HOMELESS PAROLEE CONVICTED OF ROBBING FIVE WOMEN DURING A
TWO WEEK CRIME SPREE IN 2004

Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson announced today that a 40 year old homeless
man has been convicted of robbing five young women in September of 2004 while on parole for
an attempted robbery that he committed in 1995.

Emilio Mena pled guilty to five counts of Robbery in the 3rd degree involving five
separate incidents in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx between September 12, 2004 and September 26,
2004. Acting State Supreme Court Justice Megan Tallmer set sentencing for December 1, 2006
in Part T-22. The judge said that Mena will be sentenced to five consecutive terms of 3 ½ to 7
years imprisonment.

Mena committed the first of the robberies on September 12, 2004 when he accosted a 36
year old woman who was walking her dog in a park at Bryant and Spofford Avenues. Mena
pointed what appeared to be a gun at the victim and robbed her of three rings, a gold chain and
$450 in cash. Two days later on September 14, 2004, Mena followed a 32 year old woman and
her two young children into an elevator in an apartment building on Westchester Avenue. When
the victim got off the elevator on the 20th floor, Mena robbed her at knife-point, snatching a gold
chain that she was wearing.

The third in the string of robberies occurred on September 18, 2004 when Mena followed
a 36 year old woman into a building on Hoe Avenue and up one flight of stairs where he grabbed
the victim’s purse and punched her in the face repeatedly before fleeing. The following day on
September 19, 2004, the defendant accosted a 37 year old woman as she was leaving a building
on Vyse Avenue to walk her dog. Mena brandished a knife and grabbed the victim’s purse.

Mena confronted his fifth victim a week later on September 26, 2004 when he followed a 48 year
old woman into an elevator in a building on Southern Boulevard. He removed a gold ring from
the victim’s finger after pounding her in the face with his fist so severely that the woman had to
be hospitalized for several days.

Mena was arrested on September 29, 2004 in the vicinity of the Intervale Avenue IRT
train station, which was the scene of an unrelated police investigation. Officers recognized Mena
as the subject in a “Wanted” photo that had been distributed at the start of their shift.

Assistant District Attorney Richard Kearney is prosecuting the case.