Photos Courtesy of U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of New York
On May 8, City cops stopped and questioned Guzman Breton in the lobby of his 35th Avenue apartment building.
By Michael V. Cusenza
A Jackson Heights man has been charged in connection with the robberies of eight grocery stores, laundromats, and other businesses last month, federal prosecutors announced Friday.
A complaint that was unsealed Friday in Brooklyn federal court charged Manuel Guzman Breton, 31, with the following robberies:
- Grocery store on Corona Avenue in Corona on April 7.
- Grocery store on 74th Street in Jackson Heights on April 10.
- Grocery store on Astoria Boulevard in East Elmhurst on April 12.
- Grocery store on Roosevelt Avenue in Woodside on April 16.
- Grocery store on Hampton Street in Elmhurst on April 19.
- Laundromat on 81st Street in Jackson Heights on April 25.
- Laundromat on Elmhurst Avenue in Elmhurst on April 26.
- Clothing store on 37th Avenue in Jackson Heights on April 27.
In one of his alleged robberies, Guzman Breton walked behind the counter of a bodega located on 74th Street in Jackson Heights, displayed a boxcutter-style knife, and demanded money from a store employee. He also allegedly removed approximately $500 from the register and approximately $767 from the store employee and fled on foot.
According to the complaint, between April 7 and April 27, Guzman Breton, wearing a hooded sweatshirt, committed a spree of robberies in which he entered each store, threatened employees with a knife or boxcutter, and stole thousands of dollars from his victims. An employee of a laundromat suffered cuts on the hand trying to wrest a knife away from Guzman Breton during one of the robberies.
Acting Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Mark Lesko called Guzman Breton “a one-man crime spree… This Office and our partners at the ATF and the NYPD relentlessly pursued this serial armed robber and, by bringing him to justice, stopped him from inflicting further harm on businesses in our communities.”
If convicted, Guzman Breton faces up to 20 years in prison.
