Federal prosecutors filed arson charges Friday against the 18-year-old Harlem man accused of setting a homeless subway rider on fire at Penn Station earlier this week. The charges come after investigators matched his face to body camera footage from a bicycle traffic stop a month before the incident.
Hiram Carrero was charged with arson resulting in injury to another person, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of seven years in prison and a maximum of 40 years, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.
He was remanded Friday to federal detention after prosecutors appealed the initial judge’s decision to release him on $100,000 bond.
According to the federal complaint, Carrero appeared to case the train before the attack.
Surveillance footage shows him briefly entering the subway car at Penn Station around 3:02 a.m. Monday, looking inside, then exiting and walking down the platform, according to the complaint. A minute later, he returns, picks up a piece of paper from inside the car, carries it to where the 56-year-old victim is sleeping and lights the paper on fire, the complaint says. He then allegedly jumped out just as the doors closed.
No one else was in the car at the time, according to investigators.
Video from inside the train, as described in the complaint, shows the fire flaring up and engulfing the victim's legs as the train travels toward Times Square. When the train arrives at 42nd Street, the victim emerges from the car still burning, according to the complaint. Officers on the platform then extinguished the flames, it says.
The victim was rushed to the hospital in critical condition with severe leg injuries, officials said.
Investigators identified Carrero in part by comparing subway surveillance images to NYPD body camera footage from an October traffic stop, when he was cited for running a red light on his bicycle. The complaint says he had the same distinctive mustache, the same hat with white lettering, the same gray hoodie with black drawstrings and the same backpack with a reflective mark on the left strap.
Carrero was arrested Thursday after police released surveillance video of a suspect leaving Penn Station. A tipster helped corroborate the investigation, according to a law enforcement source.
"As alleged, Hiram Carrero committed a horrific arson, starting a fire inside of a New York City subway car where a victim was sleeping," U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch called the attack "among the most serious acts of violence a person can commit."
The case was investigated by the federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearm’s arson and explosives task force with the NYPD.
The attack comes almost a year after 57-year-old Debrina Kawam, a homeless woman, was fatally set on fire aboard an F train in Brooklyn. That case led to murder and arson charges against 33-year-old Sebastian Zapeta, who pleaded not guilty in January.
Carrero has no prior arrests, according to police records. Attorney information was not immediately available.
