Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Sex Offender Who Attacked German Tourist Has Been Arrested, NYPD Says

By  Aidan Gardiner and Ben Fractenberg | May 11, 2017 11:32am | Updated on May 12, 2017 4:47pm

 Investigators want to question Keon Robinson for attacking a tourist and another woman, they said.
Investigators want to question Keon Robinson for attacking a tourist and another woman, they said.
View Full Caption
NYPD and Division of Criminal Justice Services

MANHATTAN — The registered sex offender who sexually assaulted and beat a German tourist in a string of Harlem robberies was caught upstate Thursday, police said.

Investigators caught Keon Robinson, 28, in Schenectady about 9 a.m., seven days after he attacked the tourist, a 31-year-old woman, as she left the subway and was walking back to the Airbnb where she was staying about 2:50 a.m., officials said. Police said the incident was the last of three robbery incidents by Robinson in the area dating back to April 24, two of which included groping women victims.

Robinson was unarmed when officers with the Joint Regional Fugitive Task Force caught up to him, sources said. He requested a lawyer, but declined to talk further, sources said.

Robinson, who lived in Bedford-Stuyvesant's Breevoort Houses, was arrested in 2007 for sexually assaulting a woman he didn't know, records show. He was convicted and spent the next eight years behind bars.

He was released in March 2016, but arrested six months later for a parole violation, officials said.

Robinson began his robbery spree last month when he mugged a 35-year-old woman about 4 a.m. on April 24, police said. He punched the woman in the face when she screamed, then reached into her pants and groped her before fleeing, police said.

Robinson then used her credit card to buy a $24 fan at a Bronx Target and then a $138 "vanity" at a Bronx Home Depot, according to court papers. 

Three days later, he mugged a 24-year-old man outside 701 W. 139th St. about 4 a.m., police said.

On May 4, Robinson mugged and sexually assaulted the German tourist as she headed back to her Airbnb apartment at about 2:50 a.m., police said. He punched her in the face when she tried to grab her bag and knocked her to the ground.

In graphic footage released by police, Robinson can be seen sexually assaulting the woman as she lay on the sidewalk beside a heap of refuse.

WARNING: Graphic Video

The tourist suffered a concussion, laceration to her head, broken tooth, two black eyes and bruising, prosecutors said. 

Robinson was charged with attempted rape, robbery, assault and sex abuse, police said. 

He was held without bail after his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court Friday.

He is due back in court on May 17.  

His lawyer did not return an immediate request for comment.