PARK SLOPE — Police have apprehended the man suspected in a string of violent armed robberies of elderly women, including a 91-year-old Park Slope resident who was punched and choked, the NYPD said Monday.
Police took Clarence Jones, 64, into custody at 11:35 a.m. Monday, just 20 minutes after a tipster called in a sighting of Jones to the NYPD's CrimeStoppers hotline, said NYPD chief of detectives Robert Boyce at a Monday afternoon press conference.
"We've been searching for him hard," Boyce said. "The Fugitive Investigation Division has been scouring the city."
Jones was dressed head-to-toe in black when officers apprehended him, and Boyce credited eagle-eyed officers with doing a "great job" spotting Jones's gray hair peeping out of a black hoodie.
Jones, who lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant, was charged with assault, robbery, attempted robbery and criminal possession of a weapon, police said.
Jones was the subject of a citywide search after the NYPD identified him as the suspect in at least five robberies of older women.
Boyce said Monday that Jones, who's also known as Thomas Jones, was suspected in eight robberies in total in Brooklyn, Queens and The Bronx.
Jones was released from prison on parole in September 2014 and had violated the terms of his parole, Boyce said.
Jones was wanted in connection with a March 2 gunpoint robbery during which he put a 91-year-old Park Slope woman in a chokehold, and the Feb. 11 robbery of a 71-year-old Park Slope woman who said Jones held her hostage in her own home for more than an hour, police said.
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Jones was also suspected in robberies in Prospect Heights, Kensington and Ridgewood, Queens.
A $3,500 reward was offered to help catch Jones. It wasn't immediately clear Monday whether the person who called CrimeStoppers would receive the reward.
The robberies shocked residents in Park Slope, where violent crime is relatively rare. The commanding officer of Park Slope's 78th Precinct said in late March that he had put his entire staff, including administrative workers, on the hunt for Jones.
"I can sit here and say crime is great in Park Slope, but it's not when we have a gentleman like this out there robbing the elderly," said Deputy Inspector Frank DiGiacomo. "We have to catch this guy."
