Smith, who police said was married to the children's 24-year-old mother, had lived with the family for three months. He has 15 prior arrests, including a 2010 arrest for robbery in which police say he slammed a 14-year-old boy into an iron gate, kicked him on the ground, then put his knee on the boy's throat before stealing his wallet with $10 in it, records show. Smith was 15 at the time of that arrest.
He has also been arrested three times while jailed on Rikers Island, charged last October with assault for shoving a correction officer into a door, splashing two correction officers with an unknown liquid in February, and damaging a sprinkler head, causing his cell to flood last November, according to records.