An alleged meth dealer who was spared from jail in March because of coronavirus concerns but blew the opportunity by cutting off his ankle monitor is getting another shot at freedom.
Rasedur Raihan, 22, was granted release from a federal lockup in Queens on Tuesday on a $100,000 bond and will again be subject to location monitoring and house arrest.
Magistrate Judge James Orenstein — who gave Raihan his short-lived shot at release in March — said during a teleconference hearing that he’s giving accused drug smuggler another chance because the threat of his becoming infected and dying from COVID-19 is greater than whether or not he shows back up for court for a drug charge.
“What’s the worst outcome — Mr. Raihan not appearing? Or Mr. Raihan getting infected or getting someone sick and causing needless death?” Orenstein asked Assistant US Attorney Matthew Bushwack, who pushed for Raihan to stay in the privately run Queens Detention Facility.
“Someone dying is worse,” the prosecutor conceded after a brief pause.
As of April 16, 30 inmates in the Queens Detention Facility and 10 staff had tested positive for the bug, according to a US Bureau of Prisons report to the chief judge of the Eastern District of New York.
Raihan was busted last year and charged with drug distribution conspiracy for allegedly trying to pick up a package from the US Postal Service containing some 1,217 meth pills.
A judge in October granted Raihan’s release on a $100,000 bond and ordered that he submit random drug tests and enroll in a treatment program.
But from there, Raihan became a headache for Pretrial Services, which is tasked with monitoring released defendants — he failed 14 drug tests and didn’t show up for 11 required treatment sessions, court records show.
Orenstein said at a March 12 hearing in Brooklyn federal court that putting Raihan behind bars could present a danger to the community — a ruling that has been widely cited by defense attorneys petitioning to get their clients out of lockup.
But within 24 hours of his release, Raihan took a pair of scissors to his ankle monitor — and lied about doing so when a Pretrial Services called and said it received an alert that his bracelet was being tampered with.
The US Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn declined to comment on Orenstein’s latest ruling.
