A Tren de Aragua-linked migrant — accused of robbing a Manhattan prosecutor in her apartment building while performing a lewd act — smirked, laughed and yawned in court Thursday as a judge finally locked him up.
Brandon Simosa — a Venezuelan migrant who has racked up numerous arrests in his short time in New York City — got ripped for his cavalier attitude at his Manhattan Criminal Court arraignment on a felony charge of first-degree sexually motivated robbery.
“He arrived here in New York in June and has managed to get arrested seven times since June, and at one point was smiling, and is smiling now, and I observed him laughing during the proceeding,” Judge Janet McDonnell fumed during the hearing.
McDonnell ordered Simosa, 25, held without bail as he awaits trial over Sunday’s lewd robbery.
“The defendant is remanded.”
Simosa’s contemptuous courtroom antics are apparently a habit for the alleged perv, who sources said is linked to the vicious Tren de Aragua prison gang.
Assistant District Attorney Devin Horzempa in court recounted the robbery of one of his colleagues — a 38-year-old female prosecutor — whom Simosa allegedly had followed into her 44th Street building.
The sicko grabbed what the prosecutor believed to be a gun from his pocket and demanded cash as he cornered her in the building’s stairwell, Horzempa said.
Brandon Simosa, 25, has six priors from this year alone:
- Jan. 14: Domestic assault in Jackson Heights
- June 11: Grand larceny in Midtown, Manhattan
- June 29: Transit fare evasion in Queens
- Aug. 5: Grand larceny at the Queens Center Mall Macy’s
- Nov. 11: Arrested in connection to an April 23 grand larceny at a Times Square CVS
The terrified prosecutor threw down her phone, credit and debit cards, as well as her ID, Horzempa told the judge.
But Simosa wasn’t done — Horzempa said the migrant kept yelling, prompting the prosecutor to tell him her PIN numbers.
He then pocketed the money and “began masturbating towards the victim for a period of several moments,” Horzempa said.
Simosa ran off, tried to use his victim’s credit cards at a nearby restaurant and stole her money from an ATM, Horzempa said.
The prosecutor ID’d Simosa from a photo lineup, prompting his arrest at the Row Hotel migrant shelter in Midtown days later, Horzempa said.
“I’m all over the news, I’m famous, my friends told on me,” Simosa bragged to cops as they cuffed him, said Assistant District Attorney Joshua Larmon.
While in custody, Simosa gave a full confession to the crude crime, Horzempa said.
The arraignment unfolded with Simosa smiling throughout — just as he did the day before as cops shuttled him between buildings.
Horzempa revealed Simosa has one past misdemeanor and a failure-to-appear count against him, in addition to three open cases.
The cases include a petit larceny charge in Manhattan for allegedly stealing several thousand dollars worth of merchandise, as well as a Queens County incident in which he pleaded guilty to assaulting a store worker while stealing goods, Horzempa said.
Those two cases were on track to be dismissed, but Horzempa said they’ll be pursued after the creepy robbery.
“His criminal history makes it clear that he makes his primary living through theft of property,” Hozempa said.
“The defendant is a foreign national who now faces almost certain removal and deportation if he is convicted of these charges,” the prosecutor said while arguing that Simosa is a flight risk. “Immigration already filed a container in relation to this case. He is also homeless, showing lack of community ties.”
Simosa’s defense attorney David Liebman asked for “reasonable cash bail” to be set in the case.
Simosa stretched and appeared to yawn as McDonnell ordered him held without bail.
He then sat on a bench as he waited to be escorted back into a waiting cell, slouching, yawning and muttering to himself.
