An accused Venezuelan bike thief asked a New York City judge to lock him up in Rikers Island to evade arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents — whose efforts to detain him were blocked when the desperate plea was stunningly granted by a judge.
Nolveiro Vera Ordonez, 30, was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court on charges for fourth-degree criminal mischief, petit larceny and fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property while five masked ICE agents waited outside the heavily secured courtroom to take him into custody Wednesday afternoon.
His lawyer, Elizabeth Fischer of the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, said her client was “voluntarily” requesting to be jailed, on charges that typically do not require bail to be set.
Judge Rachel Pauley, who noted the request was “highly unusual,” agreed to set Ordonez’s bail at $100 – effectively blocking the federal arrest and prompting ICE agents to scatter out of the courthouse…