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Woman Mugged at Knifepoint by Man Who 'Offered Sex' at Pier 45, Police Say

By Danielle Tcholakian | August 7, 2015 6:20pm | Updated on August 10, 2015 8:50am
 A woman was mugged at knifepoint early in the morning at Pier 45 by a man who first
A woman was mugged at knifepoint early in the morning at Pier 45 by a man who first "offered sex," police said.
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DNAinfo/Andrea Swalec

WEST VILLAGE — A 43-year-old woman was mugged at knife point by a 26-year-old man early in the morning at Pier 45 off Christopher Street shortly after he was released from jail, police said.

Police said Elias Navarez, "offered sex" to the woman at the Hudson River Park pier on July 31 about 5:50 a.m.

Navarez then told the woman, "I will cut your face up and toss you in the water," while swinging a knife at her, according to court documents.

The woman fell to the ground backing away from him, court documents say, but Navarez kept swinging the knife.

The woman blocked the knife with her purse, and Navarez started kicking her over and over in her left side while she lay on the ground, the documents say.

Navarez eventually grabbed her purse from her and emptied it on the ground, snatching her $200 Coach wallet, which held a Chase debit card and $60 in cash, and fled.

When police caught up to him and patted him down, they found a marijuana pipe with residue in it and two bags of marijuana, according to a police report.

He was arrested on charges of felony robbery in the first degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree and unlawful possession of marijuana, and is being held at the Manhattan Detention Complex on $10,000 bail, records show.

He is due back in court on Sept. 2. His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Navarez had been arrested just a few weeks earlier on July 16, in the subway station at 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue because he had been asking people to swipe him through the turnstile, police said.

Courts records show he pled guilty then to resisting arrest, and was sentenced on July 17 to 10 days in jail and The Day Custody Program, a three-day rehabilitative program intended to keep repeat offenders with substance abuse problems from cycling through the criminal justice system.