EAST WILLIAMSBURG — A woman working inside a local gym was attacked by a homeless man who walked into the women's bathroom, dragged her into a stall by her neck and choked her until she passed out, police said.
The 26-year-old woman was working inside the Green Fitness Studio at 242 Varet St. at 6:50 a.m. on Jan. 27 when she was attacked, police said. Police said she did not appear to have been sexually assaulted.
Police arrested a man at the scene who gave his name as Jase Daniells, 35, but investigators later realized his actual name was Leon Howell, according to police and court records. He was carrying another woman's credit cards, cellphone and prescription medication when he was caught shortly before 7:30 a.m. that same morning, police said.
He was charged with strangulation and assault, as well as criminal possession of stolen property, prosecutors said.
The next morning, while Howell was still inside the the Brooklyn Criminal Courthouse at 120 Schermerhorn St., he attacked again, ripping out a man's earrings and punching him in the face, according to court documents.
Howell, who has served three stints in state prison for theft and sale of a controlled substance, was on parole at the time of the incidents, state Department of Corrections records show.
He's being held at Rikers Island on $752,500 bail and is due back in court on Feb. 3, records show.
Zady Baraona, a manager at Green Fitness Studio, said she hadn't heard anything about the attack. The gym's owner did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The attack happened across the street from the Loft Hotel, a controversial men's homeless shelter that opened last fall.
Howell, who police described as homeless, was not a resident of the shelter, assistant director Ahmed Robertson said.
