Cops yesterday nabbed a man they believe is the notorious Bronx rapist wanted in at least 37 vicious sexual assaults – grabbing him as he tried to pawn jewelry allegedly stolen from his victims.
The serial rapist is the man who was being sought by the four Street Crime Unit cops when they shot and killed African immigrant Amadou Diallo in front of his Soundview apartment building on Feb. 4.
The rapist’s terror spree began in 1993 – and he has struck mostly in The Bronx and Manhattan.
Police caught the suspect by staking out a pawnshop near the corner of 149th Street and Morris Avenue in The Bronx, where jewelry stolen during one of the rapes had turned up before.
Cops spotted a man matching the rapist’s description as he pulled up near the pawnshop and sat in his car while a woman who was with him went inside to sell more jewelry, investigators said.
Cops walked up to the car and arrested the man, who went along without a word, police said.
Police identified him only as a 39-year-old maintenance worker living in The Bronx.
“It looks good,” said a high-ranking police source, who noted that police may have strong DNA evidence in the case.
The man has been arrested twice before, cops said – for sodomy in 1983 and for robbery in 1989 – and is currently on parole for the robbery conviction.
Cops planned to charge him with possession of stolen property and parole violation.
“He isn’t saying anything, but he gave a blood sample and we’re rushing it through,” the high-ranking source said.
The female companion, who was not identified, also was being questioned.
Cops said their big break came as a result of diligent police work by members of the task force assigned to the case.
Stuck with few leads, cops began canvassing pawnshops in February, hoping to find two distinctive pieces of jewelry taken during a Valentine’s Day double-rape.
In that attack, two women were raped at gunpoint in the elevator of a building on St. Nicholas Avenue in upper Manhattan, cops said.
The rapist took two gold bracelets from the women – one with charms of an elephant and a heart, and another with white gold panthers against a blue background.
The rapist has struck at least 28 times in The Bronx, eight times in Manhattan and once in Mount Vernon – all since August 1993.