Police: Hypodermic Needle-Wielding Robbery Suspect In Custody

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A man wanted in connection with a series of muggings in which victims were threatened with a hypodermic needle is in custody.

Angel Anthony Cintron, 39,was picked up Monday by members of the NYPD in Yonkers after receiving a Crime Stoppers tip, 1010 WINS' Steve Sandberg reported. Distinctive tattoos on his neck helped police identify and locate Cintron, police said.

1010 WINS' Steve Sandberg reports

Cintron spent much of the day inside the Bronx Detective Bureau, where police were arranging for witnesses to view him in a lineup, CBS 2's Tony Aiello reported.

Investigators said Cintron struck at least eight times in the Bronx since mid-August, mostly along East Tremont Avenue.

His targets have been mostly men -- young men and teens on their way to school, Aiello reported.

In each incident, police said the suspect displayed a hypodermic needle and threatened to stab the victims if they didn't hand over their valuables. Police said he's walked away with cell phones, iPads, iPods, money, wallets, and credit cards.

Police were also investigating whether Cintron was behind an attack Friday in Manhattan. In that incident, police said a 13-year-old boy was threatened with a needle and robbed of his cell phone at the West 86th Street subway station.

"If you're going around threatening people with hypodermic needles, you could definitely spread diseases that way. So that would be my main thing -- who else did you poke with that needle before you threatened me with that needle," Hunts Point resident Jamil Grant told Aiello.

Cintron has 27 arrests on his record dating back to 1993, police said.

Cintron is charged with robbery and criminal possession of a weapon.

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