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Geniece Draper: Sick thief who pickpocketed dead man crushed by truck freed, claims 'he robbed her first'

Draper denied doing anything wrong and claimed that she was only snatching back cash that belonged to her from the man, who was identified as Jerome Smith

Update: Geniece Draper, 40, who has been previously arrested over 50 times, allegedly pickpocketed a dead man in Manhattan was freed without bail at her arraignment Friday, October 14. Her act of trying to steal from a corpse had shocked many who had seen it online. 

According to NY Post, sources claimed she tried to use the victim’s stolen cash but was unable to exchange the blood-soaked currency. The repeat offender did not speak as she faced charges of both grand and petit larceny for allegedly snatching the wallet of a man who had been crushed by a truck. Draper even denied doing anything wrong and claimed 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.”

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MANHATTAN, NEW YORK: A homeless woman was arrested by the police on Thursday, October 13, for the pickpocket robbery of a dead man who had just been run over by a construction truck in Manhattan. For the gruesome theft which was captured on camera, Geniece Draper, 40, was charged with grand larceny, according to police and law enforcement officials. 

According to a tweet from NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell, transit officers apprehended Draper, who has a long list of criminal convictions, after spotting her at the 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue subway station in Manhattan. Sources claim that when she was caught, she carried what seemed to be a crack pipe in her jacket. Draper said that the victim attempted to rob her along with a McDonald's security officer while being questioned by police and expressed relief that he was killed, according to law enforcement authorities. Upon being detained at Central Booking following her arrest for the heinous theft, she was joking with law enforcement and court officials, according to a police source. She was also heard saying, "so what?" after arrest.

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The video footage from New York Post shows Draper slipping beneath the truck's undercarriage and stealing the wallet. In the video, one man was recorded shouting, “Go ahead, gangsta! Go ahead!” Police were contacted by other bystanders, but the thief had already left by the time they arrived on the scene.

The victim, struck by a tractor-trailer as he crossed Eighth Avenue at West 44th Street on October 6, was also officially identified by police as 62-year-old Jerome Smith who seemed to be homeless. Without his wallet, police had to rely on dental records to try to identify him and they eventually succeeded, according to sources, by utilizing fingerprints. Through disturbing video of the robbery which showed the pickpocket entering and stealing Smith's wallet as the dead man lay crushed under the truck that killed him, investigators were able to identify the accused burglar. 

Draper has reportedly been arrested more than 50 times in the past, according to sources. Her prior legal troubles include 14 calls to the police involving mentally disturbed people, as well as arrests for theft, drug use, and prostitution, according to reports. Just two days prior to this horrifying pickpocket incident, sources claim that she was apprehended and charged with criminal possession of a controlled narcotic. A picture of the two officers who conducted the arrest was posted on Twitter by the NYPD's Transit Bureau. “As soon as they made eye contact, the lady did a 180° – but these Transit cops patrolling the Times Square complex immediately recognized her as the thief sought for pickpocketing a man after he was fatally struck by a truck last week,” the tweet said. “Sharp eyes by our Manhattan transit team.”