Captain Donald Powers (NYPD)
June 3, 2011 Staff Report
A 21-year-old Brooklyn man who allegedly mugged a series of Sunnyside/Woodside women near the 52nd Street subway station has been arrested, according to police.
Paul Winston allegedly followed women when they got off the 52ndStreet/Lincoln Ave. subway station and then “grabbed them from behind and wacked them to the ground,” said Capt. Donald Powers, the police captain at the 108 Police precinct. Winston then stole their belongings.
Powers said that there have been six robberies of this type near 52nd Street between January and April, with Winston confessing to four of them.
Winston confessed to robberies on Jan. 22, Feb. 5, Feb. 12 and April 30, Powers said. Three of the victims were Asia and one was white. The ages of the women ranged from 26 through 63. None of the women were seriously injured.
The robberies all took place between 10:00 pm and 3:00 am.
The police did not disclose how they caught Winston, other than saying through “internet usage.” However, he had been arrested once before for jumping over a turn style in Brooklyn
Winston was arrested on May 10 and is current incarcerated on $600,000 bail. His next court date comes up June 29. He faces a minimum of 4 years in prison.
The robberies on Feb. 1 and April 1 remain unsolved.
