Police have arrested the man suspected in a series of home invasion robberies targeting elderly women in Brooklyn and Queens. A police spokeswoman said that Clarence Jones, 64, is being questioned in connection with the crimes and has not yet been charged.
Jones was wanted for at least five stick-ups dating back to January, with eight victims in all, most of them female seniors.
From our last report on the alleged crime spree:
[The robberies] took place in Ridgewood, Queens, and Park Slope and Prospect Heights in Brooklyn. In one typical instance, Jones allegedly followed a 91-year-old woman to her Park Slope brownstone on the afternoon of March 2nd, choked her, flashed a gun, and pushed her into the foyer, demanding cash. The victim, Elizabeth Gioino, told CBS2, "I said, 'Please leave me alone! I’m a sick woman! I’m old enough! Leave me alone!'"
Around that time, cops say a 50-year-old man encountered the pair, and the robber pointed his gun at him and took his money, too, making off with $370 altogether.
The attacks have variously involved beatings with a blunt object, and threats with a gun and a box cutter. In one, Jones allegedly tried to tie up a 71-year-old woman in her Park Slope home.
The New York Post reports that police tracked Jones through data mining and surveillance images, and arrested him today. The NYPD would not verify that.
The tabloid also wrote that Jones has spent 14 years in prison, and was released most recently in May 2014.
Police have not yet decided what to charge Jones with, a spokeswoman said.
