Robert Cardone Jr. has been bailed out of prison in advance of his next court date — a month after the 22-year-old homeless man was first locked up on can-throwing, bomb-threat charges.
Cardone had been detained at the Whalley Avenue jail since his Aug. 30 arrest. He was released on bail on Sept. 30.
His public defender, Freesia Waldron, and a spokesperson with the Unhoused Activists Community Team (U‑ACT) separately confirmed for the Independent that Cardone has been released. The U‑ACT spokesperson said that he was bailed out by the Connecticut Bail Fund.
Cardone, who regularly returned bottles for cash at the Whalley Avenue Stop & Shop, was arrested after throwing three metal canisters he had found on the ground on Orange Street — leading to police shutting down parts of downtown traffic and evacuating City Hall as they investigated the cans as a potential bomb threat. Cardone told police at the time he intended no harm, but was ultimately charged with three felony counts of breach of peace, a misdemeanor count of first-degree criminal trespass, and a misdemeanor count of third-degree criminal mischief.
The bond in his ongoing case had been set at $25,000 — leaving him locked up on Whalley Avenue as his case made its way through court. At his most recent hearing in mid-September, Cardone appeared alongside his attorney before state Superior Court Judge Frank Iannotti and applied for a diversionary program that could lead to his case being dropped. Cardone’s next court hearing is scheduled for Nov. 4, when the judge will rule whether or not his diversionary program application will be accepted.
After that September hearing, Cardone returned to prison on Whalley Avenue.
A U‑Act member subsequently created a GoFundMe entitled “Support Bail Fund for Unjustly Arrested New Havener.” That fundraising drive raised $1,325. However, the funds were ultimately unnecessary. An Oct. 1 update from the page’s anonymous creator read: “Thank you so much for your donations. He has successfully been bonded out! However, there was a mistake in communication and it turns out that these raised funds were no longer needed for bail. I have submitted a request to Gofundme to return all donations, and I will send another update once this process is completed. Thank you so much again for your support and apologies for the inconvenience.”
The Independent was not able to confirm by the publication time of this article how much money Cardone and his supporters paid in order to bail him out in advance of the Nov. 4 hearing.