Jared Solomon claims to be “a broken man” after two months locked up in the notorious Brooklyn detention center — and he wants out.
But the U.S. Attorney’s Office says the convicted Vornado fraudster is “unsupervisable” having broken prison rules, and can’t be trusted to be released.
Solomon, 48, was sent to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Sunset Park on April 21 after the disgraced broker was found guilty of having stolen more than $9.5 million from his former employer, Vornado Realty Trust.
His court-appointed attorney last week asked the judge to release Solomon on a $250,000 bail ahead of sentencing, which is scheduled for August 4.
“Mr. Solomon’s incarceration at MDC Brooklyn over the last two months has been brutal, punishing and life-altering. He has deteriorated significantly. He is a broken man,” wrote Anthony Cecutti, who took over in May after Solomon could no longer pay his defense attorney.
Cecutti said that in May, Solomon fell while getting out of the shower and has failed to receive adequate medical care for a resulting shoulder injury. He also claims Solomon wasn’t given enough clothing — just a T-shirt and broken shoes with no socks — and that he’s been subject to lockdowns related to violence and drug use on his unit and “lives with fear of being stabbed or otherwise physically harmed.”
Solomon is “losing his mind,” Cecutti claims, and as his mental health deteriorates he is unable to assist in preparing for sentencing.
The prosecutors on his case, however, say Solomon is blowing the conditions at MDC out of proportion, and that he shouldn’t be released.
They say X-rays taken after his fall show no evidence of a major injury, just a minor joint condition. And they add that an MDC inventory shows Solomon received about 20 pieces of clothing and towels. The units Solomon has been housed in, they add, haven’t had any lockdowns — just a “modified operation” for a few days due to an elevator outage.
Instead of suffering mistreatment inside the Brooklyn center, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District says Solomon has been breaking the rules relating to phone use.
Solomon has used other inmates’ unique phone access numbers and shared his number with others, prosecutors claim, which violates the rules set in place to monitor calls and maintain security. They allege that Solomon asked an unnamed romantic partner to send $100 to another inmate to buy more phone minutes — another violation of prison rules.
During his time inside the MDC, Solomon has demonstrated that he is “unsupervisable,” the prosecutors claim.
“The defendant’s misconduct during his limited time at the MDC makes plain that he cannot be trusted,” they wrote.
The judge in the case has not yet made a decision on Solomon’s application for release.
Solomon was sent to the Brooklyn detention center because of a threat he made to kill his ex-wife and children. (His previous attorney said Solomon made the threat during the heat of an argument and never intended to follow through.)
After the threat, Solomon was hit with an order of protection and was later arrested and charged with harassment and menacing. He failed to tell his pretrial services officer about the arrest, which factored into his being sent to Brooklyn to await sentencing.
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