An arrest was made this morning in the case of the armed criminal who was wanted for attacking mainly senior citizens. Twenty minutes after a tip was reported to the Crime Stoppers hotline, the NYPD arrested 64-year-old Clarence Jones on Lincoln Place in the 78th Precinct in Brooklyn for allegedly committing eight armed robberies and assaults.
Jones' alleged victims were women ranging in age from their 70s to the 90s as well as a few people younger than that who stumbled upon the crime scenes. He allegedly followed them home and then either hit, choked, or pistol-whipped them and robbed them.
He was armed at various times with a gun, a knife, and a box-cutter. The attacks occurred in several neighborhoods in Brooklyn and in Queens and the Bronx.
The attack in our neighborhood occurred on Ocean Parkway near Beverley Road on Saturday, March 26th, in the daytime, just like the others. After following an 83-year-old woman into the building she lives in, he allegedly knocked on her door, then hit her in the face with a hard unspecified object.
Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce had said earlier that "Jones has 19 prior arrests and spent 14 years in prison for the exact same crime." He was released on parole in 2014.