A career criminal with 40 prior arrests who allegedly pickpocketed a dead man in Manhattan was freed without bail at her arraignment Friday — as sources said she tried to use the victim’s stolen cash but couldn’t because it was covered in blood.
Repeat offender Geniece Draper, 40, stayed mum as she faced charges of both grand and petit larceny for allegedly snatching the wallet of a man who was crushed by a truck last week.
“This defendant appeared on video taking money out of a dead man’s pocket,” a prosecutor said at the arraignment hearing.
As she left Manhattan Criminal Court on supervised release, the brazen Draper denied she did anything wrong and insisted to The Post that she was only snatching back cash that belonged to her from the man, who was also homeless and identified as Jerome Smith, 62.
“He robbed me first,” said Draper. “He got killed after.”
Draper said she had dated Smith before he swiped $120 from her at an ATM, infuriating her.
Geniece Draper was charged with grand and petit larcenies for the crime.
“I could have killed him. He robbed $120 from me,” she said. “I knew the guy. I had a date with him.”
She said she didn’t take any of Smith’s credit cards and doesn’t consider what she did stealing because it was her cash to begin with.
“I didn’t steal nothing,” she said, before declining to elaborate.
Draper allegedly told cops she tried to use the money from his wallet but a cashier wouldn’t accept it because it was covered in blood, according to a police source.
“It was only $40. I knew him from the area but I didn’t know him personally,” she said, according to a Manhattan criminal complaint that appears to contradict her claim that she’d dated Smith.
Law enforcement sources said Friday Draper had a lengthy criminal history dating back to 2007, including a past grand larceny bust.
Most of her busts were for petty larceny, drugs and prostitution — and her last arrest before robbing the dead came just two days earlier.
“The defendant has two felony convictions, 42 misdemeanors and 16 failures to appear,” a prosecutor said at the arraignment hearing.
Police said Smith was hit by a tractor-trailer and dragged near a construction site as he crossed Eighth Avenue at West 44th Street on Oct. 6.
Draper was allegedly later caught in surveillance camera footage reaching into the dead man’s pocket and taking his wallet as he lay pinned under the truck that killed him.
Without a wallet, cops relied on dental records and fingerprints in an effort to identify Smith, according to sources.
Transit cops arrested Draper Thursday after recognizing her at the 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue subway station Thursday, according to police.
She had what appeared to be a crack pipe in her jacket at the time of her arrest, police sources said.
Suspects charged with petit larceny and grand larceny can’t be held on bail under New York’s sweeping 2019 bail reform law.
Draper’s lawyer didn’t immediately return The Post’s request for comment Friday.
