KIPS BAY — A homeless man wanted for four armed robberies in Murray Hill, Gramercy, and Midtown East last week has been arrested and linked to a fifth incident, according to police.
John Marino, 56, a resident of the 30th Street Men’s Shelter at East 30th Street and First Avenue, was arrested on Friday after a plainclothes officer spotted him near Bellevue Hospital and recognized him from security footage, according to a police spokesman.
Marino began his crime wave on Oct. 19 when he walked into a laundromat at 231 E. 34th St. between Second Avenue and Tunnel Entrance Street and demanded money from a 44-year-old woman working there, according to a police report.
When the woman refused, he hit her on the head with a stapler and swiped $110 from the cash register, police said.
He reappeared the next day when he walked into a pharmacy at 120 E. 34th St. between Lexington and Park avenues at about 8:20 a.m., flashed a knife at a 36-year-old employee, and demanded cash, police said. This time the employee complied, opening the cash register and forking over an unspecified amount of cash, police said.
Two days later on Oct. 22, Marino held up a woman at a Chase Bank ATM on East 23rd Street between First and Second avenues just before 9 a.m., police said. As the 25-year-old victim was exiting the ATM, the robber forced her back in at knifepoint and stole $40 from her, according to a police report.
The next day, just before 11 a.m. on Oct. 24, the thief entered a pharmacy at 313 First Ave. at East 18th Street and told a 21-year-old employee that he had a knife, police said.
When a customer approached the robber and the employee, the man told both victims that he would shoot everyone in the pharmacy if the woman didn't open the cash register, police said. The employee complied, and the man made off with $200 in cash, according to a police report.
Two days later on Oct. 26 Marino barged into a tailor’s shop at 877 First Ave. at East 49th Street and ordered a 74-year-old employee of the shop to fork open the register, according to police. The victim complied and handed over $300 and Marino fled with cash in hand, police said.
Marino’s spree came to an end on Oct. 28, when a plainclothes officer noticed him near Bellevue Hospital at 4:20 p.m. and arrested him, according to a police spokesman.
Prosecutors charged Marino with two counts of robbery, records show. A judge ordered him held on $25,000 bail, and he’s due back in court on Thursday, according to court records.
Information regarding Marino’s attorney was not immediately available.
