A pair of reputed migrant gangbangers have been nabbed in a drug raid at a Queens auto store — solely to be minimize unfastened with out bail after prosecutors lowered the fees, The Submit has discovered.
Jose Tamaronis-Caldera, 27, and Richard Garcia, 33, each tied to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, have been busted on felony drug and gun prices in a Feb. 5 raid at V&R Auto and Collision in Woodside, together with 54-year-old store proprietor Rafael Nieves, in response to sources and court docket data.
However as soon as the case obtained to court docket, Queens prosecutors lowered the fees, hitting the migrants with a misdemeanor rely of possession of an air gun — which allow them to stroll with out bail.
Nieves, who confronted probably the most severe prices, had his drug and gun possession prices knocked down as nicely, with the brand new counts not eligible for bail below the state’s controversial legal justice reforms.
Now, all three are again on the streets.
“These are not misguided individuals,” a regulation enforcement supply advised The Submit. “They’re documented members of a identified violent legal enterprise, a gang who has planted their flag right here by entrenching themselves in narcotics, gun and human trafficking — and one of the best we will do is allow them to out?
“If we did our jobs with criminals we wouldn’t have ICE scouring our streets for detainees.”
Tamaronis-Caldera and Garcia crossed the US border illegally in 2023, however have been launched into the nation below former President Joe Biden’s lax border insurance policies, federal immigration sources mentioned.
Tamaronis-Caldera, who entered the US along with his spouse and two kids, advised immigration officers he could be dwelling in Durham, North Carolina, and Garcia was supposed to remain in Savannah, Georgia.
Immigration sources mentioned a deportation detainer has now been positioned on Gardia.
In line with regulation enforcement sources, the 2 migrants have been dwelling at tax-funded Huge Apple shelters at transformed inns — the Roosevelt in Manhattan and the Crowne Plaza in Queens.
Following the Feb. 5 raid on the Queens auto store, all three have been charged with gun and drug possession after cops discovered a Glock handgun and “a large quantity of controlled substance,” the NYPD mentioned.
The sources mentioned the proof seized within the raid included a big stash of cocaine, a .40-caliber Glock Gen 22 and greater than $3,100 in money, and the entire suspects have been charged with second-degree legal possession of a weapon and fifth-degree legal possession of a managed substance.
Beneath the state’s bail reform statutes a choose can decide to set bail on the gun cost based mostly on a number of elements, together with legal historical past and probability of re-arrest.
Nevertheless it by no means got here to that.
In line with a legal criticism filed by the Queens DA’s workplace the following day, the 2 migrants have been solely charged with possession of an imitation handgun tied — an air gun recovered on the storage.
Nieves’s prices have been knocked all the way down to fourth-degree weapons possession and seventh-degree drug possession and he was freed on a conditional launch however with no bail, data present.
In an e-mail Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Queens District Legal professional’s Workplace famous that the fees lodged within the criticism usually are not eligible for bail below the state’s legal justice reforms.
“The DA’s office reviews all evidence and charges as warranted,” the spokesperson mentioned. “On this case the weapon charged towards defendant Nieves is for an unloaded firearm.
“Our office asked for supervised release and the judge granted supervised release,” they mentioned. “The charges against the other two defendants, Garcia and Tamaronis-Caldera, are for possession of an air-CO2 pistol and are not bail eligible.”
