By Heather Grossmann
DNAinfo Editor
MANHATTAN — The suspect in a rash of knifepoint muggings at Stuyvesant Town is back to Manhattan to face charges after his arrest in New Jersey over the weekend.
John Anthony Martinez, 39, of the Bronx, is accused of holding up six women in Stuy Town and the Bronx with an ice pick and taking their money and other valuables, according to police.
Martinez, who is a convicted thief fresh out of prison for committing armed robbery, was arrested Saturday in Cliffside Park, N.J. just over the Hudson River from Manhattan, law enforcement sources said.
He was being held in Bergen County jail for violating parole in New York, according to the Bergen County Sheriff's Office.
Martinez waived extradition in New Jersey court on Tuesday and will be brought to New York to face charges related to the alleged muggings, the New York Post reported.
Four NYPD detectives were present as Martinez agreed to return to the city, the Post reported.
In each of the alleged muggings, the suspect gained entry to apartment buildings and followed women into the elevator, threatening them with an ice pick or knife before taking things like money, jewelry and cell phones, police said.
Last Thursday, the suspect robbed a 40-year-old woman and a 32-year-old woman within minutes of each other in Stuyvesant Town, following a Nov. 22 incident in which he mugged a 63-year-old woman of cash inside an elevator in Peter Cooper Village, police said.
The robbery pattern began last month in the Bronx, where three women were targeted and robbed of money and valuables inside their apartment buildings in Co-Op City, according to police.
