{"id":139920,"date":"2026-02-20T12:51:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T12:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/139920\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T12:51:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T12:51:10","slug":"eagle-eyed-cops-nab-nyc-transit-terrors-only-to-see-them-released-without-bail-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/139920\/","title":{"rendered":"Eagle-eyed cops nab NYC transit terrors \u2014 only to see them released without bail"},"content":{"rendered":"

Four of the Big Apple\u2019s most troublesome transit nightmares<\/a> were picked up by alert NYPD cops in the span of just 24 hours this week \u2014 but soft-on-crime state laws put them right back on the street.<\/p>\n

Eagle-eyed cops recognized the career criminals, who were wanted for a series of thefts, in separate busts in Manhattan on Monday and Tuesday \u2014 but three of them were already back on the streets Wednesday, while the fourth was awaiting arraignment but is also expected to be cut loose without bail.<\/p>\n

State bail reform laws bar judges from setting bail on non-violent crimes \u2014 giving them another break.<\/p>\n

Joseph Zimmerman, 56, is one of the city\u2019s most notorious transit offenders, with 47 prior busts, sources said. Obtained by the NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of these cases get [declined] by the DAs, or they\u2019re released from court to go find another victim,\u201d one frustrated cop told The Post. \u201cThere\u2019s a \u2018permission structure\u2019 that\u2019s created.\u201d<\/p>\n

The accused crooks include Joseph Zimmerman, 56, who has 47 arrests on his rap sheet, who was arrested Monday and charged with two pickpocketing incidents earlier this month, sources said.<\/p>\n

Zimmerman is charged with stealing a wallet from one man\u2019s bag on Friday and making off with a debit card and $300 cash, and stealing $100 and a card from another victim on Feb. 2, then allegedly making illegal purchases at a local Foot Locker.<\/p>\n

Ronielle Howell, 34, who lives at a Brooklyn homeless shelter, was picked up Wednesday and charged with snatching a phone from a Manhattan straphanger on Feb. 7.<\/p>\n

Sources said Howell allegedly followed the victim into the subway and snatched their phone.<\/p>\n

Eagle-eyed cops nabbed four wanted transit menaces in a span of just 24 hours, sources said. Helayne Seidman for the NY Post<\/p>\n

Danny Rijo, 50, who has at least 36 arrests on his rap sheet, was one of four transit offenders busted this week. Obtained by the NY Post<\/p>\n

Luis Maldonado, 49, has a dozen prior arrests. <\/p>\n

He was arrested Tuesday at a subway station at St. Nicholas Avenue and 184th Street when cops on patrol recognized him \u2014 Maldonado, who was already on probation, was wanted for allegedly stealing a phone from a sleeping straphanger on Jan. 16.<\/p>\n

Finally, Danny Rijos, a 50-year-old repeat offender with at least 36 arrests on his rap sheet, was picked up in the Bronx shortly before 1 a.m. on Tuesday and charged with grand larceny and drug possession stemming from a Feb. 8 incident on White Plains Road and East 241st Street, the sources said.<\/p>\n

Rijo\u2019s arraignment is pending because he is hospitalized, and authorities are sifting through several alleged crimes linked to him in different boroughs, according to the sources.<\/p>\n

NYPD stats show that transit crime has dipped over the past two years, but is up 11% so far this year. Helayne Seidman for the NY Post<\/p>\n

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch has pushed to clamp down on subway crime, which has been a constant source of complaints from New Yorkers in recent years \u2014 but it has been frustrating.<\/p>\n

The Post reported in September that 63 career transit offenders with more than 5,000 busts between them<\/a> had been charged with a variety of crimes, and yet only five of them remained behind bars.<\/p>\n

In March, police rounded up five of the worst transit terrors<\/a>, who had racked up nearly 600 arrests as part of Tisch\u2019s quality of life crackdown, with three of them temporarily jailed.<\/p>\n

NYPD crime stats show that transit crime in the five boroughs has been trending downward over the past two years, with a 7% dip \u2014 but is up 11% this year compared to the same time span last year.<\/p>\n

Through Sunday, the department reported 293 transit offenses this year, compared to 264 in 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Four of the Big Apple\u2019s most troublesome transit nightmares were picked up by alert NYPD cops in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":139872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[334,57,9,56,63,65,64,1210,103,1687,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-139920","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-grand-larceny","9":"tag-metro","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-ny","12":"tag-nyc","13":"tag-nyc-headlines","14":"tag-nyc-news","15":"tag-nyc-transit","16":"tag-nypd","17":"tag-subways","18":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}