Federal agents arrested Gassew yesterday morning in the infirmary of Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility, where he was in custody on state charges that he robbed four Philadelphia convenience stores in August and October. Federal prosecutors have only charged him with one of those robberies.
During a brief initial hearing in federal court, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ed Zittau declined to comment on why this case was selected. Zittau said he would ask that Gassew be detained without bail in a federal facility until his case was resolved.
A federal judge will hear motions on that request next week.
Gassew slumped in a wheelchair as U.S. marshals escorted him into the federal courtroom.
He was a shadow of the brash and defiant suspect who once mocked police detectives when they confronted him with four bags of stolen items from a crime spree, in which he allegedly robbed 21 people in one weekend in December 2007.
He looked frail and emaciated, his bandaged right hand sitting useless on a pillow in his lap. His head was scarred, and his right eye seemed blinded - injuries apparently suffered in an altercation with police after his shooting.
He replied twice with a soft and raspy "yes" when U.S. District Judge Thomas J. Rueter asked him whether he wanted a court-appointed attorney and whether he understood the charges against him.
Gassew's life was chronicled in an Inquirer series in December about the troubled Philadelphia court system.
Of the more than 20 robberies he has allegedly committed, he has never been convicted. In the case involving his alleged weekend robbery spree, all but one of the 21 cases was dropped after witnesses failed to appear in court. Gassew has only been convicted one time, for a drug charge.
