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A recidivist sicko sprung by a Manhattan judge on a violent robbery charge went on a twisted sex-assault spree the very next day in the East Village — attacking three women and two girls in under 30 minutes, The Post has learned.
The alleged groper, Jason Ayala, was busted for robbery after allegedly beating a 61-year-old man and his 51-year-old pal and stealing one of their cell phones around 1 a.m. Jan 12 at a bodega on Avenue D, cops said.
Ayala, 37, was caught and charged with two counts of second-degree robbery, which is a bail eligible offense. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg asked for $5,000 cash bail or $15,000 bond.
But Judge Robert Rosenthal — a 2019 appointee of then-Mayor Bill de Blasio — set him free on supervised release, despite six prior criminal charges going back to 2004.
The next day, Ayala went on his depraved rampage in two public housing buildings — shocking even the top boss of the NYPD.
“The next day, the day after he was arraigned on the earlier robbery arrest, he victimized five additional females in Manhattan,” a disgusted NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch told The Post.
“All of the arrests were for forcibly touching intimate parts and endangerment. He shouldn’t have been out on our streets the next day doing that.”
She pointed out that Ayala could face up to 15 years for the robbery.
But instead of sitting in a jail cell, Ayala went to the Lillian Wald Houses, a NYCHA project, on Avenue D, and allegedly grabbed a 14-year-old girl’s buttocks as she walked through the lobby toward the elevator just before 3 p.m., cops said.
“I think it’s horrible they let him go,” said the 14-year-old’s mom. “Of course he should have been behind bars.”
The girl was coming home from school when Ayala went into the building right behind her, the mom said.
“He put his hand on her butt and then tried to touch her face but she got away and ran out of the building,” she said.
Ayala then walked two blocks to 110 Columbia St. in the Baruch Houses, got on that building’s elevator and grabbed a 35-year-old woman’s butt, cops said.
At about 3:15 p.m., he was back to the Lillian Wald Houses and slapped a 49-year-old woman on the backside, cops said.
That caught the attention of the mom of the first teen-aged victim.
“What made me look up was my neighbor starting to scream,” she said.
“Who do you think you are to touch me the way you touched me!” the 49-year-old victim shouted.
Five minutes later, Ayala got on the elevator and touched a 12-year-old girl’s crotch over her clothes — and did the same to her 32-year-old mother, police said.
The mom of the 14-year-old called 911. A short time later, her daughter pointed out Ayala, who was strolling out of the building.
Ayala was arrested and charged with one count of sexual abuse, five counts of forcible touching, two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, court records show.
“When they called us to tell us he had been arrested, you should have seen the very deep breath of relief she had,” the mom said of her 14-year-old daughter.
This time, Bragg requested $200,000 cash bail or $600,000 bond.
Rosenthal set bail at $50,000 and $150,000 bond and Ayala is now cooling his heels at Rikers Island awaiting a Feb. 5 court date.
Ayala has six prior arrests, including operating a vehicle while impaired on drugs, assault, marijuana possession, drug sales, criminal mischief and another robbery in 2004, police sources said.
Rosentha previously freed a man who punched two top NYPD officials.
Quran Campbell, 25, had allegedly hit Lt. Richard Mack and then-Chief of Department Terence Monahan in the face during an Occupy Wall Street protest on the Brooklyn Bridge.
Prosecutors requested $75,000 cash or $100,000 bond, but Rosenthal freed him under supervised release.
Monahan ripped the decision, which came months after a series of criminal justice reform measures were passed in Albany.
“Judge Robert Rosenthal’s reckless decision to release Mr. Campbell WITHOUT BAIL endangers every NYer and the officers who risk it all to protect them,” he wrote on Twitter.
Lillian Wald resident Juana Catalan, 50, said she’s upset that Rosenthal let Ayala free in the first place.
“How are they going to let a criminal go and get away with that?” she wondered. “That is just really insane to me.”
Another building resident said she was scared because there are often strangers in the chronically unlocked lobby.
“Why wasn’t he incarcerated?” said the woman who identified herself as Nicole, 38. “They hired cops to be in the train stations, but we need cops and security over here.”