A California bail reform group backed by A-list celebrities has shut down its operation in Las Vegas after being sued for releasing a serial criminal who less than a week later tried to murder a waiter there.
The Bail Project — whose supporters include Danny Glover, John Legend and Richard Branson — said it began restructuring its Sin City office in early December, 8 NewsNow reported.
The move came after The Bail Project posted a $3,000 bond for burglary suspect Rashawn Gaston-Anderson in December 2021.
Six days later, Gaston-Anderson shot Chengyan Wang 11 times in the Chinatown section of Las Vegas, 8 NewsNow reported.
In a plea deal, the 24-year-old was convicted of attempted robbery and mayhem, both with deadly weapon enhancements, according to News 3 Las Vegas.
Gaston-Anderson was sentenced in December to seven to 18 years behind bars for the shooting.
The waiter, who was struck by seven rounds in the attack at Shanghai Taste, is suing the nonprofit for its role in releasing Gaston-Anderson despite his criminal past.
Wang — who also is suing Gaston-Anderson and Shanghai Plaza owner US Hui De Real Estate Investment Corp. — is seeking over $15,000 in damages from each defendant, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
“He’s got scars all over his body. He can’t move his shoulder over a certain height. I don’t know how (the bullets) missed a vital artery,” the victim’s lawyer, Kory Kaplan, told the newspaper.
The lawsuit accuses The Bail Project of failing to take into account Gaston-Anderson’s potential danger to the community given his pending and past cases.
In 2018, he pleaded guilty to attempted grand larceny in Las Vegas and was sentenced to 18 months of probation.
The following year, he was convicted of felony burglary in New York, and in 2021 he was convicted of auto theft in Illinois, Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson told the news outlet.
In November 2021, he also was arrested for pandering and carrying a concealed weapon, 8 NewsNow reported.
He reportedly was released without bail and ordered to stay out of trouble.
However, he was arrested again the following day on burglary and theft charges. The repeat offender was then sprung from jail after the nonprofit posted his $3,000 bond.
“Normally when bail is posted, a cash bail, it is a family member or friend who is familiar with the accused,” Wolfson told the Review-Journal.
“One can say, in a sense, they are vouching for the person. They are risking their own money. A family member comes forward, a brother, a friend, and if they put up $3,000 and this person doesn’t show up or re-offends, they lose their own money,” he said.
