By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPERME COURT — An ex-con accused of mugging six women in Manhattan and the Bronx while brandishing an ice pick told police he was "sick" and unable to control his criminal urges, according to court papers filed Tuesday.
Career criminal John Martinez, 39, made a statement to authorities when he was arrested in New Jersey on Dec. 5 before he was extradited to face robbery and burglary charges in Manhattan and the Bronx.
"I would confess but I have to be certain I'm going to get the help I need," Martinez told police in Bergen County, according to statements filed Tuesday by the Manhattan District Attorney's office.
"I'm sick. I don't know what's wrong with me. I just go out and do these things and then I just end up going to jail again," Martinez added.
Martinez was arraigned on indictment charges of first-degree robbery and burglary in Manhattan Supreme Court on Tuesday. A jury also indicted him on three counts of child endangerment for allegedly threatening the children of two separate victims while committing the robberies.
On Nov. 22, Martinez allegedly followed two women into the elevators of their apartment buildings in Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. One woman had her young son with her.
Prosecutors said Martinez threatened to stab the boy if she did not take him to her apartment to get more money, after she'd already handed over what was on her person, prosecutors said.
"It's not enough. Take me to your apartment or I will stab your son," he allegedly told the frightened mother.
The same day he mugged two other victims at 525 East 14th Street and 521 East 14th Street on Dec. 2.
The Bronx DA said Monday that Martinez was indicted on charges he followed two Bronx women, ages 43 and 50, onto apartment building elevators in Co-op City, where he trapped them and demanded cash and property.
He was ordered held without bail in both boroughs. He faces a minimum of 20 years to life in prison on the Manhattan charges alone and is expected to appear in a Manhattan court again on Feb. 1.
