A mugger who targeted elderly people has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for five robberies and assaults.
Prosecutors said 38-year-old Cornelius Abson followed his victims into their elevators and robbed them.
He was arrested in 2008 on charges that he attacked 85-year-old Lillian France and three other victims in their late 60s and 70s. A detective who had arrested Abson in a previous robbery recognized him on surveillance footage of the attack on France.
The surveillance camera caught Abson choking France and stealing $900 and her cane.
He was sentenced to at least 17 years on Friday in state Supreme Court in Brooklyn.
Copyright AP - Associated Press