A career thief with nearly 150 prior arrests has been released again in New York City after a fresh string of alleged thefts, with authorities saying state bail laws prevent judges from keeping him in custody on the latest charges.
Shaquan Seth, 40, whose criminal history includes arrests for burglary, larceny and drug offenses, had been out of Rikers Island for just six days following a five-month jail stay when he allegedly resumed stealing, law enforcement sources told The Post. He is now accused in five additional theft-related incidents in Queens.
Despite the new allegations, Seth was released again Friday because New York’s criminal justice rules bar judges from setting bail for certain non-violent offenses, including petty larceny and burglary, officials said.
“It makes no sense,” one law enforcement source said. “He just did six months for the same crime, and now he gets released without bail?”
Seth’s arrest record stretches back to 2009 and includes episodes of erratic behavior, sources said. In his most recent mugshot, he was wearing a Super Mario Bros. T-shirt.
He is now facing new robbery and burglary charges tied to five alleged incidents between June 17 — less than a week after he left jail — and Aug. 5. The stolen merchandise allegedly included $600 worth of Threshold candles, an item he appears to favor, according to sources.
A spokesperson for the Queens District Attorney’s Office said Wednesday that the charges Seth faces are not eligible for bail under current state law.
Seth, whose last known address was in the Bronx, has repeatedly targeted a Target store on Jackson Avenue in Queens, records and sources said. In the latest alleged incident there, he is accused of taking more than $600 worth of candles.
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On Aug. 5, the sticky-fingered thief allegedly swiped the candles from the Jackson Avenue Targe and walked out without paying — then threatened to shoot a young female clerk who tried to stop him, sources said.
He didn’t display a weapon.
His latest alleged crime spree came after he was released from jail on June 11 after serving five months for a November robbery and burglary case, the records show.
Seth had been behind bars while those charges were pending, but pleaded guilty to felony grand larceny in May in exchange for a six-month sentence — and finished out his time after getting credit for the time he had already been behind bars, according to sources
He’s no stranger to jail cells — sources said Seth has been behind bars 67 times in the past following arrests on charges ranging from larceny, robbery, resisting arrest and assault on a police officer.
The career criminal has also been the victim of two shootings after getting into disputes with gun-toting thugs, most recently when he was shot in the hand in the Bronx in 2016, and in 2008, when he was hit in the chest during a beef on the Lower East Side, the sources said.
The troubled thief was taken to Elmhurst Hospital for observation last week for psychiatric evaluation, but was later arraigned on the new charges and released again.
Now, he’s back on the streets despite his rap sheet and a slew of pending court cases.
Additional reporting by Joe Marino, Amanda Woods
