QUEENS — The woman police believe is responsible for violently robbing two elderly victims in Forest Hills earlier this month stole a hooded track suit from a local 99-cent store shortly before one of the attacks to cover her tattoos, according to court documents.
In both robberies, Nikki Newmark, 31, attacked elderly women in the vicinity of Yellowstone Boulevard, near 67th Road and 67th Avenue — where Newmark herself lives — knocked them to the ground and snatched their purses before fleeing on foot, police said.
She was was arrested Monday night after getting out of her car on Yellowstone Boulevard, officials said. She was charged with two counts of robbery and one count of petit larceny, officials said.
On April 16, around 2:30 p.m., Newmark went to a nearby 99-cent store at 102-05 Queens Blvd., between 67th Drive and 68th Avenue, and stole a hooded track suit from in front of the store, court documents show.
“I took the track suit so it would hide my tattoos,” she later told investigators, according to her criminal complaint.
A little more than an hour later, she robbed a 73-year-old woman, who suffered several chipped teeth, authorities said.
“I didn’t mean for the lady to fall down, I seen her and heard her fall, I didn’t want to hurt her, I just wanted to take the bag,” she told investigators, according to the criminal complaint.
Newmark attacked her first victim, a 70-year-old woman, on April 5 around 6:30 p.m., authorities said. The victim, who lost her cellphone among other items in her purse, had to be taken to Forest Hills Hospital with injuries to her ribs and right arm, officials said.
Investigators were able to later recover the cellphone.
“That’s someone else’s phone, I don’t know how I got it, I must have done it but I don’t remember,” Newmark said, according to court documents.
Police said they were able to arrest Newmark after checking surveillance cameras in the area showing her fleeing after the second robbery. The images led them to a building on Yellowstone Boulevard between 67th Road and 67th Avenue, where residents recognized her as one of the tenants from pictures showed to them by investigators, police said.
Newmark has a long history of run-ins with the law, with 19 prior arrests dating back to 2010, including for robbery, disorderly conduct, assault, grand larceny and resisting arrest, police said. Nine of her arrests are sealed.
Her bail was set at $50,000 bond or $20,000 cash for each robbery incident, according to court documents.
She is due back in court on May 9.
Information on Newmark’s attorney was not immediately available.
