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'Ice Pick Mugger' Faces Additional Robbery Charges in Bronx

By DNAinfo Staff on December 20, 2010 6:25pm

John Martinez, 39, could face 20 years to life in prison if convicted of a string of ice pick muggings in Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, Manhattan prosecutors said at his arraignment.
John Martinez, 39, could face 20 years to life in prison if convicted of a string of ice pick muggings in Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, Manhattan prosecutors said at his arraignment.
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Pool photo by William Lopez

By Shayna Jacobs

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MANHATTAN — An ex-con accused of mugging two women in Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village while brandishing an ice pick was indicted on similar charges in the Bronx on Monday, authorities said.

John Martinez, 39, allegedly followed two women, ages 43 and 50, into the elevators of their buildings in Co-op City in the Bronx on Nov. 14, where he threatened them with the ice pick and demanded money and valuables.

He was charged in the Bronx with two counts each of first-degree and third-degree robbery, according to prosecutors.

Th East Village muggings also featured an ice pick as the weapon and the suspect also allegedly followed women into their buildings' elevators, according to prosecutors at Martinez's Manhattan criminal court arraignment on Dec. 9.

Martinez allegedly threatened to stab one victim's young son if she did not take him to her apartment to get more money after she'd already turned over cash and valuables to him, the Manhattan DA said.

He is scheduled to be arraigned in Manhattan Supreme Court on the East Village charges on Tuesday.