The semi-naked sex fiend accused of attempting to rape a woman on a Manhattan subway was free to commit the brutal attack after receiving just 15 days in jail for two public sex crimes last year, The Post has learned.
Lamel Batten, 44 — a homeless career criminal and gangbanger with 51 previous arrests — was slapped with a pulse in 2023 in connection with a pair of separate lewd acts he committed on Manhattan trains, prosecutors said.
That wasn’t the only time Batten could have been taken off the streets for an extended period of time, but that didn’t happen. He was arrested this year for stealing two laptops, but spent just four months in jail, despite his dozens of previous arrests.
In fact, the alleged gang member had five outstanding warrants at the time he allegedly tried to rape a woman at the 116th Street/Columbia University subway station around 11:45 p.m. on Wednesday, sources said.
“How can we say we are the safest big city in America when a man like this is walking the streets and doing this to innocent, unsuspecting women?” a law enforcement source told The Post.
“When do we say it’s enough if we lock someone like that up?”
The 15-day prison sentence resulted from two cases. The first was because he allegedly pleasured himself in front of a woman at the 145th Street No. train station. 1 on December 21, 2022.
That woman took a photo of him and reported the sick person to police, according to a criminal complaint.
In the second case, Batten allegedly masturbated in front of a 31-year-old woman on an uptown No. 1 train approaching the 181st Street train station on March 15, 2023, police said.
In a March 24, 2023 “global lineup” in both cases, Batten pleaded guilty to two counts of public indecency, a class B misdemeanor, and was jailed for two weeks.
Then on March 6 of this year, Batten was sentenced to just six months behind bars for allegedly stealing two laptops from an Upper West Side Citizens Bank, according to the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
He spent time in custody from March 14 through July 12, a city police representative said.
He also has five arrest warrants related to disorderly conduct and petit larceny cases in the Bronx, all issued on April 24, according to sources.
He continued his perverted antics several weeks ago — when he was caught masturbating on the No. 1, 2, 3 platforms of 96 Street and Broadway station on September 4 around 8 p.m., according to a criminal complaint.
The charges were ineligible for bail and Manhattan prosecutors requested supervised release.
Then came the latest, most violent crime
Batten allegedly attacked a 21-year-old woman as she stepped off a platform bench at the 116th Street – Columbia University subway station around 11:45 p.m. Wednesday.
Batten – naked with his pants down – allegedly threw the victim against a wall in the No. 1 train station before violently yanking down her shirt and shoving his face between her breasts, sources said.
The perv then tried to take off her pants, but the victim managed to break free and ran to the station’s mezzanine floor, where sources say she told police about the disgusting attack.
Batten was arrested at the scene and charged with attempted rape, police said.
His arraignment in connection with the illness offense was still pending on Friday evening.
Batten, a member of the violent Nine Trey street gang, has a criminal record of 51 previous arrests – mainly for public indecency, resisting arrest and drug possession, sources said.
He was first in state prison from October 2010 to March 2012 on drug sales charges, Corrections records show.
He was back behind bars in December 2017 for criminal possession of a controlled substance and was released on parole less than a year later.
