A serial sexual predator and robber is suspected of stalking women on the trendy Upper West Side, cornering them in their building lobbies as they come home from work, police said yesterday.
The two most recent victims were attacked within 15 minutes of each other Tuesday on West 95th Street. Both were robbed and one also was sexually assaulted, cops said.
They are among eight women attacked by the fiend since mid-December, police said.
The suspect, a thin black male – possibly as young as 17 and wearing diamond stud earrings – typically confronts the victims in the vestibules of their brownstones in the early evening, police said.
He has not displayed a weapon, but he has implied to his victims that he is carrying a gun.
On Tuesday, at about 5:45 p.m., the suspect forced a 29-year-old woman into her West 95th Street apartment and sodomized her before fleeing with her money, police said.
Then, minutes later, the same man robbed a 26-year-old woman inside a building at 141 W. 95th St. The suspect also punched the woman in the face.
As he fled the building, police said, he collided with a passerby, who may have grappled with the suspect.
Police are hoping the passerby comes forward with information to help catch the attacker.
The other robberies included:
* Two on Dec. 18: one on West 73rd Street and one on West 93rd Street. One also involved an attempted sex assault.
* Two on Dec. 27: one on West 73rd Street and the other on West 88th Street.
* One on West 95th Street on Jan. 11.
* One on West 93rd Street on Jan. 28.
News of the suspected serial attacker sent a chill through the neighborhood.
Brendan Traynor, a 26-year-old broker who lives next door to one of the victims, was waiting for his girlfriend on the stoop to his building after work last night because of the recent rash of attacks.
“We’re trying to take more precautions,” he said. “I came out to wait for my girlfriend so I could walk her in.”
His girlfriend, Clementina Petruzzo, a 25-year-old accountant, said as she stepped out of a cab, “It’s scary, very scary. It’s a quiet neighborhood, and it makes me feel very unsafe.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police at either (212) 614-6755 or (212) 694-3010. All calls will be kept confidential.