The city's most publicized mugger was jailed on $5,000 bail by a judge who observed the teen suspect - profiled in a newspaper series that detailed vicious assaults - was getting his "15 minutes of fame."
Benjamin Rodriguez, 18, admitted to hundreds of brutal robberies but avoided police attention until the New York Post began a four-part series on his criminal activities.A Post reporter and photographer spent six months with Rodriguez and his family. They were never with Rodriguez when he committed any crimes, the Post said.
Two days into the series, on Wednesday, police arrested Rodriguez. He was ordered held on $5,000 bail at his arraignment Thursday on charges of attempted robbery, sexual abuse, criminal possession of a weapon and menacing stemming from an attack on a 21-year-old woman.
Rodriguez was due back in court Friday for arraignment on a four-count indictment charging him with the April 18 robbery and assault of a cab driver.
With Rodriguez behind bars, Police Commissioner Lee J. Brown said Thursday that the teen's tales of hundreds of brutal robberies were mostly fabricated.
"It's academic now. The young person has told our detectives he fabricated most of the stuff," Brown said. The series initially infuriated Brown, who accused the Post of running sensationalist stories at the expense of public safety.
Post Editor Jerry Nachman, who has battled Brown for the past two days, questioned why Rodriguez was arrested so quickly if his story was bogus.
"If he made it up, why did they send 14 police cars to arrest him? Why did he get indicted by a Kings County grand jury?" Nachman asked.
In the series, Rodriguez detailed a childhood hobby - dropping cats from a roof onto a iron spiked fence. He also told about slicing up a mugging victim.
"I took his knife and ripped his face from ear to ear," Rodriguez said. "That's called a Kool-Aid smile."
His arrest did little to stop Rodriguez from talking with the media. He laughed and joked with reporters Thursday as he left the police station.
Asked if he had anything to say to the Post, Rodriguez replied, "Tell them thanks a lot for the photos. They looked great." Pictures of Rodriguez holding a hatchet and a handgun accompanied the articles.
Until his arrest, Rodriguez was known to New Yorkers only as "Benji." Despite two previous arrests - a weapons charge in November and a robbery rap last month - Rodriguez was free to commit up to 30 muggings per week, he told the Post.
He said he spent his cash on pricey sneakers and gold jewelry.
The paper presented a no-holds-barred portrait of Rodriguez. It recounted a bloody fight between Rodriguez and his mother. Rodriguez spoke freely of stabbing a robbery victim because the man had no cash or jewelry, then minutes later knifing a prostitute who got "snotty" with a friend of his.