Yohenry Brito, 24, of Venezuela was arrested late Auguts 12 for a pair of thefts in Manhattan: one in July in which he cut security wires on display cases to steal fragrances, and another Aug. 6, when he stole $1,358 worth of merchandise from Sephora store shelves before fleeing with an accomplice.
He was previously arrested and released over at least three other thefts — both before and after his shameful Times Square police beatdown.
Brito was one of seven migrants seen punching and kicking an NYPD officer and lieutenant in disturbing video captured the evening of Jan. 27 in Times Square, authorities said. The scuffle began after officers attempted to break up a rowdy crowd.
Five of the accused asylum seekers — Yorman Reveron, 24, Jhoan Boada, 22, Wilson Juarez, 21, Darwin Andres Gomez-Izquiel, 19, and Kelvin Servita Arocha, 19 — were charged with assault on a police officer and obstructing governmental investigation and were released without bail.
Brito was initially released with his alleged fellow cop-beaters, but he was taken back into custody after a public outcry and ordered held on $15,000 cash or a $50,000 bond because he was accused of sparking the scuffle with the cops and had two pending misdemeanor theft cases.
But the recidivist was back on the streets again after the Rev. Juan Ruiz, the activist minister of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Bay Ridge, put up the $15,000 to secure his release in February.
“Our church is basically a sanctuary,” Ruiz told The Post at the time. “We assume that people are innocent until they are proven otherwise.”
In reaction to Brito’s latest brush with the law, NYC Police president Patrick Hendry said, “As we said from the beginning, the individuals who attacked our Times Square brothers have zero respect for the law and can’t be trusted to remain on the street without causing more mayhem. We are glad that he is back behind bars.”
Brito was indicted on the new theft charges Monday and is being held on $25,000 cash bond for the felony theft in July. It remains to be seen if a liberal church will bail him out again.
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“Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you? And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him” (Matthew 18:33-34).