Soft-on-crime Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg is blowing tax dollars on prosecuting Donald Trump — while giving career criminals a real break.
Rodney Johnson, 53, who has nearly 90 busts on his rap sheet and two state prison stints under his belt, saw his felony robbery charges knocked down to slap-on-the-wrist misdemeanors by Bragg’s office last week, law enforcement sources told The Post Tuesday.
“This guy has been breaking the law for 35 years,” one law enforcement source said.
“He’s been a one-man robbery spree preying on low-wage workers, then when the cops catch the guy, Bragg’s office downgrades the felon charges,” the sources said.
“All the while [Bragg] chases an indictment of the former president for paying a porn star. Priorities.”
But the criminal was handed just $1 bail on the previous charges, records show. It wasn’t clear on Tuesday whether the suspect had made bail.
Johnson’s latest bust came last week and stemmed from two alleged incidents at pharmacies in Chelsea on March 24, according to court records.
Rodney Johnson, 53, has nearly 90 busts on his rap sheet and is on parole in a rape case, yet Manhattan prosecutors still knocked down his felony robbery charges.
At 8:20 a.m. that day, he allegedly walked into a CVS on West 23rd Street and stole several items, including air freshener and detergent, with cops charging Johnson with third-degree attempted robbery, the records show.
At 12:38 p.m., he allegedly went into a Walgreens on West 30th Street and stole more merchandise — and threatened workers with pepper spray when confronted, according to records.
Police charged him with third-degree robbery in that incident.
But in court, prosecutors with Bragg’s office dropped the charges to menacing and petit larceny — both misdemeanors.
Although the charges are non-bail-eligible, the judge set a $1 bail on Johnson’s previous felony robbery case from 2021. He skipped out on a court-ordered intervention program three times in that case.
Johnson’s criminal history dates to 1987, and includes a string of larceny and robbery busts and a 2005 domestic violence rap after he allegedly threatened to kill his ex-girlfriend’s daughter.
He has also served state prison time on a 1994 robbery conviction and a 1998 grand larceny conviction, state correction records show.
“A major principle of our system is the more crimes you commit, the worse the punishment,” said defense attorney Mike Discioarro, a former Bronx prosecutor. “How is this guy getting a deal?
“Should we tell people to commit more crimes to get a better deal?”
A spokesperson for the Legal Aid Society, which represents Johnson, noted that while police make sentencing recommendations, the final decision on charges rests with prosecutors, who made the determination based on the circumstances.
Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg brought criminal charges against former President Donald Trump while giving career criminal Rodney Johnson a major break. Getty Images
Former President Donald Trump arrives at Trump Tower in New York. AFP via Getty Images
The scene in Manhattan on Tuesday when former President Donald Trump was arraigned on criminal charges tied to alleged hush money paid to former porn star Stormy Daniels. John Angelillo/UPI/ShutterstockThe Manhattan District Attorney’s Office did not respond to a request for comment.
Bragg has taken heat since he took office last year and announced he would not seek prison time on a slew of charges and would downgrade felony charges in hordes of cases — including armed robbery and drug offenses.
Manhattan Supreme Court, where former President Donald Trump is being arraigned on criminal charges tied to alleged hush money paid to former porn star Stormy Daniels. SARAH YENESEL/EPA-EFE/ShutterstockAmong the cases Bragg’s office has gone soft on:
- Earlier this year Bragg’s office offered a sweetheart deal to a suspect in a vicious anti-Semitic attack in Midtown. The attacker called the victim a “dirty Jew” and said he’d pounce him again.
- Reputed gangbanger Charles Lindsay was ordered to take just five sessions of a youth diversion program for a string of felony busts. The decision put Lindsay back on the streets, where he and three cohorts allegedly mugged a 14-year-old in Bedford-Stuyvesant in January.
- In June, “professional booster” Michelle McKelley, 42, notched her 100th bust by allegedly pocketing $125 in goods from CVS — only to be released again by prosecutors despite five other pending cases.
- A prosecutor from Bragg’s office in December tried to get convicted killer rapper Trevell “G Dep” Coleman sprung from an upstate prison. Prosecutor David Drucker wrote the state clemency board pleading for leniency for Coleman, who was serving 15 years at the Fishkill Correctional Family for the 1993 murder of John Kenkel, 32.
Meanwhile, Trump is due to be arraigned on a grand jury indictment Tuesday on charges tied to alleged hush money paid to former porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016.
The circus-like case has the NYPD on high alert and has Secret Service agents deployed in the Big Apple for the unprecedented court appearance.
According to a CNN/SSRS survey released Monday, 76% of folks questioned believed politics played at least some part in the indictment against Trump, and 52% said it was a major reason for the charges.
Additional reporting by Elizabeth Rosner
