A creep accused of snatching a 4-year-old from a Long Island laundromat outlandishly claimed he brought her to the library for help finding her parents but the language barrier led to a misunderstanding about his intentions, his attorney said Sunday.
Carlos Corte, 38, was freed Sunday on supervised release with a GPS monitor on a second-degree kidnapping charge stemming from the bizarre incident in which he led the young girl from a Patchogue laundromat while she was there with her mother.
“Your honor my client has had zero interaction with law enforcement. We’re asking for a release on his own recognizance. He thought the girl lived alone without parents,” Suffolk County legal aid attorney Alexandra Dyroff said at Corte’s arraignment at First District Court in Central Islip.
Corte claims he took the girl to a library, citing a language barrier for misunderstanding. News 12“He took her to the library and told an employee there as such but there was a language barrier. It seems to be a mistake.”
Steve, owner of Laundry Kingdom in Patchogue where the girl was nabbed, said once the mother realized she was missing they reviewed security camera footage, which showed Corte was talking to the little girl for several minutes in the back of the store.
“The mom ran out and actually caught him at the library. The cops were called, when they got there [Corte] told police “she didn’t have parents,” he told The Post.
“This could have happened anywhere. He was talking to her inside the store, the mom was wandering around for 20 minutes while he was talking to her in the back. This could have happened anywhere. This could have happened at Disneyland. You got to watch your kids, you can’t leave her alone for 20 minutes!”
Prosecutors say Corte admitted, “I made a mistake when I took the girl,” seeking high bail. Kevin Sheehan /NY PostProsecutors had been seeking a $150,000 cash bail, $300,000 bond or a $1.5 million partially secured bond.
“He took a 4-year-old girl from King Laundry where she had been with her mother doing laundry. The defendant made an oral admission, quote, ‘I made a mistake when I took the girl,'” Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Evan Ryan said in court, also through an interpreter.
“He brought the 4-year-old girl to another location and made admissions as such.”
Corte was in court for a second unrelated charge stemming from a warrant out of the Village Court of Patchogue. Judge James F. Leonick ordered him to appear in court for the other case on April 16.
