The suspected madman behind a lethal stabbing spree in Manhattan Monday has a protracted felony historical past — and had simply walked free from Rikers Island a month earlier than the terrifying assaults, The Put up has realized.
Ramon Rivera, 51, recognized by sources because the individual of curiosity within the massacre, was launched from jail Oct. 17 on a time-served sentence for a spate of latest housebreaking and assault convictions after spending most of this yr behind bars, sources mentioned.
The discharge perplexed Mayor Eric Adams, who mentioned NYPD investigators have been wanting into how a profession felony with a historical past of psychological sickness may stroll free, regardless of his latest convictions.
“We’re nonetheless wanting over his report, however there’s an actual query on why he was on the road,” he mentioned.
Courtroom data present Rivera was arrested once more the day of his launch on a grand larceny cost after prosecutors mentioned he stole a virtually $1,500 acrylic bowl from the luxurious Jonathan Adler store in Tribeca in December 2023.
Manhattan prosecutors pushed for bail, and a decide ordered him launched on non-monetary circumstances forward of a Dec. 4 courtroom date, data present.
Sources revealed Rivera has not less than eight previous arrests in New York Metropolis, a historical past of psychological well being points and years of police run-ins crisscrossing a number of states.
Many particulars about Rivera’s report remained unclear as of Monday night, however the broad strokes paint a portrait of a troubled, at-times violent man dwelling outdoors the regulation for many years.
Rivera’s newest stint behind bars started Feb. 19, when NYPD officers arrested him in connection to a sample of burglaries in Manhattan, sources mentioned.
The burglaries went again to December 2023, when a thief smashed glass doorways and home windows of bodegas and smoke retailers to steal 1000’s of {dollars} value of cigarettes, vapes and lighters, based on sources.
Rivera stayed in custody in Rikers Island for months as prosecutors mixed the housebreaking counts right into a single indictment, sources mentioned.
In Might, Rivera spent a number of days in Bellevue Hospital’s psych ward, the place authorities mentioned he assaulted a corrections officer, the sources mentioned.
By August, he copped a responsible plea to housebreaking and obtained a 364-day sentence, sources mentioned. The subsequent month, he pleaded responsible to assaulting the corrections officer, incomes a 90-day time period to be served concurrently along with his housebreaking sentence, based on sources.
Rivera was finally launched after having served three-quarters, or 9 months, of his essential sentence, sources mentioned.
Rivera’s run-ins with NYPD cops additionally included two psychological well being incidents in November and December 2023, sources mentioned.
Because the NYPD eyed Rivera as a suspect in burglaries, cops in Union Metropolis, New Jersey, arrested him in January as a fugitive from justice, in addition to a suspect in a theft, sources mentioned.
Hoboken police arrested him round that point on two counts of felony mischief, based on the sources.
Rivera additionally has a felony report in a number of different states.
He additionally was arrested throughout 2017 in a Cleveland, Ohio, assault case, sources mentioned. Florida authorities had arrested him a number of occasions going again to 2003 on expenses starting from home violence battery to procuring prostitutes to drunken driving, based on sources.
