MANHATTAN — Police arrested a homeless man suspected of pushing down and robbing an 85-year-old woman in the elevator of her Meatpacking District home, police said Wednesday.
Freddie Keitt, 33, was also charged in two similar robberies of women in the East Village and Gramercy Park, police said.
In those two robberies, he was armed with a gun, according to the NYPD.
In the first incident, an elderly West 13th Street resident was entering her apartment building on Dec. 8 about 11 p.m. when Keitt followed her to the elevator, shoved her to the ground and snatched her purse, police said. He tucked it into his sweatshirt, surveillance video of the violent encounter shows.
The accused crook also snatched the wedding ring of the victim, retired actress Yvonne Sherwell-Demakopoulos, the New York Post reported.
Armed with a gun, Keitt is accused of terrorizing another woman in the East Village last Saturday, just hours after striking in the Meatpacking District. This time he followed a 28-year-old woman into a building elevator about 1 a.m., police said.
The victim complied and the Keitt left with her cellphone and purse, police said.
Keitt is accused of robbing one more woman the next day about 5:30 p.m. He followed a 22-year-old woman into her elevator in Gramercy Park and demanded her bag, police said.
She complied and he fled, police said.
Keitt was charged with three counts of robbery, police said.
He has seven prior arrests, mostly for robbery, sources said.
