by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE, Dec 22 – Kelly Josek was released on bond in April 2023 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Magistrates court - where she reappeared on December 15, 2023. Inner City Press was there, the only media in the SDNY Mag Court.
Magistrate Judge Ona T. Wang noted that she had been released on bond before. She had been in substance abuse treatment - but government payment was terminated when a warrant was issued by the Eastern District of Texas court.
Judge Wang asked the Assistant US Attorney, who was asking this time for the detention of Josek, What sense does that make? Josek, the AUSA said, had been arrested by NYPD for grand larceny.
Her Federal Defender said she needed to get back to her four children. And she was released on bond, being led into the office to sign with her leg irons clanking. She was so thin the bones of her shoulder blades were visible.
Further research by Inner City Press find that she appears to have been jailed as Kelly Spinelli-Josek in New York in 2014 for a botched robbery, then abused in Rikers Island jail and awarded $450,000 for the abuse.
Then this Eastern District of Texas case, initially sealed, for counterfeiting a passport.
On December 20, Josek's Federal Defender wrote to Judge Wang asking that she add a condition to pre-trial release that Josek surrender to the Bergen County (NJ) Justice Center for her case there. Josek was in state custody in Queens and did not (understandably) want to be transferred to Rikers to wait.
Now this Christmas update: Judge Wang to her credit endorsed Josek's request. But once released in Queens, Josek was immediately picked up on a i-Card to Brooklyn. How was one to make to from being released in Brooklyn on Friday, and self-surrendering in New Jersey with the (false) promise of arraignments (and bail bonding) being offered there on Saturday, December 23? The state systems seem heartless in this holiday season. And there is more, much more, to this story. Watch this site.
The April SDNY case is US v. Josek, 23-mj-3210 (Wang)
The December SDNY case is US v. Josek, 23-mj-7565.
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