City taxpayers will shell out $12,500 to a twice-convicted crook who, due to a simple paperwork snafu, spent an extra two weeks on Rikers Island — or $700 for each extra day he was locked up, new court papers state.
Ronald Connors, 41, who goes by the tag “Kech,” pleaded guilty to petit larceny and graffiti raps in Brooklyn in January 2014 and was sentenced to just less than two months in jail. While serving his time, he pleaded guilty to an earlier crime of petit larceny in Queens.
“Connors was sentenced by the Hon. Donna Golia to a term of incarceration running concurrently with his sentence from King’s County,” his suit states. “Judge Golia specifically ordered that plaintiff was not to serve any additional time for the Queens County case.”
But Connors wasn’t set free on his release date of March 27, and Rikers staffers told him he would be held on the sentence related to the Queens case until April 27, the suit states. He wasn’t released until April 14.
“There needs to be more oversight in the jails in how these sentences are calculated,” said Connors’ lawyer, Nicholas Mindicino. “It was a difficult situation for him because he’s in there with limited access to anyone outside.”
A city Law Department spokesman said settling was in the best interest of the city.