Thread: Hunt for coward who preys on elderly

Hunt for coward who preys on elderly


Now that they have a video on him maybe they will catch him sooner.
This is where I believe we should have video cameras all over crime ridden areas.


BY SIMONE WEICHSELBAUM and EDGAR SANDOVAL
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER


Updated Monday, August 18th 2008, 9:50 PM
He's the most cowardly punk in New York.
He chooses the weakest victims - the elderly - and attacks from behind, choking them until they crumble to the ground.
From one fragile woman, he took a cane. From another, a Bible.
Cops released disturbing surveillance video Monday of the thug who has terrorized at least a dozen Brooklyn seniors, stalking apartments in Crown Heights, Flatbush and Kensington all summer.
"We are lucky he hasn't killed somebody," a police source said. "I would like to believe that people have more respect for the elderly."
The heartless hoodlum choked 85-year-old Lillian France and stole her cane last week, leaving her gasping for air on the floor of a Crown Heights elevator.
He also squeezed the neck of a 72-year-old woman inside her Kensington building until she handed over her Social Security check. He stole a 54-year-old's Bible as she walked into her Flatbush lobby.
His victims are vulnerable, and sometimes poor. He took one 80-year-old's Medicaid card and a 75-year-old woman's benefits card.
The video of the predator gives a glimpse into the horror: a second-by-second account of Thursday's attack on France.
"The video captures the particular viciousness of the attack," said Paul Browne, the NYPD's chief spokesman.
The gritty images show the lanky man following France into the elevator of her niece's building, stalking her into her hallway and then choking her from behind. France waved her arms, desperately trying to throw off herattacker.
She was left panting on the floor as he ran off with $900 - and her cane, the video shows.
"I saw blackness, and I thought I was dead," France, a retired seamstress, said after the attack. France had just stopped by the bank before walking over to the building.
"I thought I was dead. I thought it was a dream. A terrible dream. I started to cry," France said.
"Now when I hear something bang, I'm scared," she told the Daily News from her hospital bed. "I hope they catch him. He is young. He should not be doing this."
Edith Burgess, 54, lost her Bible and $180 in rent money in her brutal run-in with the thug on July 17 in front of her Kensington building.
"I chased him and scratched him. And he pushed me and I fell on the ground," she said last night.
"He is a punk," said her husband, Daniel Burgess. "A coward."
The robber was described as a black man in his 20s or 30s, 5-feet-8 to 6-feet-2, 160 to 180 pounds and sporting a "nice watch, baseball cap and white sneakers," cops said.
His routine rarely changes.
He likes to follow his victims into their apartment lobbies to share an elevator ride and then "approaches them from behind," said Assistant Chief Michael Collins.
Anyone with information about the robber should call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at (800) 577-TIPS, or text in their tips to 274637 and then enter TIP577.
The NYPD is offering a reward of up to $12,000 for his capture.
sweichselbaum@nydailynews.com

Video disgrace

By Alison Gendar
Daily News Staff Writer
Updated Thursday, August 21st 2008, 11:25 AM

Tracy for News
The thug who attacked her even took her cane. A suspect is in custody in the mugging of Lillian France, age 85.

A crackhead career criminal just three months out of jail confessed to choking a Brooklyn senior citizen unconscious before stealing $900 - and the helpless victim's cane.
The heinous attack, captured on an elevator security camera, was the work of four-time loser Cornelius Abson, 36, who's spent most of his adult life in jail on four separate robbery convictions, police said.
READ ABOUT THE STRING OF COWARDLY ATTACKS ON ELDERLY VICTIMS

His arrest came after a detective who busted Abson for three 2002 choke-and-rob attacks on elderly victims recognized the suspect when the elevator video ran on the local news, police said.
TIMELINE OF THE GRANNY BASHER'S REIGN OF TERROR

Abson, paroled on May 7, was crying and remorseful after his arrest Wednesday at his work-release job as a street cleaner, police said.
The suspect confessed to the Aug. 14 attack on 85-year-old Lillian France, and then insisted on writing a personal letter of apology to the senior citizen, said Det. Maureen Sheehan of the NYPD Central Robbery Squad.
The half-page letter said "that really wasn't him," Sheehan said. "Because of the drugs is why he did what he did."
The victim's niece was beaming from ear to ear upon hearing word of the arrest.
"I don't have to speak," said Claire France, a guidance counselor. "My smile says it all ... Besides giving birth to my kids, this is my happiest moment."
France said her next stop was the Kingsbridge Jewish Medical Center to share word of the arrest with her aunt.
Abson confessed to another assault in the area, on a 67-year-old man. Police said he was a suspect in 10 other assaults, and they were planning line-ups to link him with those attacks.
Charges were pending against Abson, who told police the attacks were prompted by a crack addiction.
The assault on France, seen flailing helplessly before dropping to the ground on the tape, was stunning in its brutal imagery.
Abson has 11 prior arrests and four convictions, a police source said.
He was released from prison just three months ago after his 2002 conviction for choking and mugging three elderly victims in Brooklyn, the source said.
He also did time for a July 1994 conviction for choking and robbing a senior citizen; for a grand larceny auto conviction in 1992; and for an attempted robbery at gunpoint in 1990.
Investigators believe Abson followed France from her bank on Eastern Parkway and then slipped behind her and into an elevator at a Prospect Heights apartment building.
Abson choked France until she fell unconscious before fleeing, police say.