Suspect Charged In 3 Robberies, Including Elevator Assault On Elderly Woman
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A 33-year-old man has been charged in three Manhattan robberies, including an attack on an 85-year-old woman in a Greenwich Village apartment building.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said the suspect, Freddy Keitt, was taken into custody Tuesday night after he was seen acting suspiciously in Stuyvesant Town.
"We did receive a Crime Stoppers tip identifying someone as a possible perpetrator. We did a photo array for the victims and this individual was identified," Kelly said.
Surveillance video of Saturday night's incident showed a man following an elderly victim, 85-year-old Yvonne Sherwell, into her lobby before attacking her in the elevator.
"It happened so fast that I, of course, you're lying there and you're terrified. I don't know what he was going to do," Sherwell told CBS 2's John Slattery on Monday.
Sherwell was then knocked to the ground and robbed of her purse and wedding ring, police said.
Watch the surveillance video below:
Keitt has also been charged in two other robberies -- both in Stuyvesant Town, police confirmed. Kelly said Keitt made statements implicating himself in those incidents.
Authorities said those incidents include one on Dec. 8 in the lobby of a building on 14th Street. The suspect told a 28-year-old woman he had a gun and robbed her.
Keitt has also been charged in connection with a Dec. 9 robbery, which took place inside an elevator, police said. In that incident, the suspect told a 22-year-old woman he had a gun and robbed her.
Each woman was robbed of their purse and in one case a cell phone, police said.
