State prosecutors in Connecticut are not filing charges against two Bronx men accused of kidnapping a doctor outside a Brooklyn nightclub after the alleged victims no longer wanted to cooperate with authorities. I moved in the direction of withdrawing it.
Defendant — Anthony Benjamin, 42 years old. Steve Daley, 50, was charged in Stamford Superior Court with grabbing Michael Bautista, 32, outside the Brooklyn Mirage venue last summer and forcing him to spend the night in the Big Apple.
But Bautista, an ophthalmologist and cataract surgeon in Norwalk, Conn., decided he was “unwilling to cooperate” with prosecutors, Assistant State’s Attorney Joseph Valdez said at a hearing in February. . According to The Hour.
Prosecutors were unable to proceed without Bautista, local newspapers reported, as his testimony was expected to form the bulk of the evidence.
The charges against Daley were dropped on February 26, according to the report. The charges against Benjamin will be dropped at his next court appearance scheduled for April 15th.
Prosecutors’ decision not to pursue criminal charges against the pair could be a strange conclusion to this wild case.
Previously, Bautista claimed that the two set him up after a July 21 show at the Brooklyn Mirage. The Brooklyn Mirage is a troubled East Williamsburg dance club known for being a target for criminals looking to take advantage of drunk and inebriated people roaming the neighborhood.
According to a Norwalk police report, Daly was driving the cab Bautista jumped into, and Benjamin was already relaxing in the back seat.
The two allegedly refused to take the hapless doctor back to his car.
Instead, they sent Bautista on a spending weekend in the Bronx, during which Benjamin made Bautista buy clothes and shoes and pay for a haircut at a barbershop, according to a police report obtained by police. He allegedly forced her to go out for a night out at a strip club. time.
Law enforcement sources previously told the Post that Bautista also paid cash for pizza and smoothies.
The report said Benjamin claimed he had a handgun with him the entire time, and that Bautista allegedly forced Bautista to withdraw cash from an ATM, which Benjamin then pocketed and distributed to friends. .
Daley then allegedly drove the two to the hospital where Bautista worked in Connecticut, where police collared the two suspected kidnappers on July 23.
The two were initially held on huge bonds: Benjamin at $1 million and Daley at $250,000.
However, the judge ended his promise to appear after prosecutors and public defenders “expressed concerns about the evidence in the case,” The Hour reported.
At Benjamin’s arraignment, Assistant State’s Attorney Michelle Manning said, “I stand here today without any other independent corroboration of the statements of the witnesses who complained about what happened over the weekend.” “I don’t think it’s appropriate for the state to require a high bail amount.”
The prosecutor’s decision may have lifted a burden from Daly’s shoulders.
But that’s unlikely to make much of a difference to Benjamin. Benjamin remains incarcerated at Rikers Island after allegedly stealing a wallet, driver’s license and iPhone from a victim in Midtown West last fall, according to jail records.
