A pervy suspect wanted in connection with a month-long spree of six Manhattan bank robberies in the past month was captured after he ran from cops who hoped to question him about looking up women’s dresses inside a midtown Burger King, sources said.
Leon Carter, 55, bolted from cops Monday afternoon when they tried to question him about how he was allegedly lurking at a staircase in the restaurant at W. 40th Street and Eighth Avenue so he could scan up women’s dresses, the sources said.
After fleeing the Burger King, Carter was stopped at 3:30 p.m., by NYPD Transit Sgt. Stephen Lograsso at Eighth Avenue and W. 34th Street, where he began running and zig-zagged through traffic.
He then jumped a turnstile at the W. 33 Street subway stop, according to a criminal complain filed in the case.
Once beneath ground, Carter fled into a subway tunnel into the path of an on-coming A train that Sgt. Lograsso was able to stop by alerting the conductor, the complaint notes.
Carter was charged with reckless endangerment, theft of service; criminal trespass and criminal possession of a controlled substance – a crack pipe and a dollar bill containing cocaine, the complaint notes.
Police say that Carter, who was only released from custody for a prior criminal offense last month, is a suspect in six recent bank robberies that occurred in Chelsea, Hells Kitchen and Midtown.
Most of these crimes occurred in the early morning and involved Carter writing notes demanding money on withdrawal slips that were handed to tellers – although in one incident he allegedly flashed a gun and in other case, he used a mock bomb, police say.
His spree allegedly includes the following crimes, none of which resulted in any injuries:
- He first struck Sept. 3 at 9:25 a.m. when he entered a HSBC Bank at 559 Seventh Avenue and passed a teller a note, demanding money. He fled with an unspecified amount of cash.
- He next struck on Sept. 9, at 9:30 a.m., entering a Capital One Bank at 520 8th Avenue, where he again walked up to a teller, passed a note demanding money and fled with approximately $775.
- He struck again on Sept. 9, at about 10:30 a.m., this time at a Chase Bank at 171 W. 57th Street, where he passed a note and fled with approximately $80.
- The following day, at 10:55 a.m, he entered an American Express business center at 347 Park Avenue, where he approached a female on line who was paying her credit card bill and demanded money, fleeing with about $5800.
- On Sept. 12, he entered the same HSBC Bank branch he hit in his first heist, again handing a note to a teller and this time fleeing with $960.
- On Sept. 16, he entered a Citibank, at 322 W. 23rd Street shortly after 11 a.m. and for the first time, displayed a gun before demanding cash. He fled with about $10,000.
- He last struck on Oct. 2 at about 3:30 p.m., entering a Captial One 402 W. 23rd Street, this time placing a hoax device on a table and demanding cash. He fled with about $,800.
Carter was held on $25,000 bail, a spokesman for the Manhattan DA said. The investigation into his bank robbery exploits is continuing.