BROOKLYN — The man responsible for a series of gunpoint robberies — including a vicious pistol-whipping — in Windsor Terrace and Kensington in 2015 has been sentenced to three decades behind bars, according to prosecutors.
Justin Farrow, 31, was sentenced Wednesday to 31 years in prison for sticking up four women between Aug. 20 and Aug. 29 of 2015 in a string of robberies that had residents of the area looking over their shoulders, officials said.
Acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez hailed the sentence, which he said would help keep Brooklynites safe from Farrow, who robbed each woman in a similar manner, escaped to the same train station each time, and wore the same shirt in three out of the four robberies.
“For more than a week, this defendant preyed upon vulnerable women walking alone at night, robbing and terrorizing them at gunpoint,” Gonzalez said in a statement. “Such cowardly acts of violence have no place on the streets of Brooklyn. Today’s sentence ensures that this defendant will be off of our streets and in prison for a very long time.”
Farrow, who lived in Bed-Stuy, was convicted in May of four counts each of first-degree robbery, second-degree weapons possession, and second-degree assault, and three counts of possession of stolen property, prosecutors said. He was facing more than 100 years behind bars, but Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Deborah Fowling handed down 31 years plus five years post-release supervision, according to a statement from prosecutors.
Farrow began his robbery spree on Aug. 20, 2015, when he sidled up to a 58-year-old woman at about 2:15 a.m. near the corner of Caton Avenue and East Seventh Street, flashed a silver handgun, and demanded she hand over her purse and phone. When the victim didn't immediately comply, Farrow threatened her with the gun, prompting her to hand over the goods, including a monthly MetroCard, prosecutors said.
He popped up again three days later on Aug. 23, 2015, when he held up a 35-year-old woman at about 1:30 a.m. on East Fourth Street between Greenwood Avenue and Fort Hamilton Parkway, officials said. The woman handed over her bag and phone, and Farrow, who was wearing the same distinctive shirt with a fleur-de-lis pattern that he wore for the first robbery, fled to the Fort Hamilton subway station, according to prosecutors.
Farrow struck a third time on Aug. 27, 2015, at about 12:45 a.m., when he flashed a gun at a 28-year-old woman near the corner of Ocean Parkway and Caton Avenue, prosecutors said. When the woman didn’t immediately comply, Farrow brutally pistol-whipped her, injuring the woman’s ear, head and hand, before the victim handed over her tote bag, officials said.
In the final robbery, Farrow he passed his victim walking near 19th Street and Sealy streets just before 11:30 p.m. on Aug. 29, 2015. Circling back, he came up behind the 20-year-old woman and stug a gun in her ribs, patted her down, and swiped her cellphone and MetroCard, before ordering her not to look back and fleeing to the Fort Hamilton stop, where he was pictured on surveillance footage once again wearing his fleur-de-lis shirt, prosecutors said.
Police finally caught up with Farrow on Sept. 4, 2015 at about 11 p.m. when a witness to the Aug. 29 robbery spotted Farrow near Vanderbilt Street and Prospect Park Southwest and called 911. As police closed in on him, Farrow tried to dispose of his gun, throwing it over a nearby fence, but officers nabbed him on the spot and soon found the loaded, silver 9mm handgun, officials said. At the time of his arrest Farrow was wearing his signature fleur-de-lis shirt and was carrying MetroCards belonging to three of the women he had held at gunpoint, prosecutors said.
Farrow was initially charged in a fifth robbery, but he was acquitted of that charge, his lawyer said, after his conviction on the other four robberies.
