LOWER MANHATTAN (PIX11) -- Five of the eight migrant men accused of attacking two NYPD cops in Times Square were sent to jail on Rikers Island on Friday after each appeared before a judge. Their remanding brings to seven the number of men accused of being involved in the Jan. 27 attack who are now behind bars.
Each of the five men appeared individually at a hearing before Justice Laura Ward, of the New York County Supreme Court.
All of the men pleaded not guilty.
The first of the five, Yorman Reveron, 24, was charged with assault in the second degree. The judge gave him a $100,000 cash bail or $250,000 bond. He's also been charged, in separate cases, with robbery, related to items stolen from Macy's at Herald Square. The judge said that because of his other charges, she felt that a six-figure bail was appropriate.
Second was Yohenry Brito, 24. Until days ago, he'd been the only one of the eight alleged attackers to be held on bail. That $15,000 bail had been paid earlier this week by a Bay Ridge church. However, the judge said that another hearing, called a surety hearing, needed to take place to find out more about the source of the bail money, and other related issues. She ruled that he has to remain in custody until that hearing, which is scheduled for next Tuesday, Feb. 20. Officially, Judge Ward said, he's still being held on $15,000 bail or $50,000 bond.
Kelvin Servita Arocha, 19, was next to appear before the judge. Like the two men before him, a grand jury indicted him on a charge of assault in the second degree, for which he pleaded not guilty. He'd been taken into court by ICE agents, who'd found him on Friday morning in a Bronx apartment. He was given $15,000 cash bail.
Next before Justice Ward was Wilson Juarez, 21. Unlike the other defendants, Juarez was charged with tampering with physical evidence, and not assault. He'd been observed in surveillance video and by police either holding or wearing different items of clothing that some of the other men had worn on the day of the attack. Juarez is suspected of trying to help the other defendants not get caught.
His attorney argued that since Juarez had not been accused of involvement in a physical altercation that he should get a low level of bail, or none at all. He'd been detained by ICE, which would take him back into their custody without bail. The judge set bail at just $1.00, keeping Juarez in detention at Rikers.
The last migrant to appear was Darwin Gomez-Izquiel, 19. He's charged with second-degree assault in the Times Square incident, and also got arrested in what prosecutors described as a "violent theft" at the Macy's at Queens Center Mall this week. They said that he was an accomplice in the theft of $600 worth of clothes, and that he also attacked a store detective who'd tried to intervene.
Because of that incident, and because he has no community ties and might therefore be a flight risk, the judge said, bail "is appropriate."
Justice Ward set Gomez-Izquiel's bail at $50,000 cash, a level half of what prosecutors had asked.
All five of the defendants are due back in court on April 2. Two other men suspected in the Times Square attack, Ulises Bohorquez and Yarwin Madris, were arraigned earlier in the week, and are on Rikers Island in custody.
One other man accused of being involved in the Times Square attack, Jhoan Bhoada, has not been arraigned.
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