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Serial Choker Convicted for Choking Elderly Men in Subway, DA Says

By Mathew Katz | September 10, 2014 2:45pm
 Anthony White, 44, pictured just before he choked and robbed a man on Aug. 26, 2011, authorities said.
Anthony White, 44, pictured just before he choked and robbed a man on Aug. 26, 2011, authorities said.
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Manhattan District Attorney's Office

MANHATTAN CRIMINAL COURT — An ex-con who served prison time for choking a man in a subway station, then strangled someone behind bars, has been convicted of choking six additional victims, prosecutors said.

Anthony White, 44, was convicted Tuesday of choking and robbing a string of elderly men in and near Manhattan subway stations in August 2011, according to the Manhattan District Attorney's office.

It took a jury less than a hour and a half of deliberations to find White guilty of multiple counts of robbery and strangulation following a month long trial, prosecutors said.

He faces minimum sentences of 20 years to life on on the top count alone, and he could be forced to serve for each count consecutively, a spokeswoman for the District Attorney's office said. 

In 1987, White was sentenced to state prison after choking a man unconscious in a subway station. while behind bars, he choked a fellow inmate to death and was convicted of manslaughter in 1992, according to court records.

White was released in 2011 shortly before approaching a 71-year-old man from behind on the platform of the N/R subway station at West 28th Street and Broadway at about 9 a.m. on Aug. 13, 2011 and choking him until he lost consciousness, officials said.

White then stole $150 from the man's wallet, prosecutors said.

The man suffered a stroke as a result of the attack and spent about a month in the hospital, prosecutors said.

Three days later, White followed a 75-year-old man into a building near the entrance of the same subway station, choked him and stole about $200 from his wallet, the DA's office said.

Over the course of the next two weeks, White attacked two more men at the same station. He also attacked a 78-year-old man at the subway station at West 23rd Street and Eighth Avenue and an 85-year-old man in the station at West 72nd Street and Central Park West, prosecutors said.

The victims' ages ranged from 38 to 85, and four of them were more than 70 years old, prosecutors said.

Police were able to identify White from surveillance footage after an attack at the West 28th Street station on Aug. 28, 2011. On Aug. 31, an undercover NYPD transit officer arrested him. 

“The more than 5 million people who ride the subway every day in this city should not have to look over their shoulders for fear of being robbed,” Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said in a statement.

“Anthony White purposely selected victims whom he could easily overpower, including four men over the age of 70. He choked them from behind and violently robbed them, all in broad daylight. He now faces a lengthy prison sentence thanks to the sharp eyes of the NYPD and the hard work of my office’s prosecutors.”

White will be sentenced on Nov. 13, according to the DA's office. His attorney could not be reached for comment.