A serial transit offender who cops say should be in the subway crimes “Hall of Fame” was arrested for the 171st time — but wasn’t prosecuted, according to police officials and sources.
Michael Wilson, 37, was nabbed illegally selling MetroCard swipes in his 27th arrest in the past eight months alone, but Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office let him off without prosecution “in the interest of justice,” according to sources.
“If there was a hall of fame for Subway offenders — this guy would be a first ballot inductee,” NYPD Chief of Transit Michael Kemper wrote in a scathing X post.
“And yet, certain parts of our criminal justice system seem to think otherwise.”
Bragg’s office hasn’t prosecuted fare evasion since 2017.
A spokesperson for Bragg said the office continues to “hold accountable those who jeopardize the safety of other passengers and transit workers in our subways.
“Last year’s decrease in transit crime throughout the borough was the result of close collaboration with our law enforcement partners, and we are continuing that work every day,” the spokesperson said.
Wilson’s lengthy rap sheet dates back to the subway token era, when he began racking up a truly remarkable 171 arrests, a large majority of them transit-related, law enforcement sources tell The Post.
Wilson’s rap sheet includes arrests for transit crimes ranging from criminal tampering and fare evasion to possession of forged tokens and unauthorized sale of a fare card.
He also has bail jumping, weapons and drug charges dating back to 2005, according to sources.
Kemper, who did not name Wilson in his post, instead obliquely referenced a “subway recidivist at the heart of lawlessness and disorder our riders are subjected to at the turnstiles” who had racked up more than two dozen arrests in the last eight months.
“With nearly all connected to the illicit and sometimes aggressive sale of Metrocard swipes. And in this latest incident inside Midtown Manhattan’s Penn Station, he also actively resisted arrest,” Kemper wrote.
Wilson’s most recent arrest came shortly before 10 a.m. Feb. 2, when cops saw him swiping a rider through a turnstile with a MetroCard in exchange for cash, law enforcement sources said.
He was ordered to leave the West 34th Street and Seventh Avenue subway station, but he refused, and started to flail his arms and stiffen his body in an effort to avoid arrest.
Eventually officers placed Wilson under arrest. They found six MetroCards in his possession, which they bent along their magnetic strips to render them unusable. He also had a student MetroCard.
No officers were injured in the arrest.
But law enforcement sources familiar with the matter told The Post that the DA’s Office had declined to prosecute Wilson because it wasn’t “in the interest of justice.”
Kemper took exception at the DA’s rationale, referencing it verbatim in his X post.
“Justice for whom? Recidivist criminals or law abiding NYers who simply want to travel on the subways free of harassment or open acts of lawlessness?” Kemper said.
According to law enforcement sources, Wilson has an open case in Queens stemming from an arrest on Dec. 7 last year, for which a warrant was later issued. Further details regarding that case were not immediately available.
