Warrant Issued for Elderly Grifter Stuck in Car Outside Court

Katherine Kelly

The 78-year-old ex-con who's been arrested some 37 times over the past three decades is in trouble again, this time for missing her final court date two weeks ago. You may recall that Katherine Kelly was famously busted in October 2008, after a pickpocket sting at the Upper West Side Fairway turned up a wallet in her bra. (An NYPD source called her a "pickpocket terrorist.") Earlier this month, Supreme Court Justice Ronald Zweibel signed an arrest warrant for Kelly, despite being informed she was stuck in a car outside court.

Kelly's lawyer Rick Pasacreta tells the Post, "She came to court, but three court officers were afraid they'd hurt her if they lifted her out of the car. She had soiled herself. She couldn't move her legs. I said, 'Judge! She's here!' But the judge said if she's not in the courtroom, he's issuing a warrant."

But when the Post inquired about the warrant, a courts spokesman got all snippy: "I'm legitimately confused. When judges are perceived to be less than tough on crime, the Post criticizes them. Here, a judge is being tough on a persistent misdemeanant, and the Post is criticizing him, too." Seriously, what does a judge have to do these days to make the Post happy?

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By John Del Signore in News on November 30, 2009 11:19 AM

Comments [rss]

Pachinko

Oh, let her go on stealing. What's wrong with stealing if you're an old white woman?

AnnaZed

I worked in a store where we had to always be on the look-out for this old lady who would show up either in a wheel-chair or with a cane disguised in various wigs on different days. She not only shop-lifted but also stole people's wallets from her position in that wheel chair, and twice we couldn't get the cops to arrest her when we caught her. Ever the victims would feel sorry for her when we stopped her at the door demanding our stuff and their wallets. Not the same hag though, a different one running the same game I guess.

anarekey2000

Lemmie see, she's a grifter, arrested 37 times, who claims she's too old and feeble to make her court dates. She's clearly faking it. It worked for Vinnie "the Chin" for a while too.

jaycjay

"I'm legitimately confused. When judges are perceived to be less than tough on crime, the Post criticizes them. Here, a judge is being tough on a persistent misdemeanant, and the Post is criticizing him, too."

Good point. And is a judge supposed to believe every story a defense lawyers tells him to explain a defendant's absence? Bottom line: you're in court at the appointed time, or you're not.

But Kelly's lawyer says she can't afford a nursing home -- and can't get insurance due to her numerous aliases. "Nobody knows who to bill for this stuff," he said.

We reap what we sow.

"If the warrant officers go to her house, I can't imagine them carrying her out of there in a wheelchair."

Then what's the problem? She has nothing to worry about.