly told Suffolk County cops in substance after he was busted, “I made a mistake when I took that child from here,” Tierney reiterated.
“Once you interpose and intervene with the child, you have a responsibility,” he said. “You can’t just leave a child somewhere else.”
The DA stressed that prosecutors’ request for a $150,000 cash bail, a $300,000 bond, or a $1.5 million partially secured bond in the case was justified, given the allegations.
“I think given the facts of this case … given the fact that he already has a bench warrant out and it’s alleged that he removed, he kidnapped this child from away from their mother … based on all those factors, that’s why we asked for such a high bail,” Tierney said.
Leonick ordered Corte to come back to court on April 16 on a second, unrelated charge stemming from a warrant out of the Village Court of Patchogue.
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