Ice Pick Robber John Martinez Pleads Guilty
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) - It was a year ago when the ice pick robber began terrorizing women and children in the Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village neighborhoods.
WCBS 880's Irene Cornell On The Case
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Now, 40-year-old John Martinez has plead guilty in five of these cases.
His first victim was trapped in an elevator as she returned to her apartment in Peter Cooper Village. Police said she handed over $700 cash when threatened.
About a week later, Martinez struck twice in one day, prosecutors said.
First, he confronted a woman with her 3-year-old son in an elevator in Stuyvesant Town. After she gave him all her money which totaled $80.
WCBS 880's Irene Cornell reports Martinez threatened to stab the child unless the woman took him up to her apartment to get more cash.
Moments later, Martinez struck again in another apartment building, using the ice pick to rob a woman with two small children in an elevator.
Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. says with this guilty plea a dangerous criminal will be taken off of our streets.
Martinez was arrested in Cliffside Park, New Jersey last December on a parole violation.
Do you feel safer with his guilty plea? Sound off in the comments section below!
