Editor’s Note: As of March 1, the New York Daily News has updated its story to reflect a factual error in NYPD Patrol Chief John Chell’s post on X. Chell identified State Supreme Court Judge J. Machelle Sweeting as the judge who released the suspect on his own recognizance. Judge Michele Davila was the one who actually presided over the case, according to the updated story.
By Thomas Tracy
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — The NYPD publicly denounced a judge who released an accused subway pickpocket without bail, claiming that the serial offender is again “walking the streets of this city, looking for his next victim.”
While complaining about the release of Rudell Faulkner on drug and stolen property charges on X, NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell bashed Supreme Court Judge J. Machelle Sweeting for setting the repeat offender free.
“This is his sixth arrest this year, with four being felonies,” Chell wrote as he posted a mugshot of Faulkner.
“Our cops @NYPDnews did their job. @ManhattanDA drew up proper charges and asked for bail and did his job,” Chell wrote in the post Tuesday.
That part of Chell’s tweet is factually incorrect — the case is being prosecuted by the Bronx District Attorney’s Office, as Faulkner’s alleged crime occurred in the Bronx. The Manhattan DA is not involved in the case.
Chell went on to write that Sweeting — who is usually assigned to Manhattan civil courts, but has lately been filling in for vacationing Bronx judges — “did not do her job” because she released Faulkner free without bail.
“She set free a predator back into the community, who may be on your next train, or walking the streets of our city, looking for his next victim,” Chell said.
Faulkner, 64, was arrested Feb. 23 for narcotics possession and criminal possession of stolen property after cops stopped him jumping a turnstile at the Fordham Road subway station near Jerome Ave. in Fordham about 5:21 p.m.
When he was stopped, Faulkner had 26 vials of crack in his breast pocket, according to court papers.
He was charged with possession of stolen property after investigators learned that Faulkner had pawned a cellphone swiped from a 56-year-old woman as she rode a No. 5 train to the City Hall station in lower Manhattan back on Dec. 20, cops said.
At a hearing in Bronx Criminal Court Feb. 24, Judge Sweeting ordered Faulkner released on his own recognizance — even though the Bronx District Attorney’s office requested $10,000 cash bail.
The Bronx DA asked for bail because it was believed Faulkner had stolen the phones he had pawned, a law enforcement source with knowledge of the case said.
Sweeting is a Manhattan civil court judge who was asked to fill in at Bronx Criminal Court last week while a handful of Bronx judges were on vacation, officials said.
Faulkner has “28 convictions, for preying on New Yorkers in our transit system and on our streets,” Chell said, bemoaning the judge’s decision. “Here is why NYC is battling the perception/reality of crime and how it affects them.”
“If everybody does their job…” he added, his post trailing off.
Faulkner’s criminal record dates to the mid-1980s, police said. He currently has seven open criminal cases, all for pickpocketing, drug possession and criminal possession of stolen property. Six of the arrests occurred in the Bronx, according to court papers.
“This guy should not be RORd,” Chell said when reached Wednesday, speaking about Faulkner’s extensive criminal record. “This guy is hurting transit. Hurting our city. This one is an egregious one.”
Faulkner is known to the NYPD Transit Bureau as a repeat offender, is in the bureau’s grand larceny recidivist database. The Transit Bureau posted that Faulkner was set free following another felony arrest on Jan. 28.
“The case was presented to a Bronx Judge, with the top charge being Grand Larceny (felony),” the NYPD Transit Bureau posted on Instagram last month. “Although this is a bail eligible case considering the perpetrator’s arrest history and active court cases, no bail was requested by prosecutors. The Judge released the perpetrator from custody on his own recognizance.”
That time, the NYPD did not publicly name the judge who ordered Faulkner released without bail.
Emails to the state’s unified court system and the Legal Aid Society , which represented Faulkner, were not immediately returned.
Chell’s tweet is an example of a new sometimes aggressive, sometimes snide, approach the NYPD has taken on social media. Sometimes the NYPD calls out people it disagrees with by name. In one recent case, a top NYPD officer called out an onlooker wondering why Hamas war protesters were forced onto the sidewalk in Queens.
“Hi Talia! Just so you know, it’s illegal to block the street, which is why cops are making sure it’s clear of pedestrians,” NYPD Chief of Department Jeffry Maddrey wrote on Feb. 19. “We have these wonderful places called “sidewalks” where believe it or not, you can walk safely and even protest if you want. Amazing!”
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