‘THANK YOU’: An audio recording obtained by the Herald reveals Newton District Court Judge Mary Beth Heffernan was quick to dismiss a prosecutor’s request for high bail in the case of an illegal immigrant Uber driver accused of rape. A state judge freed a previously deported Uber driver accused of rape on light bail even after a prosecutor insisted that federal immigration agents were drafting a detainer and asked for high bond to hold him, according to a court recording obtained by the Herald.
The stunning tape of Tuesday’s hearing reveals Newton District Court Judge Mary Beth Heffernan cutting the arguments short before a defense attorney could even counter the prosecution’s $100,000 bail and GPS-monitoring demand, interjecting, “Twenty-five hundred dollars cash.”
Luis Baez — now being sought by immigration authorities who tell the Herald he’s dropped out of sight — is accused of raping an inebriated Boston College student who had hailed his Uber car Sept. 29. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said they made attempts to find Baez, but have been unsuccessful.
Middlesex Assistant District Attorney Raquel Frisardi told the judge Baez took the student to a parking lot and other sites and raped her three times even as she was vomiting and fighting back. He then dropped her at Boston College, where she reported she had been raped.
Police tracked Baez through the Uber app data. They determined with the help of Boston gang cops, who recognized his picture, that he had been using a false name — Pedro Valentin — on his Uber account.
The prosecutor told Heffernan that Baez was “somebody known to the Boston police gang unit as having previous involvement in the Mozart Street Gang, someone who had been previously prosecuted and in fact previously deported,” according to a court recording of the 17-minute arraignment Tuesday afternoon. Mass Judge Releases Undocumented Uber Driver Charged with Three Counts of Rape on 2500 Dollar Bond...Now He's Missing
Poster Comment:
Democrat.